<Begin Segment 13>

KB: Do you remember any events or anything that happened during that time like dances or contests?

SO: Yes. The highschoolers or that age group, they had dances.

KB: Did they just have records set up to play or did they have live music?

SO: They had a band, I guess, Minidoka band, and they would play at the dances.

KB: Did you get to go to them at all?

SO: No, I was too young. [Laughs]

KB: I've heard that they've had Christmas decorating contests, do you remember that?

SO: In the blocks?

KB: Yeah. Did you help with that any?

SO: No.

KB: What's your main memory of Minidoka?

SO: Playing sports, I guess. At that age, played softball. I was fifteen, so I didn't play baseball, I just played softball.

KB: You went to school while you were there?

SO: Yeah. I was in the sixth grade when I was in Minidoka. When I came out in '45 I was a freshman.

KB: What do you remember about school in Minidoka?

SO: Well, we had teachers from the outside.

KB: Did you not have any Japanese American teachers at all?

SO: I never had one.

KB: You had teachers that came in. Did you have textbooks and books?

SO: Yeah, they were donated, I'm sure.

KB: Desks and all of that?

SO: Yes.

KB: Where was the school?

SO: In a barrack, they converted barracks into schools.

KB: It wasn't in your block, though, you had to walk to it?

SO: Yeah, they built in the barracks, you know, in Block 32 I think it was, they remodeled it, or I mean, they converted it into a grade school there, and there was one high school down further, I don't know which block it was.

KB: So you went from Block 35 to 32. It wasn't too far then.

SO: No, not that far.

KB: Well, how was it walking that far, though, in the weather?

SO: Bad weather, yeah. It's cold.

KB: Was it muddy?

SO: Yeah, muddy. Yeah, when we first got there, it was all, when it rained, boy, it was really muddy. Later on they built it up so that you can have walkways, paths, you know.

KB: Who built it up?

SO: People that were living.

KB: Did they use, what did they use to cover that mud to walk on?

SO: Well, I think they got some gravel that could build a pathway.

KB: Do you remember any of the gardening at all? There was a root cellar, do you remember that at all?

SO: Not me. The other people were farmers, I guess, they're the ones that did the gardening. They raised the vegetables and stuff.

KB: Were you a Boy Scout?

SO: I became a Boy Scout, yes, when I turned twelve.

KB: So you were in camp and became a Boy Scout? Do you remember your troop?

SO: 123.

KB: What did you do as a Boy Scout in camp?

SO: The usual. [Laughs]

KB: Did you earn badges?

SO: Yeah, you earned badges when you're first, I can't remember, second class, first class, and then Eagle. But I never got to Eagle; I was out (of comp.).

KB: Did you have meetings, like, once a week?

SO: I don't know if it was once a week, but they did have meetings.

KB: And somebody just volunteered to be the leader?

SO: Well, they had a Troop 123 in Portland, and they (revived) it in camp. They had people, Scouts type of, Eagle Scouts.

KB: In camp? Nobody came from outside to lead it or anything.

SO: No.

KB: And you had a uniform, a Boy Scout uniform?

SO: Yeah, I guess I got a shirt.

KB: Where'd you get it from, do you remember?

SO: No, I think we got it through the mail.

KB: So you could get items from outside?

SO: Yeah. Lot of catalogs, Sears and Montgomery, they must have really (done well).

KB: So you could order from that and then they would ship it to Minidoka for you?

SO: Yeah.

KB: So what was your overall feeling about camp?

SO: For kids like me, it was, you had a lot of playmates.

KB: Did you think about at all why you were there, or the reason why you were there?

SO: Well, I knew we were at war, so you just go with the flow, I guess.

KB: And your mom and dad didn't say anything about why they thought you were all there, or any feelings about that?

SO: I'm sure they didn't want to be there.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.