<Begin Segment 2>

HH: So as you say, you don't recall a whole lot of Puyallup or Minidoka.

KI: That's correct.

HH: Your memory starts kicking in from sometime after that.

KI: That's right. My memory starts really in camp. I mean, I have some pretty vivid memories of camp life and things that went on in camp.

HH: You do?

KI: Yes. I don't have any bad memories of camp. I can remember the...

HH: Where was Minidoka located?

KI: Minidoka is located in Idaho.

HH: Idaho.

KI: So we were in Idaho, in the southern part of Idaho, in the deserts. So I have a pretty good memory of the camp and my family and the life of the camp. I didn't have any bad memories of camp. Because I was with my parents, so I thought that was a normal way of life for anybody.

HH: If you kind of close your eyes for a second, what would your living area of your family look like?

KI: Well, the place that we lived in was a long wooden barrack. And I remember that each family that lived there, I can remember the chimney coming out of each unit there. And I can remember, I can remember the guys coming along and periodically, when they would clean out the chimneys, the chimney sweeps, I can remember that. And I can remember that everything was in one room. We had a potbelly stove in there that would get very, very hot in the wintertime. I can remember how hot it would be near that stove.

HH: Coal burning stove or wood burning?

KI: I believe it was wood burning. I'm not really sure if it was coal or wood, but it was like a potbelly stove in the middle of the room. And I can remember our beds around the side of the room. And I can remember going to the dining hall for meals. Sometimes my father would bring, or mother would bring a tray back to our apartment to feed my brothers and I if the weather was too severe outside, they wouldn't take us out to the dining hall, they'd bring it back on a tray. I can remember it was a metal tray that we used to eat out of. And I can remember the, I can remember things like the bathrooms, like I remember people always yelling at me because I'd be opening and closing the doors. I think some of the women were resentful of prying eyes, you know. [Laughs] As a child I can... I remember the dining hall very, very well. I can remember the noise in there and all the people in there, and the tables.

HH: What was the weather like, do you remember, in Idaho?

KI: The weather was, I can remember the winter weather. It was very severe, it was cold and windy and I can remember the sandstorms that we used to have in there, and the tumbleweeds, and I can just remember that it was very cold and desolate. Like I remember the sky, and the sky was beautiful. And I can remember seeing the stars at night, it was really vivid stars.

HH: Were the summers hot?

KI: I don't remember how hot the summers were. I guess the summers really didn't bother me too much. I do remember that there was a stream or an irrigation ditch that was located near the camp. I think it was just outside the camp because I remember, I believe it was one of my uncles took me over there to the irrigation ditch, I guess that's what it was, or a stream, river, I'm not really sure. But the water was very cold because he let me stick my hand in the water, it was very cold, and there was a fast, rushing water.

HH: Came off from the thawing of the snow.

KI: Probably.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.