1942
Mom,
It’s been about two years since I was put into this camp called Manzanar and let me tell you, it isn’t a fun place to be. I was told that there are about ten different camps and all together they are called “America’s Concentration Camps”. They are doing the exact same thing as the Nazi’s in Germany.
The camp site is on 6,200 acres leased from the City of Los Angeles. The residential area is about one square mile, and has 36 blocks of 20-foot by 100-foot tarpaper barracks. Each family lives in a single 20-foot by 25-foot “apartment” in the barracks. These apartments have partitions with no ceilings, eliminating any chance of privacy. Lack of privacy is a major problem for us, especially since the camp had communal men's and women's bathrooms.
Each residential block also has a communal mess hall, a laundry room, a recreation hall, an ironing room, and a heating oil storage tank, although Block 33 doesn’t have a recreation hall. In addition to the residential blocks, Manzanar has 34 additional blocks that has staff housing, camp administration offices, two warehouses, a garage, a camp hospital, and 24 firebreaks. The camp also has school facilities, a high school auditorium, chicken and hog farms, churches, a cemetery, a post office, a cooperative store, other shops, a camp newspaper, and other things that you could find in most American cities.
We also have a camouflage net factory which is an experimental plantation for making natural rubber from the Guayule plant. There is also an orphanage called Children’s Village where about 101 orphans live.
Around the camp there are eight watchtowers manned by armed Military Police and it is enclosed by five-strand barbed wire.
The weather at Manzanar causes a lot of pain and suffering for us. Not many of us are accustom to the extremes of the area's climate. We are located right by Owens Valley. During the summer the temperatures usually exceed 100 degrees and winters bring snowfall and during the day the temperature often drops to the 40 degree range. It gets even colder at night sometimes getting as low as 25-30 degrees lower than the daytime highs. With the high winds that are very common we might get hit with a sand storm ever so often causing us to wake up in the morning with a nice layer of dust on ourselves. We rarely get any kind of rain here, maybe about 5 inches a year.
We have to wait in one line after another for meals, at bathrooms, and at the laundry room. Each camp is intended to be self-sufficient, and Manzanar was no exception. Cooperatives operate various services, such as the camp newspaper, beauty and barber shops, shoe repair, and more. In addition, some of us raise chickens, hogs, and vegetables, and cultivate the existing orchards for fruit. Sometimes we even make their own soy sauce and tofu.
Food at Manzanar is based on military requirements. Meals usually consist of hot rice and vegetables, since meat is scarce due to rationing. Just recently, a chicken ranch began operation and the camp opened a hog farm. Because of this, we now can have meat added to our diet.
Most of the people here are employed to keep the camp running. Some of the unskilled workers will earn about $8 a month, semi-skilled workers will earn $12 a month, skilled workers make $16 a month and professionals will earn $19 a month. Everyone gets $3.60 a month as a clothing allowance.
We try to make Manzanar more livable through recreation. We love to participate in sports, including baseball and football, and martial arts. We also personalize our surroundings by building elaborate gardens, which often include pools, waterfalls, and rock ornaments. There is even a nine-hole golf course.
While there are many things to do here at this camp I often find myself thinking about home and the family. I really miss you all and I hope to see you again someday. Say hello to the rest of the family for me and let them know that I am doing well. I’ll write to you again soon letting you know how everything is going. I love you all and miss you. Talk to you soon.
Love,
Sue
Helpful Resources:
http://americanhistory.about.com/cs/worldwarii/a/internment.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese-American_internment#Conditions_in_the_camps
http://americanhistory.si.edu/ourstory/activities/internment/more.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312008/bhjic.html
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