Densho Digital Archive
Oregon Nikkei Endowment Collection
Title: Yoneko Hara Interview
Narrator: Yoneko Hara
Interviewer: Margaret Barton Ross
Location: Portland, Oregon
Date: July 18, 2003
Densho ID: denshovh-hyoneko-01-0013

<Begin Segment 13>

MR: What camp did you go to?

YH: We went to Minidoka. We were at assembly center first. That's where we went into camp. It was the Expo now, and it was still a livestock area at that time, so the odor was still there. And they had a big yard where the parking is now, but they fenced, that was all fenced in and you'd look up and you'd see the soldiers with their guns. They're not faced out, they're faced in. And people look, on Sundays, you'd see them driving by looking at all of us like we're zoo people or something. And it just was... though the young people would make games, and this Dorothea Lynch, the park supervisor, was very kind, and made sure that we had equipment to play with, baseball, softball, things like that, basketball. She was really, went over, and then this Chappy King with the coach at Franklin at one time, but he came and helped. And you have to admire people that do that because they're not looked upon kindly when there's a war and you're doing something that you think is an enemy. Actually, they aren't, but they have to be brave, I think, enough to stand up for what they think is right. And so they came and helped. That, I think, is a good morale booster, in a way. And they had activities, other than that, I don't... they had dances, and I didn't dance. Poor me, just didn't know how to dance. And this guy I knew, he says, "Let's go," I didn't dance, and I'm just too shy, I guess. I don't know where that shyness disappeared to, but it's gone. [Laughs] And they'd have regular big dances on occasions, you know. And then they put out a call that they needed workers out in the beet fields in eastern Oregon.

MR: So now we're back at camp?

YH: We're in assembly center yet. And so my sister says, "Let's go out and work in the beet fields," and I thought... and so my brother went. I think he went on an earlier group. And then we went, signed up and went to eastern Oregon, Nyssa, and they had tents and wooden floor, and they're for the migrant workers, and so we slept in those. And there were a lot of young people from Wapato, Yakima, they were farmers, so they were, we went there. And oh, man, get on the trucks, find a straw hat, had to hoe between the beets. I think I knocked more down than I did weeds. The first day, my sister and I, we just sat in the field, and I said, "I can't do this." She said, "Neither can I." And we went with this family that are farmers, and they work hard, really hard. And when it's time to, we're going to quit, she says, "Let's finish the row for them," and we only get twenty-five cents an hour, and I said, "I'll be darned. I don't want to finish the row for twenty-five cents." And they're all going, so we got to tag along and finish. We decided we needed another crew. [Laughs] We can't go with this family that's working their heads off. And so we ended up with some boys. That was sort of nice except we couldn't keep up with them, so they couldn't talk to us because we all take two rows each. And we can't even do one and keep up, and we're way back, and so they're way up there, and I guess they realized this is not going to work. And so the next day, a couple guys came, and they do three and we do one, and that worked fine. [Laughs] We could chit-chat and talk and it worked out well. So we stayed there until I started getting nosebleeds, and they wouldn't stop 'cause it was too hot there or something. And they took me to the doctor's, and they teach us to hold my nose and pinch it 'til it crusted over. But we went back to camp because it was too hard. And then from there, it was shortly after that they decided we were going to go to Minidoka, so we had to get ready for that. And that was, you didn't know where you were going. There's all rumors, but you don't know. And then you get on the train, and then right away it's pull the shades down so you have no idea where you're going. And I think it took overnight, and we got there, and you could sort of peek, but you have no idea where you are. And so we got to Minidoka, and it's so desolate. All I remember is the dust storm just coming at you. You don't cry, though, you just sort of wonder what's going to happen, you don't know. And then you're assigned to this barracks, and we were still in one room. But our half of the block was a school, elementary school or something, so we only had half a block of people. And the big families have one room, but it's funny because every so often, somebody, the big family guys would come in with a bucket of water, "Oh, wrong room." They got to go out and find their unit where they lived. But it wasn't bad, but you had a big old belly stove in there, and you had to go get your coal where they had a pile of coal. You get a bucket and you have to haul your coal to keep warm. And so my brothers would be at one end and then the beds are lined up, and then my sister and I, our beds were facing each other, so it made like a sofa. So kids come over and they'd sit on it. And we'd have some Seattle boys, about the age of my older sister, knew her, so we had a lot of visitors all the time. The guys were just coming all the time, they were her buddies, I guess. And then she's pretty resourceful. She got a job at the canteen, and so she was working right away.

And then I got a job, I went up to the hospital and I got a job as a baby food person. They had little pots like this for baby food that you heat up for the baby, infants, and they give you the food, canned food and whatever, so all I had to do was open it up, heat it up, and put it out to be served to the mothers that had babies. I'd do that three times a day, and that was all I had to do, and so that was really easy. I sound pretty lazy, don't I? [Laughs]

MR: Was the baby food already smashed up?

YH: It's all canned; most of it was canned, I think. Rice, I had some rice, and carrots, I remember mashing carrots. But whatever we had, if it was some of the food that the adults had, I could take just a little bit, learn and feed them.

MR: Did they come at... I'm trying to figure this out. Did they come at separate times from mealtimes?

YH: No, they all come together.

MR: Was it served at mealtimes but just off to the side?

YH: Uh-huh. The mothers that have babies, they carry them in their arms or whatever, and then they come by, I'm at the counter, and they'd pick their food up.

MR: Along with everybody else picking up?

YH: I think everybody else, I thought they sat down. I was sort of vague on that. I think they... I don't think they lined up. I don't remember, isn't that funny? I just don't remember how they... the cook at our place was a professional cook, so our food was very good, actually. And then we had a baker, and I know most of 'em didn't have a baker. And he was really good. We had real nice desserts and things. And I don't know how that... if you know somebody you get a little extra thing or how it works, but I'm sure that's part of the game. And our food wasn't bad at all at that point.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.