Densho Digital Archive - Ted Hachiya Interview (denshovh-hted

<Begin Segment 13>

MP: So in the camp, I'm just curious like what was the whole sanitation and toilet facilities and that type of thing like, bathing, and how was that all done?

TH: I know the showers were open because we did a peep show. [Laughs] I had friends that were in the fire department, and some of the building was to be watched on a fire watch. You get up on the roof to see if everything was okay. And we found out that women were big, hairy, and they're all, you know, it was one big bathroom was what it was, and like the men are also, but men didn't care. But they had big long crock-like urinals. I think it caused like water rot originally. But the sanitation was bad. I remember one woman, she had diarrhea so bad, she didn't care what she was doing. She lifted her skirt up, up around her waist, and she was, dirtied the floor, and she ran, tried to run down the hall. And there was a man with a yellow can following her, trying to catch her. It was comical in the beginning, but I felt sorry for her.

MP: Yeah. That must have been very embarrassing --

TH: For her.

MP: Yeah, for her.

TH: Yeah. I'm not going to even mention her name. You know, she's gone, but that's not the point.

MP: So like the shower area, it was showers, it was all open, everybody showering together?

TH: Yeah. They didn't have stalls, so you could see whatever you wanted to see. But the girls found out that there were peepers up there.

MP: And then what?

TH: They used to holler in unison.

MP: What did they holler?

TH: "Peeping Tom." God, it was funny. You should have heard all the fire guys scurry off the roof. That was the funniest that I ever experienced in camp was that. Oh, there was something else that was funny too. There was a man and woman having an affair inside one of those stalls, and they got discovered, and they froze, I guess. They had to carry both on the same gurney to the hospital.

MP: Like two dogs?

TH: Yeah, like two dogs. He's gone, but let's see, the other girl is alive. She never got married.

MP: So was there a lot of that? Was there a lot of like, I mean people sneaking around and having sex and what?

TH: I didn't look for it, so I don't really know, but I just happened to witness that at the time.

MP: Some people came and actually got them and tried to separate them and then --

TH: Well, yeah. The first aid man came, and they found out what was happening, and they just covered them up, put them on a gurney, and wheeled them to the hospital. And I guess they were able to break loose as soon as they got to the hospital, but they were embarrassed.

MP: That is an amazing story.

TH: I've seen dogs that way. They turn around, one would turn around, trying to run away from the other one.

MP: So tell me, tell the story about the Dalles.

TH: Oh, that was the most embarrassing part. There was a girl who was a neighborhood friend. She'd call me and ask me if I'd go pick up some under things for her, you know, underwear that don't last very long, especially the kind women wear. Anyway, she asked me if I'd be good enough to stop at the Dalles. She knew a manager or somebody there, a sales lady. She'd order it and give me the money, and all I had to do is pick it up. They had no way of delivering out to her, in the mail maybe, but they needed a lot of this stuff. So she'd make a list, and she gave me the money, and I'd take it in to her, and I was always embarrassed to go inside the store because I would be the only man walking in there.

MP: That was a women's store?

TH: Yeah. It was a women's store. But she'd always wait for me, you know. She'd sight me, and she'd come outside with me, and I'd give her the money. Then I have to wait there until she fills the order, you know. I don't know why they didn't telephone her and order the thing, have it ready for me to just pick up. It would have been fine. But I know I did that several times for them. But that lady was a nice lady. You know, nylons were hard to get, but she gave them a quota of nylons. I think women were only allowed to buy one or two a week or something like that, and she had names on them. And as long as she got paid, she didn't care, but she saw to it that they got nylons. I don't know why they want to wear nylons in camp.

MP: My, that is curious.

TH: They liked to doll up with it, look good.

MP: Was there a social life in the camp?

TH: Yes.

MP: I mean were there dances that --

TH: They had a Lil Abner and what the heck was the girl's name, you know, the girl chase around the boys?

MP: What is that called? Sadie Hawkins.

TH: Yeah, Sadie Hawkins. They had things like that. It was kind of fun. I went in the evening. I wasn't supposed to be there, but I went in there one night, and my future stepsister was one of the girls that asked me out, and I didn't know who she was. But my stepbrother was engaged to her. She didn't tell me this. She was a tall girl. If I showed you a picture, she's a very attractive woman.

MP: So you had step, when did you have stepsisters and step --

TH: Well, she became a stepsister. I should have said that. My mother and my stepfather married in the camp in 1943 after my father passed away, of course.