<Begin Segment 15>

RP: Did you visit the other two units of Poston? Two and Three?

LS: I think we went to Two. There was this photographer in Two I believe. Everybody had to go to this photographer to have their photograph taken. I mean, if you see anything, any photograph from Poston, you had to go to this man and he would pose you in front of the tree. So everybody had the same pose. So that was, yeah, that was the thing to do. So, we did all go to I think it was Poston II to have our picture taken.

RP: How about a religious life in camp? Did you or your siblings go to church in camp?

LS: You know they tried -- I shouldn't say they tried -- they were probably successful at forming a Buddhist church. But I was so used to the Buddhist church in Brawley I couldn't do anything else. I went a couple of times. And it was just nothing like my church remembrances of Brawley, and I just couldn't continue. So I just quit. I just completely quit. I thought that I was a very religious person up to that point. But after that, that was it.

RP: So as a kid, did you feel like you had quite a bit of freedom in -- I say that sort of with parentheses around it -- in terms of being a child, being able to wander around and explore around the camp, did you have that sense? Or did you, did your mom and siblings always want you to be sort of stay close and...

LS: No, in camp? We could go anywhere we wanted to. I remember going to the way, to the end of camp and coming back because we used to have friends way down at the end of camp. So I remember walking around all the time. That didn't, that wasn't a problem. And, yeah, so we'd go to the movies that were held in the middle of camp somewhere. We'd have the outdoor movies. So, yeah, we wandered around a lot.

RP: Were you familiar with any gardens or landscaping that was done around your barrack or you block?

LS: I don't remember them doing any landscaping. I think it was, I think it was too hot or something. I don't think... they might... and I don't remember anybody doing any outstanding landscaping. It was just all dirt all the time. Yeah.

RP: What are your recollections about the dust storms?

LS: Oh yeah, there were dust storms. You just had to stay in your barracks 'til it was over with. It was really, really... oh yeah, we used to have these dust storms that were incredible. We didn't have those in Imperial Valley, so this was something new.

RP: Poston was, the camp was actually built on land that was owned by a Native American tribe, the Colorado River Indians or... did you ever see any Native Americans in the camp either working or...

LS: No, not ever. Later on, I can't remember when it was, but I guess it was the government that built a camouflage factory at the end of camp. I remember that, going over there and watching the people making those nets. And I don't know if any of the people from camp worked there but they did have that big factory there at the end of camp. But, yeah, I can't say anything more about that. I don't know.

RP: Medical care, did you, did you have any need to go to the hospital or operations?

LS: I did not but my very dear friend had tuberculosis. So we used to visit her all the time in camp. Which we shouldn't have, but I mean... but, yeah, there was a, there was a hospital that was well run. I didn't have any need to go there but my friend was there for a long time because she had TB and so she was there in bed in one of the wards.

RP: Was that your best friend in camp?

LS: Well, sort of.

RP: Who was?

LS: Pardon me?

RP: Who was your best friend?

LS: Oh, I had, maybe I had two or three that I considered best friend. So we, I saw them several times after camp but now, you know, I just have lost contact with them.

RP: So, from your perceptions and your experiences, did your time in Poston, did you feel there was a sense of break up of that family at all or a coming together? Did it make you, did it make your family unit tighter or did you feel like everybody kind of went and did their own thing?

LS: You know, everybody went off on their own because they had to. But I don't think that that broke the family apart. I mean, we always certainly kept in contact. And they were scattered all over the place, you know, my sisters were all in Minneapolis and my brother might have been in Ogden or something like that, and then Salt Lake City. But we always kept in contact. And then when the war ended and we came out to Richmond, we all got together in Richmond and lived together until they all got married and lived, you know, went on their own way.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.