<Begin Segment 6>

MH: Where did you go after the Portland Assembly Center?

LS: To Minidoka. It was on Labor Day. We were put on train. But every Labor Day, we used to make a trip, so it was one of those trips.

MH: And what did you find when that trip came to an end?

LS: Well, little units of six cabins and a mess hall, and well, we both did all right. It didn't matter what we ate really at that time, but I remember eating beets. The food was okay, but it was bad that we had tin cups to drink with at the assembly center. I didn't like that.

MH: What block did you live in?

LS: I can't remember, but I think it was 26 or something like that. We had a little unit, let's see, one on the end, and my mother, sister, my husband and I occupied the first, Room A, I guess. B was bigger. C and D is another small unit. We were at the end. The wind storm, the sand would fly in between the, through the house, and it was hard at times, and we had some snow and ice too. But it was about April or May that we decided to leave camp and go into graduate school.

MH: What did you do in camp during that period before you left?

LS: I also taught for a while, but I gave up as soon as I knew I would be leaving camp. Yoshio was a chemist. He taught chemistry, and there was a Miss Haglund who was a teacher in science there, and we became good friends. And we've visited each other, and she came to visit us when we were in Maryland.

MH: Do you remember any other students that you had?

LS: Where?

MH: At camp.

LS: Oh, I had Matsushima's boy, Yuji, and I had Tyrus Okuda from Seattle. Okuda's family is Hood's wife's family, so, and I don't remember many other. That was such a short time.

MH: The faculty, were they mostly Japanese Americans or were there Caucasians who also taught at the school?

LS: I think there were a number of Caucasian teachers. They were federally employed, and they took over most. But they found number of Japanese who were capable of taking over the class, and so I taught for a short time and another Japanese person, Nisei, took over my class.

MH: Where were the classes held? Were they in another school building?

LS: Couple barracks in about three different units at the school. They also had a high school, did some lab work there too.

MH: Did you have enough books, supplies?

LS: Very little, I think, but I think the government did provide some books for us.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.