Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Jimi Yamaichi Interview
Narrator: Jimi Yamaichi
Interviewer: Alice Ito
Location: Klamath Falls, Oregon
Date: July 4, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-yjimi-01-0004

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AI: So you were just talking about your family's thinking over what they are going to do about perhaps selling the farm.

JY: Yeah, voluntarily evacuate or not, because we had friends that moved into the B district, right, the Marysville area, which was not the A area. They said, "Well, why don't you come to Marysville?" We said, "Well," we debated, "maybe we should." We were contemplating. Meantime, we're preparing to leave. We're preparing the truck and this and that, to pull and take our equipment with us. When Charles Buron talked my father into it, so they said, "Well, we'll do just the opposite, keep the land." So we kept the land, and one car, and we sold everything else. And the small stuff, and all the personal belongings we put in one room, locked the doors, and gave the key to Charles Buron. And he just took over it and kept the land, collected rent, paid the taxes, that was it. And every month he report how much money is in the bank, from the rent and whatever may be. And when we got back, the farm was there, it was ready for to us move in. But, the contract read, "When the war ends..." we'll be able to move in. Well, war never, ever ends, because when war ends mean declaration of war is signed. Congress has to pass a law saying the war is ended, so officially World War II has never ended. So attorney says, "Don't say that. Just say the war is done, now we want the farm back." If they went to contest it, we could never get the farm back. So we soft-stepped the whole situation, and finally the people moved out. So we had to go back onto our farm, and we had a big house, so the whole family went back in the big house.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.