<Begin Segment 21>

TI: So when you got to Tule Lake, what was, what was that like? Was it Pinedale or Tule Lake you went to?

BI: Tule Lake.

TI: Okay, Tule Lake, so what was, what was that like?

BI: Well, after being on that train for so long, and we got to Tule Lake at evening. And they picked us up on a truck and they took us to the, to our barrack. And at that time it wasn't full yet, and so they left us at a block that was not occupied yet. And I went into this barrack and there's a bed, you know, cot, nothing else. And I thought, "Oh, my God." And then Ken said, "You wait here. I'm going to go check out something," so he left me in this barrack with Ayleen. And at that time, there was a rumor about the Hawaiian group that was raising some problems, and I thought, I was frightened that, because there was nobody around, the barracks were empty. And eventually, the barracks began to fill up, and we stayed there almost a year, I guess. But it was such a desolate place, and dusty, and my husband became the block manager of that particular block. The block manager handled the mail and whatever problems that came up.

TI: Now, when you were at Tule, did it, did it ever come up that your husband had a, a trial in Seattle? I mean, here you didn't have very many Seattle people at Tule Lake, and I'm just curious if it was, if people knew about that.

BI: You know, I don't, I don't recall, I don't think so. But there was a Dr. (Yamato) Ichihashi, he was a professor at Stanford that was either in the same block or next block. And then there was a Mr. (Noboru Shirai) from Sacramento. I think Ken had met Mr. (Shirai) when... no, anyway, he became very close friends with them. And so, of course, I think they knew what had happened, but nobody else, they couldn't care less what happened, they had their own problems.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.