[Letter to Clara Breed from Tetsuzo (Ted) Hirasaki, Poston, Arizona, June 17, 1943]

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[Letter to Clara Breed from Tetsuzo (Ted) Hirasaki, Poston, Arizona, June 17, 1943]

Maker Hirasaki, Tetsuzo

Date1943

Mediumpaper, ink

DimensionsH: 9.875 in, W: 8 in (sheet); H: 3.5 in, W: 5.5 in (envelope)

ClassificationsArchives

Credit LineGift of Elizabeth Y. Yamada

Object number93.75.31JI

DescriptionTranscription:
322-14-D/Poston, Arizona/June 17, 1943/Dear Miss Breed,/Thank you very much. The fan and sewing machine arrived in good condition. It came just in time for alteration work on my new "Monkey Wards" work trousers./By the way those mail order companies certainly are making "hay" so long as the evacuees remain in camps. I doubt if there is a family in camp that has not at one time or another ordered goods from Sears or Wards. Mail orders run into several hundred thousand dollars a month in this camp alone./Well, I'm the "last of the Mohicans" now. Early this morning the next to the last of our old gang left for Colorado via Salt Lake. Just about all of the volunteers have gone outside to wait for the Army call. Can you imagine--here it is four months now since we volunteered and still there are many who have not received induction orders! We just can't inderstand the delay. The poor fellows who are called last are going to be months behind in training and are just out of luck when it comes to promotions because all non-com positions will be filled by the time they get there. It certainly looks like a raw deal. The boys are pretty disgusted./6/18/'43/Had to send off three friends last night. One from our block left for Chicago. Another left for University in Milwaukee (MARQUETTE). I wonder if you know him--Minoru Kojima. The other was a soldier friend on furlough from Camp Robinson, Ark. T/Sgt in Medical Detachment. Quite a number of my friends have been spending their furloughs here now that restrictions have been lifted regarding Nisei soldiers in the Western Defense Command. For many of them it was the first chance to see their folks since they had been drafted before the Pearl Harbor attack. Those who have come just recently have found that many of their friends are now on the outside. /After sending them off I stopped by to see the High Schools of Camp 2 & 3 battle it our for the High School Softball championship of Poston. Camp 3 High School team won 8-3 proving again that Camp 3's the Best./"Pride goeth before the fall" or something like that 'cuz a radio news report came in declaring that the Dies Committee has stopped all releases from Relocation Centers pending investigation. What a blow!! Especially for those who had been planning to go out within the next few days. /"Our friends" - the Dies Committee are supposed to come this afternoon to Camp 3. I hope it gets about ten degrees hotter than yesterday. It was only 112 in the barracks. I'd like to have them feel a little of this Poston weather before they leave. We'll see who is being "pampered and coddled."
/I've got to go to work now. I have been working in the Camp Barber Shop since May 17. Since I am the only barber, it keeps me rather busy. There is no cooler yet in the shop so it gets pretty hot. Especially this past week since Monday it has not been cooler than 100 in the afternoons up to 8 p.m. sometimes to 9:30 p.m. I don't work very long in the afternoons so the work isn't too hard./Not much news from dad. I have heard that the civilian internees are being moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Those who had been in Louisiana are now all at Santa Fe. Quite a few from Lordsburg have also been sent. As yet I don't know if dad has been sent. He was barbering the last I heard from him. I'm not going out until definite news of either release or detention arrives./Sincerely/Ted./P.S. Checked up on radio report. Found it was untrue. What a relief! Die's Committee was here nosing around. Didn't get to meet any of them. Darn the luck! Gosh, it was hot this afternoon. Heat lightning north of us all afternoon. Looks like a storm coming up. Ugly looking clouds. Feels sultry just now. Maybe we're going to have one of those wonderful desert storms--with 70 + mile winds, thunder + lightning, and dust and rain (2-3 inches in one storm). Oh boy----! I hope the Dies Committee gets caught in the middle of it. After all , the people in Camp 1 and 2 went thru the worst of last year. We caught the tail end of the hot season. /That's about all for now-----/Sincerely again/Ted/PP.S Enclosed is a little doodad for your mother. It should have been sent long ago but a friend borrowed it as a pattern and had misplaced it./T.H./P.P.PS. By the way how are library jobs back East or Middle West? Might get desperate enough to take one temporarily in order to go out. /TH/P.P.P.P.S.!!!! Was there enough money to take care of express charges?? TH/Here it is again!! P.P.P.P.S. Post Master says it's waste of time and money to airmail to Poston also South of San Francisco. T.H.;1 letter and envelope from Tetsuzo (Ted) Hirasaki to Clara Breed.