Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Atsumi Ozawa Interview
Narrator: Atsumi Ozawa
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Skokie, Illinois
Date: June 17, 2011
Densho ID: denshovh-oatsumi-01-0009

<Begin Segment 9>

AO: And then when we were going to Lima, we're going in the train. And when we got to Chosica, it was very close to Lima, Chosica, it's a small town, maybe one hour from Lima. So my mother lost the baby. She got miscarriage in the train. So right away, they called the ambulance and they took my mom to Lima to the hospital.

TI: Oh, that must have been very, very scary and difficult...

AO: Scary, yeah.

TI: ...for you and the others. And so what happened, they took your mother by ambulance, so what did you and the others do?

AO: Oh, we were in the train and we went to Lima, and Lima, my sister Hiroko, she was there already. She was married with Augusto Hoshi, so we stayed in her place. And we had a... and my mom was so weak after she lost the baby and she needed blood transfusion and all that, but we had a very short time, I don't know how many days, to get ready to go to Callao, to the port to meet my father there. But then she was in the hospital, but she didn't want to, she was afraid she won't be able to get in there. So she make like she was so strong, and we went to the port and we got in the ship, the warship.

TI: Oh, because they gave you kind of the date and the location, the ship, that you had to be there at a certain time.

AO: Yes.

TI: So when this is happening, you're now the oldest one, and so there must be lots of responsibility for you to take care of the younger children, your grandmother, and to make sure everything happened.

AO: Kind of were scared. We were scared we'd lose my mother or something, you know, because what happened.

TI: And so how did you, how did you do it? It must have been very, very difficult for you.

AO: Yeah, we were so scared. It was like I don't know what is gonna happen to us. We didn't know, you know, so gosh, we were kind of worried. I don't know what is gonna happen, what they're gonna do to us.

TI: Was there a way for you to somehow tell your father what was happening?

AO: After two days, we met my dad. After we got in the ship, warship, I don't know what was the name, I think I had in there written, but it was after two days, I guess, that was American ship, of course, you know, warship. And they put all the men and boys twelve years and older, they put under the bottom of the ship. So they used to come up around maybe four or five times to get fresh air for maybe thirty minutes. So that's how we saw my dad.

TI: So this was the... and so describe when you first saw your dad, what that felt like.

AO: Oh, I guess my mom must have told him everything what happened on the train. I don't know, I don't remember how I felt, but now that we were with my dad and we were all the family together, I guess we felt better, I think.

TI: Do you remember what your father said when he learned that your mother had a miscarriage?

AO: No, I don't remember. I don't know, because always there was the guard, American guard with a gun always watching us, you know, guarding us.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.