<Begin Segment 8>

MH: What did you do in camp? Did you have a job?

KK: Well, they were looking for dump truck drivers, so I volunteered to drive a dump truck to haul coal.

MH: Haul coal. How come coal?

KK: Well, they needed somebody to drive -- somebody to haul coal. I volunteered to drive a coal truck, I mean a dump truck.

MH: And what did you do with the coal?

KK: There was a different block.

MH: Drove it to every block. Why did you drive it to every block?

KK: That is what I was supposed to do.

MH: What did they use the coal for?

KK: It was used in the kitchen and our barracks. There were potbelly stoves.

MH: So they used it to heat the barracks.

KK: Yeah.

MH: Everybody had a pot belly stove? Did you go with Amy to see the doctor in the ambulance?

KK: Yeah, one time.

MH: You did one time. And what happened?

KK: I wanted to go because I had a stomachache.

MH: And did you tell the doctor you had a stomachache?

KK: I told him I want something for a stomachache, and then the doctor thought, think I better take -- better test my, take my blood count and the blood count was way high, so they put me in emergency. I had appendicitis operation right there.

MH: In camp, you had --

KK: Yeah.

MH: Appendectomy. What happened to Amy then?

KK: She went home.

MH: They just sent her home? Did she know that you were going to be there?

KK: No.

MH: How did you let her know?

KK: They went to call her.

MH: So after your stay in the hospital, you went back to your block house?

KK: I was there for two weeks in the hospital.

MH: So when you went back home which was Block 34, did you go back to your old job?

KK: No.

MH: How come? How come you didn't go back to your old job?

KK: I had to lift. I couldn't lift, so --

MH: So did you get another job?

KK: I looked for an easy job, and I was looking for assistant schoolteacher. They told me that's an easy job.

MH: You became a schoolteacher.

KK: Assistant.

MH: Assistant. And what grade were you an assistant?

KK: Sixth grade.

MH: Sixth grade. Do you remember any of your students?

KK: Two.

MH: Okay. Who were they?

KK: Alice Ando, Larry Murahashi, Mary Sato. I think a Jean Takashiwa.

MH: So some of those, some of your students still live here in Portland?

KK: Yeah, they do.

MH: Do they tease you about that?

KK: Yeah, they do.

MH: Did you like teaching school or helping teach school?

KK: I thought that was hard work.

MH: It was hard work. Why was it hard work?

KK: You had to correct paper. You had to correct paper at nighttime and get ready for, prepare for tomorrow.

MH: So how long did you teach or was an assistant to the teacher?

KK: Probably about one year.

MH: For a whole year. Well, that was quite an experience for you then.

KK: It sure was.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.