<Begin Segment 53>

TI: Okay, so here we are, your two sisters decided to stay at Tule Lake, your brother's working in Montana, so you, your wife, your daughter and your two parents go to Minidoka.

HH: Yes.

TI: So explain how you got to Minidoka.

HH: Well, of course, our crates were taken by the truck, so we just had our own suitcases, everybody, and they sent a car and loaded up the car and told us to ride with them. And we didn't know where we were going, but we found out that a place close by, there's a little town called Tulelake, and that's where the train stops on the way to Klamath Falls. That railroad line runs through the little town of Tulelake, and also it's one of the main highways to Reno, that the Tule Lake camp was located. But it was already dark so we didn't know where we were going. But all of a sudden they stopped and said, "This is where you're going to take the train," and the train was already there. And so we took all our luggage out and no escort or anybody, we had to get on the train. And being dark outside, we could see that the door was open, we could see soldiers and civilians in there, and we were just told to get on, but we didn't know where the seat was. Because for four of us, we needed one that faced each other or whatever. And there was four soldiers right close to the door as we went in, and they didn't show any discrimination or anything, they just got up and said, "Why don't you people sit here?" Because they knew that we had four adults and one baby. So I felt a little, you know, it's the first time I'm going outside of the camp area and everything, and it wasn't, the only train that was going to Minidoka.

TI: So how did that make you feel when these four soldiers got up and gave you, gave their seats up?

HH: Well, it's really... but all around was all white people, no blacks around there. But I felt a little uneasy, because we're by ourselves, not with any escort from the camp, so we were on our own. And I had to get hot water for my daughter's milk, SMA is one of the powdered-type...

TI: So baby formula.

HH: Baby formula. And so I had to find a diner or somewhere where I can get some. And so I went down into the dining area, and I was able to get, nothing saying, "How come you're on the train," or anything, it was so easy for us. But all the time I'm kind of worried, gee, I don't see any friendly faces. But you know, some nearby did mention to us, but I think they probably knew. Well, maybe they didn't know that there was a concentration camp nearby, that we came from there. I don't know.

TI: That's a good story. So you were uneasy, you just didn't know what to expect, and you were kind of hesitating or just not sure what was going to happen at every step, but everything went really well?

HH: Well, see, I don't think it was an overnight trip or whatever, but I know that... I cannot remember what happened after we got on and I got the hot water and everything. I can't to this day, until we came to not the camp itself, but the Twin Falls area, where we had to get off. And then they sent a truck to pick us up to Minidoka.

<End Segment 53> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.