<Begin Segment 9>

JT: And then what happened? Where did you go?

KT: And then we went to Topaz and took a train ride. Every time you come into a city or town, any area that's, it's a population, we had to close our blinds.

JT: Why do you think they... you know, I've heard that a lot. Why do you think you had to do that?

KT: Because they thought that if some radicals were out there and in these various towns, that they might do something.

JT: Okay, there'd be some hate or some kind of racism, trouble. When I was little, I thought it was so that you wouldn't be able to look out, but now it makes more sense to me. Because did you know where you were going on the train? Did you know where you were going, where you were heading?

KT: Oh, just by the time we were going to Topaz. Some groups had gone previously, and then you hear all kinds of things about scorpions and stuff like that.

JT: Oh, all that... but you were already, if you were a little boy, it might have sounded like an adventure. But you already knew it was not a fun kind of camp.

KT: Right.

JT: So did you stay in the same, you call it a barrack, at Topaz with your family?

KT: Yeah.

JT: What block were you in?

KT: Twenty-eight.

JT: Okay, twenty-eight. Were there other people from Alameda there, do you remember?

KT: I'm not sure.

JT: It's okay, but so you're in high school. What did you do to occupy your time in camp?

KT: Well, initially, since my father was sort of ill, and my mother had to take care of him, and so... and my brother had left camp to go to school in Denver.

JT: Okay, so you were the eldest, you became the eldest son.

KT: Right, uh-huh. And so I had to do something for the camp. And so I was a dishwasher.

JT: Oh, in the mess hall?

KT: Yeah.

JT: Oh, boy. Three times a day?

KT: I believe that was, yeah.

JT: Okay, because you washed the pots and pans.

KT: Right.

JT: Okay. Because people brought their own dishes, didn't they?

KT: Yeah.

JT: And they brought, they rinsed them outside or something, I've seen pictures of that. So you got promoted, did you ever get promoted?

KT: [Laughs] I got paid.

JT: Oh, really? How much did you get paid?

KT: Sixteen dollars.

JT: Sixteen dollars a week?

KT: A month.

JT: A month, oh my gosh. What kind of things were you able to spend it on?

KT: Well, Sears catalogs, Montgomery Ward.

JT: And you were a young man, so you didn't have... what kind of things would you buy? Was it mostly clothes?

KT: I think the canteen was there.

JT: Right. Oh, gum... and what was the matter with your father? Why was he ill?

KT: Just high blood pressure, and I think he had a stroke before the war.

JT: Oh, gosh. And do you remember Akagi... what was his name? Your friend? Oh, Hi. Did you know, you were friends with Hi, but did you know his brother Kuni?

KT: Yeah.

JT: I heard that he wasn't well. I think he was the first person to pass away at Topaz, Kuni Akagi. There's a picture of his service. So you were buddies with Hi?

KT: Yeah.

MT: But Jo, he didn't stay in camp very long.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.