<Begin Segment 19>

AI: Well, what, when your father was actually picked up by the FBI, when was that? That was in February, was it?

MK: February 21st, I think.

AI: Of 1942?

MK: '42. Because in the newspaper it's in the February 22 so of course it was the day after. That was the big news.

AI: Right. And so then sometime after that, after February 21st, then you visited him?

MK: Within a week, less than a week, uh-huh.

AI: At the immigration --

MK: And I think he was already being -- he had his interrogation and they decided, well, he's gonna have to go to, move on to Montana. And so I think this is why he was given permission to have a visitor. And so, and I don't even remember these telephone calls, or whatever, but Mom said we have to go. And so we, it was February, we have our coats on. So I remember it was on the cool side. And we went to visit him. And it was our last goodbye.

AI: So then, your father was gone. And he, eventually you found out that he was in Montana?

MK: Montana, Montana. Missoula. Missoula, Montana. There were a few camps, but it was Missoula. And he met some people who were on the Italian luxury liners, other nationalities that were put there. And then this is before we moved. He had requested his violin. And I guess he had some free time, at recreation time, so this is why -- because of that, well, we still have the violin, because we sent it to him, and that was when -- I even have his notes that he wrote, he was writing the violin music to play with the shakuhachis. And then I guess he played some with the Italian luxury liner musicians. So, that gave me some comfort to think that it wasn't all that depressing. He had some recreation, or time to forget about it.

AI: So, you had some letters from him while he was in Montana, and before you were removed out of Seattle, before you left Seattle?

MK: Not too many, but the few that we got, let me see, are you talking about from in camp?

AI: Before you went to camp.

MK: Not, not, not to our home. I don't, I don't remember any. But the ones that we got in camp I remember. They were all blacked out. You know, it's unfortunate because we went to Japan. We had to unload and thin out all the things. So again, we went to camp with two suitcase, but then again, to go to Japan, we had to screen out some more of that, because my mother had a brand new portable sewing machine and we couldn't take that. I mean, we had to just keep leaving things behind.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.