Interviews
Her grandmother comes to Manzanar
Toward the end, my grandmother was dying. At this place. I don’t know. It’s some, like a convalescence home that they had. And so my grandfather was there too. But, you know, the men’s room and the women’s room, grandpa didn’t care. He used to have my grandmother out in the hall there. And she wanted water but they wouldn’t give her water so he used to get the water and give it to grandmother.
Anyway, towards the end somehow my mother got in contact with Father Leary and, this has been weeks now. So finally we got her back to Manzanar. And that was during the nighttime she came in. And by then, of course, she was half gone anyway, you know. We got her in the hospital and her eyes opened a couple of times, and that was about it.
And the nurse, Akita, turned her over, and you could see the bed sores she had. On her back, around her buttocks. Horrific bed sores. And nurse Akita, she shook her head. She says, my goodness, she says, they didn’t take care of her at all. So she makes this great big thing with this great big donut like, but in the morning she passed on. You could just feel that soreness into you.
Date: May 24, 2011
Location: California, US
Interviewer: John Esaki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
Explore More Videos
Neighbors' sympathy after Pearl Harbor
(1915 - 2011) Nisei florist who resettled in New York City after WW II. Active in Japanese American civil rights movement
No immediate impact after Pearl Harbor
(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.
Treatment of Japanese fishermen in Canada during World War II
(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.
Japanese newspaper supported by Canadian government during World War II
(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.
Little interaction with parents
(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline
Gordon's parents' experience in prison
(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline
Surviving after father's death
An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.
Washing for Filipino bachelors
An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.
Wife's family in Japan
(b.1942) Japanese American ceramist, who has lived in Japan for over 30 years.
Importance of education in achieving redress for incarceration
(1919-2014) Activist for civil rights and redress for World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans.
New Year's food
(b.1964) California-born business woman in Japan. A successor of her late grandmother, who started a beauty business in Japan.
