The saddest thing about all this leisure time is to not have used it more effectively. No one had what you call a “room of your own,” so we were constantly going out of our family apartment to be with other people. The period that I was working as a drafting technician was a “soft job” unlike repairing autos and trucks in my previous job, so after work, I was looking for more physical activities.
I was a teenager without many responsibilities, and at times, I was chastised or reminded by my brother for being too lackadaisical. He was more determined than I to look for opportunities to improve himself. At the Topaz camp in Utah he enrolled in a night class in aeronautic mechanics which was offered in a nearby town. A certain number of internees were taken in an army truck, and I remembered him going to the mess hall after dinner to fill a thermos jug with hot coffee to keep him going on those cold nights at class. He was 19 when we went to camp, so it was a crucial period if he wanted to pursue higher education. After the war, he wasted no time when he returned from army service to enroll at the University of California to major in mechanical engineering. He was the first one in our family to go to college and would have been the only one had I not also benefited from the G.I. Bill of Rights, which made it possible to go to college.
Of course, I’m viewing all of this from the standpoint of a young person emphasizing all sorts of leisure activities during our spare time. Many older adults took advantage of different classes in the evenings. In the camp environment it was important for one to have a brighter outlook, but I’m sure there were some individuals who had a difficult time coping with this life of confinement.
Those who were more forward-looking left camp when they were cleared to leave. Generally speaking, they were single adults or young couples, although entire families did leave as long as they could find employment and housing. In our family, our older sister and brother left for the Midwest. Many of the internees moved to places like Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia and New York City, as well as many smaller communities where they found work and shared homes with friends.