<Begin Segment 14>

AI: And I'm wondering what kind of discussion your family was having?

BS: Well, I know, I guess my dad had probably read in the paper, I guess. He had seen pictures in the paper about Portland, how they were preparing for people to be put, I don't know, their fairgrounds, or something. And so, he, my father felt that because my mother and father were not American citizens, well, actually they weren't permitted to become American citizens. And they felt that they were going to be sent to Japan. And so that, but we were American citizens so we would be permitted to remain here. And so my, I could hear my parents talking late at night. I guess they thought we were all asleep but I, I overheard them talking to my older, my brother Paul and my sister Ruth and saying that if they are sent to Japan that they would be responsible for taking care of the younger ones. And at that time I couldn't imagine being separated from my parents. And I, I just used to worry so much about that, you know, about being separated. And I, it really worried me until... and so when people would ask me about evacuation, you know, "Were you sad in that?" And I said, "No, I was happy because I knew we were gonna go as a family, that my parents were not going to be sent to Japan." And so, I didn't care as long as we were together as a family. And so I was happy as long as we remained together.

And well, going back to the curfew, my oldest sister, Dorothy, was married on March 15, 1942 and I had always hoped that I would be a flower girl, and my sisters, we would talk about it and say, "Oh, you'd be able to be a flower girl." And so I was excited about that. But then, because the curfew, people were limited to how many people could travel so far. And they were getting married in Brooks, Oregon, which is right outside of Salem. And so only my sister, I think my two older sisters, I think Dorothy and Ruth and my brother Paul and my parents and my grandfather were allowed to go, and the younger ones were not allowed to go. We were just, the Nishimotos watched over us, and that. So that was a big disappointment. And that was the first marriage in the family. And then they had to take a specific route, a roundabout way to get to the Salem area, because I guess they weren't allowed to go along the Columbia River. Is the Bonneville Dam around there? I guess, so they had to take a long roundabout way.

AI: So there were quite a few restrictions that really affected your family?

BS: Oh yes, uh-huh.

AI: Well, then after, after your sister was married, and that was in March, then it wasn't too much longer between then and the time that you were all forced to leave. What do you remember about that time, those last few months or weeks or days before getting ready to go?

BS: I can't remember. Well, I know that my dad would see pictures in the paper about the Portland people were taken already. And then see them, they had pictures of them lining up to eat and they had plates and whatever, tray and stuff. And so my father thought that we had to provide all of that so he went out and bought these baked enamel kind of, baked enamel over metal type of plates and got silverware, and then those cups, mugs, what would it be? Not stainless steel but metal, something that wouldn't break, he went out to buy those and he didn't realize that the government was going to provide those things. And we had, because we never traveled or anything, so we had to go out and buy some suitcases and all that.

AI: Well, tell me about what happened to all the things that, in your house, your belongings and the farm things?

BS: I really don't know. I think, like farm equipment and things, I'm not sure if he stored them or where he was able to store them unless he was able to take them over to the Nishimotos'. 'Cause I think my father leased the land. And so he may have taken them over to the Nishimotos' place or, I really don't know where he stored some of the things. But then other things you just had to leave, 'cause we can only take as much, what, one suitcase, what we could carry.

AI: What kinds of things did you take?

BS: I don't know. I just, I really don't know. It must've been just clothing as far as... well, I do remember, I think we took a Monopoly set. I think we took that 'cause I think we played with that in camp. Someone had given it to us for Christmas, a good family friend, and I think we took that. But other than that, I don't remember.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.