<Begin Segment 10>

TI: So with the Japanese and Japanese Americans being removed from "Camp Harmony" in Puyallup, from there they pretty much went to Idaho.

EBA: Yes.

TI: The Hunt, Idaho, or Minidoka. At that point, what happened to your family? What was the next step for your family in terms of staying in touch with the congregation?

EBA: The next step for us was, my oldest sister stayed in, she was married then, she stayed in our house. She and her husband stayed in our house in Seattle. And we decided that since we have nothing left for us here as far as ministry and work at the Japanese Baptist Church, 'cause it was empty, that we would move to Twin Falls, which is just a few miles from Minidoka. So we moved to Twin Falls and rented a house there. And from the beginning, my dad and mom determined that we would use the houses as sort of a hostel for --

TI: Even before you go there, let's talk about the, just the trip over. I mean, just, if you can give me a sense of going from Seattle to Twin Falls. How far is that? I mean, how do you go, how did you go from Seattle to Twin Falls, and what was that like?

EBA: Well, it wasn't on I-90, that's for sure. [Laughs] I'm not sure what roads we took but it was a trip of about, at that time, about 850 miles, I think it was. And to me, it was sort of an adventure at that point. We were moving from Seattle, moving to another place and it was just some sense of adventure for me at that point.

TI: And so your family just loaded up your vehicle with your stuff and just started driving to Minidoka, or Twin Falls?

EBA: Right. And we must've traveled in a contraption that at that time we called the "Blue Box." It was an old Ford chassis, truck chassis with this big long box on the back of it and it was painted blue so we called it the Blue Box. Because my sister and her husband stayed in our house in Seattle, we didn't take any furniture with us but we took whatever else we would need there in Twin Falls, and Dad rented a house there.

TI: Do you recall, was there any discussion on whether or not to go to Twin Falls? Like from your mother, your other sisters, was there any discussion or was it just like, I mean, just to give a perspective, this was not a common occurrence.

EBA: No.

TI: And so I'm wondering, and in fact, I would classify it as an extraordinary move on the part of your family to do this. I mean, was there any discussion about, about this?

EBA: I don't recall any discussion about it, but I can imagine that it was just, we would just do it. I mean, that was the right thing to do, that we would go and continue the ministry there. Nothing had to be said about... I don't think there was much discussion about, "Well, should we or shouldn't we?" "Well, what do we do if we stay here?" But I think it was just assumed that we would follow them over there to Minidoka.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.