William Hohri

WILLIAM HOHRI
Family # 1477
Camp: Manzanar, CA
Address: 10-4-2

In 1922 the Hohri Family of six arrived in San Fran­cisco as Protestant Christian missionaries. They added three more children. I was the youngest. We were living in North Hollywood when the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked our Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor. I was 14 and in the tenth grade at North Hollywood High School. My father was arrested by the FBI in the late afternoon of the attack. I suffered no hostility from my classmates. But the media exploded with “Japs.” It was a sad time.

We had about one week to dispose of what we owned, except what we could pack and carry for our departure by bus on April 4, 1942 for Manzanar. I do not recall having any prized possessions. My brother had a gardening business. He was able to have a friend sell his pickup truck after we left. Except for my father, who was then interned at Fort Missoula, Montana, our entire family went to Manzanar. I remember little about the bus trip, except that it was my first long trip on a bus and that we were guarded by a young soldier who thought we would all be returning in two weeks.

Upon arrival, I felt I had never before seen so many Japa­nese faces. Our lives were to be spartan. I received a blanket and empty mattress cover. The barracks were still without windows. I filled my mattress cover with straw, and it crunched all night long. We now lived in Block 10, Barracks 4, cubicle two; 10-4-2. The food was terrible.

School did not begin until September 1942. We had nothing to do for five months. When it began, school was substandard in almost every subject.

We had no future. Morale was dissolving. When we graduated in June 1944, most of my friends left camp the day after graduation. I left a week later.

My worst experience occurred after I left camp. In March 1945, I made a trip from Madison, Wisconsin to Manzanar in order to visit my parents. After three days, I arrived and tried to get into camp. I was asked why I wished to visit. I wanted to persuade my father against relocating to Madison, Wisconsin because as an Issei he would not be able to find a job. They refused to let me enter. Moreover, they had an individual exclusion order issued for me which required that I leave the State of California by midnight the same day.

Camp is an integral part of who I am, just as being an American is.

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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