<Begin Segment 32>

LH: Let's see... now, your husband was able to come back from time to time?

FH: Yes.

LH: So, how long were you saying -- perhaps once a week he would come back?

FH: Oh yes, sometime not that often.

LH: Okay. When the time came for you to leave the camps, was he there, was he at the camp or was he away?

FH: No, we knew just when we were leaving. So, by that time he was back.

LH: I see. And, when was that that you found out you could leave the camps?

FH: Well, they want it closed, they have deadline for it, camp to be... so we, my brother-in-law went back first to Bainbridge and clean up the house because; and then when he was ready, we, we just went back.

LH: Was there any reluctance to leave the camp?

FH: No. No.

LH: Were you anxious to get back?

FH: Glad to get back. And they were worried too, how things were, but I know, we weren't worried because my brother in law went back first and cleaned the house and burnt everything that wasn't ours and... fact, we wondered -- the house is a mess but everything was there.

LH: Now, when you were leaving the camp, were you given any sort of compensation by the administration? Did they give you any travel money?

FH: Yeah, travel. They must've got a travel money, yeah.

LH: What were you allowed to take with you from camp?

FH: Oh, anything you want to. But there's a limit, of course. I don't know. We didn't bring the crib back... when Leonard was born, Bainbridge boys got together and made a crib for him, and brought it to us with a ribbon. (Sorry we've part with it.)

LH: How nice.

FH: And we used that in the barrack. I wanted... we kinda wanted to bring it home but, it was all wood and I don't know. My husband said, Oh we could always buy another one. Too much trouble packing and, we left it.

LH: Do you recall about when this was?

FH: Huh?

LH: Do you recall about when you left camp?

FH: Yeah we, we left, we didn't leave, I think my other sister went home before we did.

LH: Do you recall what month and year?

FH: Well just a few days difference, I think. We came back Leonard's, we left the camp on Leonard's birthday, August, August 15th, that's about time the war ended too, in't?

LH: Do you recall the year that you left?

FH: I think so.

LH: Was that 1940...

FH: '45?

LH: '45? And so you returned to Bainbridge by train again?

FH: Yes.

LH: So, you came from Idaho to Seattle, and boarded a ferry?

FH: Uh-huh.

LH: Now, what kind of feelings does that give you when you think of that time?

FH: Well, anxious to be home.

LH: Yeah. When the ferry is approaching Bainbridge Island, the Bainbridge Island dock, what kind of feelings did you have about that?

FH: Glad to be home. And, seem like time went fast. We didn't, feels like we didn't stay there that long. You know. Everything was same except, 'course everything was outgrown, and my gardens were all... used to like flowers and we had garden but, not only that, strawberry fields was full of weed and...

LH: What happened to the animals? The horses and the hunting dog?

FH: Oh, the barn horse, we only had one left, one left. We, it's funny by that time, oh we had tractor before, but he, when my husband they bought one more, new one, my sister and I said, we got tired of chasing the horse. 'Cause she was a smart horse, you know, used to run around, get loose and we had to go catch him. And we had to bring the water to her every day, we decided, well we end up doing, the menfolk said we could sell the horse if we want to. So we decide we were going to sell it, so we sold it, and bought a drape for the house. [Laughs]

<End Segment 32> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.