<Begin Segment 7>

RS: So anyway, so when the war broke out and we were sent to Puyallup Assembly Center, I believe the very first memory I have of life was my third birthday, which was in Puyallup, in June, because I believe we went there in April. And I remember very clearly walking in and out of our quarters telling people that I was three. And everybody that I saw, I remember telling people that I was three. And that was my first recollection, I think, of life, my third birthday. And then, I also remember -- and this was in Puyallup as well -- contracting the measles and being quarantined. My mother and I were both quarantined. And I remember that clearly because our food was passed through a slot in the door three times a day. But even more memorable than that was a mouse that was in our room that would come out every night and we could hear it scurrying around. And of course I thought it was this wonderful adventure. And my grandmother -- my mother was abhorred. And then one day, or one night there was no mouse and I mentioned that to my mother and she said that it's because she killed it. And I always remember going over to the garbage can, opening up, and seeing this dead mouse there, you know, which was probably one of the first encounters I had with the notion of death.

What's also interesting, 'cause my uncle that was married to my Aunt Fumi, who of course was also in camp, kept a diary for the two years that they were in camp. The difference between his diary and my grandmother's diary was that my grandmother's diary was probably never meant to be interpreted whereas my Uncle Yoichi Matsuda, who was married to my Aunt Fumi, wrote a diary in great anger, and I think fully intended to have the diaries trans-, not translated but perhaps published someday. Because he had a background in journalism and actually was working for the newspaper in Twin Falls when the war broke out. And I believe he voluntarily went into camp, because Twin Falls was actually outside of the security zone. And after the war he and Fumi left camp and moved to Twin Falls and stayed there until their, until his death.

So anyway, those were my main memories of Puyallup. And then I don't remember the train ride at all to camp, but I did read all of my grandmother's diaries about that plane -- train ride to camps, where the shades were all pulled down. And my grandmother talked about carrying me and that I was very restless, and periodically would cry. And that it was extremely hot. I believe it was during the hottest time of the year, in August. And then she wrote about what a disappointment it was to stop and to look at this camp, which I believe was the fourth largest city in Idaho at the time.

AI: Yeah, I think it was somewhere around ten thousand people, or so.

RS: Right. Right.

AI: And excuse me, were, was your, were your grandfather and grandmother on your father's side also living in the same room or barrack with you and your --

RS: No, they were, because my dad was a pharmacist, they put him to work in the hospital. And so all of the people that worked in the hospital or were associated, were all put in a certain area of camp close to the hospital, 'cause my grandmother was in a completely different zone. Because she talks about how, at least in the early goings, she had to apply for a permit to travel from one part of the camp to the other. So every time she wanted to see me, for example, she would have to apply for permission to make that move. So no, we were not living together at that point.

And then during camp, my sister Carolyn was born, Carolyn Hisako. And I remember her being born, but I remember nothing about it. I mean, I remember the fact of her being born, but I have no associations with it.

What I do have a lot of recollections about was getting into a lot of mischief. And one of the incidents that I recall, and of course, when you remember so few things, but you tell that story again and again, it suddenly becomes galvanized and, but I don't believe that I've been embellishing everything all these years, but it was with Billy Ishida. And Billy is someone that I ended up going to junior high and high school together, I guess. But he and I got into my mom's makeup. And we ended up putting makeup all over, not just ourselves but the entire room and the mirrors and all that. And I remember, I remember doing that. And I remember how furious my mother was when she came in there and discovered this mess that we had made. So, it's funny, of all the things that happened, you know, over a two-year period, that I should remember that more clearly than anything.

And then I remember all of the extremes of weather, because coming from Seattle, I'd never experienced heat like that. I had never experienced wind like that, and the sandstorms. And I never remembered ice like that, and the flooding, how everything just turned into this quagmire. It was all new to me. And as a three- and four-year-old... and I remember the mess halls, eating there, I remember the bathrooms, and a few small episodes here and there. I remember friends coming to visit right after we got there. I remember our neighbors that took care of our house while we were gone, coming to visit us. And I remember talking through the fence.

AI: These were Caucasian neighbors?

RS: Right, right.

AI: From Seattle?

RS: And they hadn't yet set up any kind of organized system of how the people, the internees would accommodate guests that might come visit. And so it was just a dialogue through the fence, which was one of the images that I made later on as one of my first ten memories of life. So, basically that's...

AI: Do you remember any kind of... I understand that there was some preschool there of some sort, or nursery school type thing. Did you go to any of --

RS: Yeah, there was actually a whole school system set up all the way through high school. My personal involvement was in nursery school, and most of my recollection has to do with that photograph that was taken in that nursery school class. But, to tell you the truth, I don't, I can't recall anything that happened while I was in class.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.