<Begin Segment 10>

REM: You took the, a train or car to "Camp Harmony"?

RTM: Well, we had a truck that we used in our business, and we loaded up all the stuff that we could carry into this truck, and then had this person drive us over to "Camp Harmony" in Puyallup. And we were in Area C. And, you know, we backed up, then unloaded the truck there. So each family had, what, whatever they could carry, a suitcase for each person and maybe some folding chairs and a card table or such. And that was about the extent of the furniture that we were able to have.

REM: No radios or...?

RTM: Well, I did buy a portable radio from a pawnshop in Tacoma, I remember, and took that with us.

REM: How did it feel to be behind fences and spotlights?

RTM: Well, it was kind of a different experience. You know, the week before, the Seattle people had already been brought down to Puyallup and was in Area A and B. And so we had some relatives in Area A, which was the main parking lot at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. And so we went down to visit them during the previous week. We'd, we'd take some groceries down there, some fruit and things like that, and pass it to them through the barbed-wire fence. And so one week you're on this side of the fence, next week, you're behind the fence. So I mean, it's quite an experience.

REM: You've been to McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary.

RTM: Yes.

REM: Can you empathize or sympathize with convicts? Was there much difference when you visited McNeil with "Camp Harmony"? Could you leave "Camp Harmony" at...?

RTM: Could what?

REM: Could you just get up and go out the gate?

RTM: No. It was all guarded with gates, and there was watchtowers with armed soldiers in 'em, and had spotlights along the borders of the, of the area. So it was probably an enclosed prison just like McNeil Island, I'm sure.

REM: How long were you at "Camp Harmony"?

RTM: Oh, let's see. We were in Puyallup from May, about the 15th of May 'til September. And in September we were put on board a train at Puyallup, and then left Puyallup to go to Minidoka, Idaho.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.