Introduction
Getting a chance to interview individuals who experienced American history was a lifetime opportunity that I will always be grateful for. The realization of my dream was channeled through working for the RSVP Company during my Service Leadership Class. Cindy Power, who is the company director, was more than willing to introduce me to one lady by the name of Sue Nagumo who had worked for the company as a volunteer for more than seventeen years. Scheduling an interview with Sue was an easy task for Cindy since the lady was simply enthusiastic about narrating her experiences in the concentration camps. Sue is more than eighty years, but her memories of her teenage years in the concentration camps are still vivid and fresh in her mind, just like they happened yesterday. She makes this more interesting by stating that people may forget what you do to them, they may also forget what you say to them, but they will never forget how you made them feel. They say experience is the best teacher and so it was for Sue as she narrates the impact of life in the camps.
Who is Sue Nagumo?
Sue sets the stage of the interview by telling me more about herself. She is a lady who has her ancestral background traced to the Japanese community. “My grandfather had migrated from Japan in 1890 to settle in the United States. Fourteen years later, her parents followed the footsteps of their grandfather, and they all migrated to America. Before the 1900s, in Japan, the major driving force for emigration was the harsh economic conditions that were experienced. Life was simply unbearable in Japan, and people were relocating to other areas for greener pastures.” Her grandfather had spotted the growing oil industries in America through the various trade agreements that existed between Japan and America. “California was the base of oil supply since it had good storage of oil facilitated by its numerous oil tankers. This gave my grandfather a job opportunity within the oil industry which enabled him to improve his living condition. With time, his grandfather settled in America as a farmer and this finally granted him citizenship.
When and where was this interview conducted?
I had three interviews with Sue Nagumo. The first interview was on Monday 01.00 pm in the RSVP office. Cindy Power helped me to schedule my appointment with Sue Nagumo. The interview lasted for two hours. I also did bring my recorder, just in case if I forgot what Sue told me about the story. On the other hand, I could also quote from what she said more precisely than without a recorder.
After the first interview, Sue invited me to go to her house for the next two interviews. The last two interviews in her house were more relaxing and also she could show me her photo while she was in a concentration camp.
Describe your grandfather’s economic situation before he moved to America?
“My grandfather’s economic situation back in Japan was as poor as for the rest of the Japanese. Most of them resulted in moving to other countries such as America where life seemed to be more promising. I think that the opportunities in the American market were plenty, and most Japanese just relocated to work in the American industries. My grandfather just like most Japanese had moved to America to look for a job. Most Japanese did not have any intentions of settling in America and most of them just worked and then moved back to Japan after retirement.” She expressed this as the major reason why the United States government hesitated to grant citizenship to Asians until 1952. She further clarified, “In 1918, the government had put a limit on the number of Asians who were migrating to the United States. Even, there was a quota to limit Asian student in their school.” This was probably because the American government felt that the Asians wanted to exploit their resources to benefit themselves.
How do you feel being an American citizen and what was your experience at the start of the War?
On posing this question to Sue, she frankly gave her answer as, “I don’t know. I mean, I was only thirteen years old when the war broke out. I just realized Americans went on war from a big radio that we had in our house. “She could not, however, distance her feelings from her children, who never had any experience of living in Japan. She simply considers herself as an American, just like her children, who were born and brought up in the suburbs of Chicago and also acquired their education in Chicago.
I diverted the progress of the interview by asking her about her life during the onset of World War II. “I was thirteen or fourteen years old when the war broke out on one Sunday morning. We had a radio stand as the only means of communication since we did not have any TV sets. The news delivered by then U.S President Roosevelt was quite terrifying. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The decision of the government that all the Japanese ancestry had to go to the concentration camps spread out very fast,” she explained. I could not fail to notice the remorse in her as she expressed the fear in her mother who was dead scared about their life in the concentration camp. “Moving to the camps was a bitter experience for her as she watched her helpless mother cry day in day out in their small room.
My father was the only standing pillar in the family. He especially was the source of courage and comfort for my mother as he explained that the U.S governor had every reason to be scared of the Japanese sabotage.” He explained that the Japanese efforts to bomb America were a sign of war and the Americans had to protect their territory. Americans were not sure of the Military power of the Japanese and they, therefore, had to fear the next actions that the Japanese would take. She went ahead to explain that her father also expressed the fears of the U.S governor of the Japanese helping the enemies if they came along the shore. Her father believed that the Japanese Americans would help the Japanese in case they invaded America. The Americans took them to the concentration camps to avoid any reinforcements for resistance. Just like the other Japanese Americans they were first taken to the Santa Anita Tract and then to the Manzanar. The government could not distinguish between the Japanese and the Chinese and this propagated some of the Chinese to wear shirts with writings such as, “Am not Japanese.” It was during this time that she got the reality of racism against Asians.
How was life in the concentration camps?
Sue must have been waiting for this part of the interview, as she moved swiftly to demonstrate some photographs of the camp in response to this question. She also had a map of North America which contained the names of the concentration camps and also their locality in every state. Just like an experienced teacher, Sue explained that there were three kinds of camps. “First of all, people were put in the Assembly Center hall that was located mostly in California. This was the first type of camp which was referred to as the temporary camps. The camps were made from the barn and they were so awful because the barn was so dirty with excess from the horses. So we have to clean that up before we stayed there.”They were meant for horses, and the smelly stench in them forced people to clean them if they had to live there. The Japanese Americans were first taken to these camps, and later they were moved to the second type of camps, which were referred to as the permanent camps. These camps were built by the soldiers and they were located in the East. Sue explained that the government moved them to the East because they were afraid of the Japanese resistance and support against the Americans in case they were attacked by their enemies. The first landing zone of the Japanese to America was in California. This was in the west shore where the Japanese Americans were located and the Americans had to move them to the East.
Sue then showed me her second photograph, which pictured the Manzanar concentration camp. The camp was located somewhere in the middle of a desert.”This was Manzanar Concentration Camp which she considered as a permanent camp. This concentration camp is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California’s Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north. I think it is approximately three hundred miles northeast of Los Angeles.”Behind the camp was a mountain which she quickly identified as, “Mount Whitney.” The construction of the barracks and the concentration camps had taken just only one month. “One of the most horrifying things in the camp was watching the soldiers patrol the tower holding on to their sniper. I mean, the soldiers dared to shoot you if you tried to escape from the camp. I think that horrified me the most.”
She then moved on to the third type of concentration camp, which was referred to as the Internment Camp. “These camps were not more than five,” she explained. The camps were distinguished from the temporary and the permanent camps because they were more like prisons. The Americans used the Internment Camps to lockin the important Japanese people. This included those individuals who had connections with Japan.
Were there any rebellions or resistances at that time?
Sue explained that during the first one and half years of life in the Manzanar, there was no resistance at all. “How could you run away from the concentration camp? There were soldiers in every tower watching every movement on the ground, and we were living in the middle of the desert. I mean, how you could run away from there?” she firmly responded. “Were there any Caucasians inside the concentration camp? Was there anything shocking that happened inside the camps? I asked.
“From what I know, there were no Caucasians inside the camp unless if they intermarried to the Japanese and they choose to accompany them to the camps,” she responded. She further explained that Caucasians also came to the camp to visit their friends or families for those who were intermarried. Next to the hospital inside the camp, the soldiers set apart an orphanage camp for the children from Seattle who were mixed race Japanese-Caucasians. Sue explained that it was very frustrating for the helpless young orphans to experience the horrific shooting of the soldiers inside the camps. “How could such young children aged around seven and eight years join the enemy in shooting the Americans? It was crazy!” she exclaimed.
What other activities did people engage in inside the concentration camps?
Sue explained, “One of the major activities that were predominant is the commitment to religion. There was a Catholic church, where people worshiped every Sunday. Apart from this, there were also Buddhist temples for non-Christians. Agriculture was another activity that was done in the camps. “People had different farms in the camps, where they grew different crops and vegetables. They also kept livestock such as chicken,” she explained.
Sue then described a section in the concentration camps which was called the fire break. She explained that this was a section in the camp that was a route of escape for people in case there was fire broke out in the camp. People would assemble in this field which was located between the cluster of 12 blocks. The field also served the purpose of preventing the fire from spreading to other sections of the barracks. On other occasions, the fields were used as playgrounds for baseball games. She concluded by adding that there was also a YMCA building in the Camp. “Were they selling the vegetables or chicken outside the camp? I asked. She explained that the farmers were not selling their produce from the farm, since this was used as a source of food inside the camp. At this point, Sue could not hesitate to show me another one of her photographs that pictured the chicken farms inside the camp.
How about the condition of the bathroom? Were they clean?
“In each block, they had twelve barracks. We lived in the 24th Block and between there was a bathroom that we could share among us. The soldiers had put effort to separate the female and the male bathrooms.” Then I asked, “Were you living with other people inside the barracks?”
“Oh, yes,” she replied. “There were four rooms in every barrack. Living with other people was on the condition that you had a small family of a minimum of eight people. Our family, for example, was comprised of five individuals, and together with three other relatives, we lived eight people in our room.”Sue also mentioned that in between each barrack there was a washing room where people could do their laundry. On a personal level, she explained that she had to use a regular sink and a washing board for her laundry. One could then hang their wet clothes outside to dry. “Were the bathrooms clean?” I asked. “Oh, there was somebody who cleaned the bathrooms. They got paid between $8 and $10 in a month, “ she explained. She further explained that the cleaners were individuals who had volunteered to work as interns inside the camps.
How big was your room? When did you leave the camp?
I asked Sue whether the rooms were big enough to accommodate 8 people.
“No, I mean you could barely walk inside the room!” she exclaimed. “Each room had been furnished with eight beds. The rooms had terrible bare walls which were covered with tar paper on the outside. She explained that the rooms were nothing close to the modern houses we have today. Most people who lived inside the camps made their furniture from the wood they had gathered from outside the barracks. On asking her when she left the concentration camp, Sue explained that she believed they left the camp after one and half years. She debated the exact dates to be between June and July 1943. Leaving the camp was only guaranteed if you had permission from the government. “ The government made sure that the Japanese who migrated to the East had a job to keep them busy to avoid any motives to rebel against the government.” She said
Describe the food?
According to Sue, the officers in the barracks provided them with lunch or dinner in the camp. There were also picnic benches inside the barracks. They also had stoves and utensils where they could cook their meals. Who prepared their meals,” I asked her.
“Well, there were volunteers,” she said. “Every day, a truck came to the camp and dropped the food. They supplied raw meat, raw vegetables, milk, and bread among other raw foods. There were also volunteer cooks, who were probably very inexperienced. We had to bear with the food no matter its final condition,” she explained in disgust. She further explained that most of the foods were lamb stew, beef stew, and very little meat with milk. Milk was mostly provided for women with young infants.
“How was the food? I asked. Sue could not hide the fact that the food was very disgusting as she explained how terrible it was. “However, the condition of the food improved after a former restaurant owner volunteered to be a chef in the camp. With time, the condition of the food improved greatly.”
Describe the weather back then?
“Well, it was warm, but sometimes it was really hot, almost 110 degrees. It was also very dry. We did not experience any snow during the time we were in the camp. During winter the mountains were all covered with white, but the ice did not form on the ground. I, however, believe that there was snow after we left the camp, as we experienced a lot of snow when we moved to Utah. Sandstorms were very common in Manzanar, and the biggest threat that we faced was that the floors of the barracks were not properly attached while others had holes,” she explained. The sand would easily get into their houses and this forced their parents to constantly move their beds out to shake off the sand and also to ensure even ground in the house.
How was your life after the concentration camp?
Sue explained, “The war had not been halted by the time we left the concentration camps. We faced a lot of discrimination and racism in Utah, where the locals discriminated against the Japanese Americans. My high school experience was the worst as racists addressed me as “The Japs.” Other students threw stones at her as she waited to board the school bus.
Finally, at the end of the interview, I asked her if she was willing to go back to Japan.
“No, I mean I have been living in America for more than eighty years. I know a little bit about the Japanese language, but even when I visit my relatives in Japan, I feel weird conversing with them. I think we have a different culture,” she concluded.
Conclusion
In conclusion, life in the concentration camps was not easy for anyone. However, Sue stands as a strong woman as she said that tough times never last but tough people do. Even after facing all the difficulties in the camps, they have always been raced against especially by the Native Americans. This however has not deterred Sue to pursue her dreams in life since nothing is impossible to a willing heart.
From my point of view, having an interview with Sue Nagomo was a great experience. I could learn that racism was a big problem in America, even until now. I think that it was abnormal and unacceptable for the American president to put Japanese Americans in concentration camps. I think that there were many other solutions in handling immigrants who came to America instead of reallocating them to the concentration camp.