<Begin Segment 14>

AI: Well, did I have the date right, that you left Seattle on May 8, 1942? Does that sound right?

MN: That's right.

AI: What happened that morning, that day?

MN: I think we walked to Collins Playfield, because that's where we departed from, and it was only a block away. And a truck must have come after our baggage, I don't remember much about it. And we boarded the bus, and there were a few people out to wave us goodbye, but not very many.

AI: And then you took the bus...

MN: To Puyallup.

AI: And you knew that you were going to Puyallup.

MN: I don't know whether I knew. And we were not in the Puyallup Fairgrounds, we were kitty-corner from the fairgrounds, and so it was a parking lot at that time that they transformed into barracks. And when we got there, all the barbed wire fences were up and the four towers on the four corners were up with the soldiers manning the guns.

AI: What was your feeling as you...

MN: Well, then you knew you were prisoners, and we had lost our freedom, and we were stuck there. But then we had many friends there, so a lot of times it was more like a picnic.

AI: Well, the area you were describing, where you were put with your family, became known as Area A, is that right?

MN: Area A, uh-huh.

AI: Tell me about your living condition there.

MN: It wasn't good. Since my brother was the only boy in the family, and my father was gone, and so he stayed with another family, and their two girls came and lived so that it'd be easier, all girls and all boys in one, different rooms, because you only had one room for the whole family.

AI: So in other words, you and your sisters shared a room with...

MN: Two other friends.

AI: And your brother went...

MN: Went to their family, 'cause they had more boys. They had four or five boys. It fit, it really fit better for them.

AI: And what was your daily life like?

MN: Well, it was getting adjusted to living like that. When all of a sudden, when you used to have own room, all of a sudden you're in one room with everybody, and there was no privacy whatsoever. You couldn't, if you got mad at your mother or your sister, we used to run up to our room and close the door. In camp, there was nowhere, absolutely nowhere. Even in the bathroom there was no privacy, so you couldn't run to the bathroom, either, to hide. So I think that's one of the hardest things to get used to, losing your privacy.

AI: And what about meals there in Puyallup?

MN: Like somebody said, your food was as good as the cook. So it depended on the cook you had, so I can't remember, all I remember is how they sloshed the food on your plate, and you sat anywhere and ate with the general public.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.