Painting murals and signs in the army

Memories of the ship heading to the U.S. Thunder in Crystal City Kids activities in Crystal City Having a house at camp Having nowhere to go postwar Feeling of foreigness Art helped him to feel less foreign in school First Boy Scouts troop in San Francisco Trip to Japan as a Boy Scout Playing basketball in the army Working as a typist in the army Painting murals and signs in the army

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They asked if anybody knew how to draw, so I raised my hand, I can do something. So all the noncommissioned officers has a, where they all have a meeting place where they have drinks and whatever. They wanted me to paint horses, horses and things on the wall, so I said okay. So I painted, that's what I did. So I didn't have to march or do anything, I'd just go straight to their room and paint every day.

they wanted somebody to paint signs. So nobody [everyone] was hurrying around…I painted sign, I put numbers, and all these stations, shoot or they'd throw grenades or whatever, while they were doing that, I'm painting, I’m not doing anything. So the art and the basketball really helped me.

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.

army art