Midori Kunitomi Iwata

MIDORI KUNITOMI IWATA
Family # 2614
Camp: Manzanar, CA
Address: 20-3-1

My parents were from Okayama Japan; father leaving for America during the Japan-China War. The family sent his second cousin to marry father. They settled in Hollywood. Father started a transfer and express business and mother raised my five brothers, two sisters, and me.

I was attending Lincoln High School and was a senior when the war started. Going to school on the bus was very uncomfortable with people staring and making comments. School life was no different than before.

When the evacuation order was issued, we had to sell the grocery store, car, and refrigerator in a hurry. We took only what we could carry to camp. The train trip was uneventful, but I was afraid because the destination was unknown.

Seven of us were assigned to one room in Block 20-3-1 and given family # 2614. We had to fill mattress covers with straw and take it to our room. Before leaving Los Angeles, my junior high school homeroom teacher came to say goodbye. To this day, we are still in touch with one another.

I was 17 when we went to camp, so my main worry was graduating high school. I was in the first graduating class and so we really didn’t learn any­thing. We had to sit on the floor since there were no chairs or desks.

After graduation I worked as a secretary to Director Walter Heath of the Relocation Office. We assisted residents in getting jobs and relocating outside of California.

Our block had many young people so we were able to have block dances. I enjoyed the occasional movies and musical plays put on by the music teacher Louis Frizzell. I did not belong to any social sports clubs, but enjoyed watching my boyfriend participate in basketball and baseball.

The only things that stand out in my memory are the terrible windstorms and the lack of privacy.

When the war ended, residents started returning to Los Angeles and other cities in California. I left camp to find housing and employment to support my mother and younger brother since we were the only ones left.

I worked as a secretary in various offices, but never experienced prejudice or any unpleasantness from anyone. I was encouraged to learn shorthand and typing by my brother since he felt that was the only chance I had to earn a living because of my Asian ancestry. But many jobs opened up for us after the war ended.

Camp life was difficult for many people, but being a teenager I was able to adjust and adapt myself easily. Mother was very bitter about evacuation and camp life and wanted to return to Japan. But she was very proud when three of her sons went into the US Army.

Wind and Dust
This wind and dust I have to bear
How hard it blows I do not care.
But when the wind begins to blow –
­My morale is pretty low.
I know that I can see it through
Because others have to bear it too.
So I will bear it with the rest
And hope the outcome is the best.
– George Nishimura, age 16 (Manzanar, 1943)

Read this to learn more about the demographics of each of the ten facilities administered by the War Relocation Authority.

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