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

Painting murals and signs in the army

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.

arts United States Army

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)