Interviews

1. Memories of the ship heading to the U.S.

2. Thunder in Crystal City

3. Kids activities in Crystal City

4. Having a house at camp

5. Having nowhere to go postwar

6. Feeling of foreigness

7. Art helped him to feel less foreign in school

8. First Boy Scouts troop in San Francisco

9. Trip to Japan as a Boy Scout

10. Playing basketball in the army

11. Working as a typist in the army

12. Painting murals and signs in the army

George Kazuharu Naganuma

(b. 1938) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

Thunder in Crystal City

I remember the weather in Texas, in Crystal City, it was terrible, wow. That's the first time I heard thunder in my life, and that thunder was scary, oh god, that was... we were three of us in a room and we, three kids, you know, the youngest of us, and we were just crying because the parents and the sister and brother were out somewhere, I don't know, but we were just scared by the lightning and the thunder. It was the first time I ever heard it in my life, you know, that was very scary, I remember that.

Crystal City internment camp Department of Justice camps Japanese Peruvians Texas thunder United States weather World War II World War II camps

Date: September 20, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Tom Ikeda and Yoko Nishimura

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum and Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

George Kazuharu Naganuma was born in Lima, Peru to his Issei parents in 1938. His family were forced to board a ship, to be incarcerated at Crystal City, Texas, during World War II. They remained there even after the war had ended, without a place to go. They were able to leave via a sponsorship by a reverend in San Francisco, California, where they were able to find jobs and housing. George joined the Boy Scouts in San Francisco and was able to visit Japan with his troop. He joined the U.S. Army and worked as a clerical typist. (June 2020)