<Begin Segment 53>

TI: And maybe you could explain, so Fort Stanton, so Santa Fe was a, a Department of Justice, so pretty high security.

TA: Yes.

TI: But they were sent to Fort Stanton, which was even higher security, more like... explain that. What was the significance of Fort Stanton?

TA: Now, Fort Stanton, per se, was not a Japanese internment camp. It was for the Germans. However, within Fort Stanton, there was what they call a Japanese Segregation Camp No. 1. It was a small sub-camp. And this small sub-camp was, it was in conjunction with, with the Germans, troublemakers. And what they did is they isolated, and they gave 'em a harsher treatment as a punishment. And so Japanese Segregation Camp was an unknown. It was a secret camp, unknown to many people. In fact, hardly anybody knew about this camp. And what it was is that -- I learned through my research -- is that they wanted to show that, that Fort Stanton was near Santa Fe. They never mentioned this Japanese segregation, they referred to it as Fort Stanton. And by just an error --

TI: They referred to it as Santa Fe or Fort Stanton?

TA: Well, the, it was Fort Stanton. Fort Stanton was known as an internment camp, and so what happened is that by error, when my mother made query about where the whereabouts of my father, because he, we weren't receiving any letter or not, but they cc'd Fort Stanton. And because of this letter, my mother learned that he was at Fort Stanton. But they told, they gave instruction that, "Send the address to Santa Fe." So we all thought that Fort Stanton was near, adjacent to Santa Fe, because they used the Santa Fe address.

TI: Well, now how far away was...

TA: Two hundred miles. Two hundred miles south. And so, what happened is when they, when they took the Santa Fe people -- well, the Tachibana and Higashi was there first, but when the took the, actually, seventeen, the cook came later, so actually, what is it? Seventeen minus three is...

TI: Fourteen.

TA: Fourteen people. And fourteen people were loaded on, on a truck and taken to Santa Fe -- I mean, to Fort Stanton. But they didn't go to Fort Stanton, they just bypassed the fence and took 'em to the segregation camp. And that's where they stayed.

TI: So, so it sounds like it was a secret camp, and at this point, the Geneva Convention should be in play --

TA: Yes.

TI: -- for them, and I would think, I mean, it doesn't seem appropriate that you can take a group and put them into a secret camp and not inform people, based on the Geneva Convention.

TA: Based on the Geneva Convention, that you could only hold them for thirty days. That's the, that's the limit. Thirty days in confinement, separated from the rest of the group. Well, this is not thirty days, it's more than thirty days.

TI: So you think that was one of the reasons why they called it -- or by appearances, called it Santa Fe?

TA: Yes. Later I, I learned through my research that that was the intention, is to keep the... in fact, when they violated that cc, they kind of admonished the, the people for, for sending that. And I got the copy of that, there was a letter to the OIC saying that, "because of this, you, you revealed the location of these people." So as a result, they were trying to keep it secret, very secret.

TI: So, what was life like at Fort Stanton for your father and the other sixteen?

TA: For all, when they were there, it was not a cohesive group. Very mixed, and they had the younger people, the older people, and they started to get separated into their own little, where they were compatible. And it was boring, monotonous, nothing to do. They did get the newspaper. Wada subscribed for the newspaper, and they got the newspaper, and that was their only means of communication. They, the German sub-camp was co-located, so as a result, they had a fence, I mean, gate, but the shower was on that side, but they were able to take the shower on the German side, and they were able to go to the recreation hall, they were able to mingle with the Germans. And so, other than being isolated and confined, the guards left them relatively alone. It was a high security fence, they had to place to go. And so...

TI: And so how long were they at Fort Stanton?

TA: Let's see... they were picked up about May... about August.

TI: So May...

TA: After the war ended. August 15 the war ended. In fact, there was a touching thing, that Wada was telling me about how the OIC came and made a speech that, you know, "Yesterday we were enemies and now we are friends," and he says how he admired 'em for being resistant and being, that, and he also said that the emperor asked that, that they cooperate. And, and then also, the radio broadcasts that the emperor made, they allowed 'em to listen to the radio, and he, he sort of became a little bit more lenient. Gave 'em, like they wanted wood for carving and things like that, they gave him wood. They wanted fish and he went out and got fish. And they, they were relatively treated very well, after the war ended.

<End Segment 53> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.