<Begin Segment 18>

AI: Well, tell us about, what you remember about those last few weeks of getting ready to leave and packing up and...

RI: Oh, I think it was pretty hectic because, because we had a house, we knew that we had a place to put things. So we did pack up a lot of things and put it in our basement. But our friends also wanted to put their things in our basement, so we, I'm sure that we helped them put -- I don't know whether they were valuable things or not. But in the meantime, we also had to rent our house. It was being cleared out and had about four bedrooms upstairs. It was a pretty big house for those days. And to rent it to someone was a problem. And I think that eventually we must have hired an Asian who took care of trying to rent it. And I heard that it was being rented for twenty-five dollars a month to a family. And then, of course they didn't take care of the place so it really got ransacked. And they ransacked the basement, too, where our supplies were stored. But, you know, I was very compliant so I did whatever I was told to do and packed up my own things.

DG: Did you keep going to school at that time?

RI: I think so, until evacuation. Let me see... in May, yeah, I had to withdraw from spring quarter and so I didn't finish out. Whereas my sister, she had to finish out in order to graduate. So she did some work in camp. But I just withdraw. And you lose out whatever hours you've attended. So I lost that quarter. So that meant I went one year and two quarters. Then when I transferred to University of Texas, Texas was on a semester basis so it was very hard to transfer credits. And then Texas also required some basic courses, like I had to take a course in history of Texas, the state of Texas. They were very proud of Texas. But things like that. And some credits they didn't transfer, so it was difficult. But...

AI: Well, we'll want to come back to your experience at Texas later. But in the meantime, so you had to pack things up and get ready and help with the younger children and...

RI: Uh-huh.

AI: What do you remember of the actual day that you were leaving Seattle?

RI: Well, before the actual day, I wanna tell you that my little brother, Lloyd, was two years old, and he was sick. He had a ear infection and we had to call a doctor. I remember this hakujin doctor came to the house and he said, "This little boy needs to be in the hospital." But by then there was a curfew and we couldn't go out after eight p.m., I think. And there was a area restriction, too. So we told him that, "No, we can't, we can't take him to the hospital." He said, "I'll take him." So he wrapped him up in some blanket and took him in his car and brought him, I think it was Providence Hospital, brought him to the hospital. But we couldn't go visit him because we weren't allowed to. Then, I think at that time we were worried that he might have to have a operation, mastoidectomy or something. In those days, you know, there was no antibiotics, so they thought they'd have to operate and cut back into the bone there to release the abscess or whatever. But apparently he got better so he didn't have to have that. And we, we were only allowed to visit him during the day, so we couldn't go until the next day. But I definitely remember that because it was quite a worry for my parents.

DG: Didn't he cry when he was taken?

RI: I'm sure he did. [Laughs] And maybe we cried, too. You know, he was being taken, we couldn't go with him and, but the doctor took the responsibility and said he'd admit him and take care of him, and, "You come see him tomorrow," that kind of thing. But we couldn't help it. We weren't allowed to go out. But, I remember that happened before camp. So he must've, that must have happened, I don't know when curfew started but after the Pearl Harbor, huh? Pretty early? But that was one of the things I remember during the war.

And then I remember there was a hakujin girl in our neighborhood who was in my class. And in order to say goodbye to her was pretty hard. And I remember making a trip downtown to a dime store and buying a little pin, it was a initial pin that you put, lapel pin, and her name was Sophie so I got a "S" and I brought it to her and told her, "This is my parting gift." And of course in those days whatever I spent, maybe it was only fifty cents, a quarter or something, I thought was such a great big deal. [Laughs] But it was sort of parting gift, but I remember that because she was hakujin and she lived in our neighborhood, maybe about two blocks away. But other than that, most of our other friends were all Japanese so they were being evacuated just like us, so very similar. So, I, I remember walking down the street. We lived on East Spruce Street and then at, on Eleventh Avenue was fujin home. And fujin home had -- was sort of a home for widows and homeless children and place like that. I kind of think we gathered down there to board a bus to go to the train station. But...

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.