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TI: Okay, so describe your... you're now going to Vancouver.

HS: Yeah, we went down to Vancouver. It was a, it was, it was, to me, it was an adventure. You know, we're on this train, first time that we've been... this is the first time I've ever been on a train. And so we, we did all kinds of stupid things as kids. We, we opened the, everybody tried to open windows, first thing we... because it was hot in the, in the cars. So we had our window open, and we were leaning out of the windows, getting the fresh air, and going down the train. And I still remember looking at Harry, and his face was black from the cinders that was coming out. [Laughs] I said, "Your face is black," because he looked at me and says, "You are, too." And I had no idea that I, we had been, we had been hanging out there thinking that this is a wonderful feeling to have this wind in your hair sort of idea. And here we were, we were completely blackened with the, with the cinders that were coming from the, from the locomotive. Because these were still steam, coal-driven steam engines. They were not diesels at that time. But we had no idea that this was happening to us. Anyhow, we go down, and the thing was, there was a food cart, and that seemed to feed these people. I still remember they fed us stew. And what they did was they got... I don't know who made the stew, whether or not some of the Japanese mothers or whatnot were told that they would have to come here, "Here's the stuff, make stew for everybody," or whether they had hired cooks to, and had a special car. They did have a special car where they did the cooking, they had cooked. And our, our train was, I don't know, fifteen, twenty cars.

And it took us, it took us two days to get down to, to Vancouver. And once you get into Vancouver, it took us, the thing about it is the train could go directly into Hastings Park. Because Hastings Park was, was a park where they needed, the trains had to bring in the things for their big livestock shows and all kinds of things that would happen. So the train came right into Hastings Park, we came off the train, we were already in the park. But the other thing that Hastings Park had, because it was a livestock area that they would use, they had a linked, chain-link fence, and the fence went all the way around the, the perimeter of this Hastings Park exhibition grounds. The grounds had, had a fence, so that was ideal for placing people in that they didn't, that they want to control.

TI: So when you got off the train at Hastings Park, what did you see?

HS: Just, it was just a big, it's a big grassy area with buildings here and there, and all these buildings, one was for livestock, one was for displays...

TI: At that point, were there very many people there?

HS: A few people were already there.

TI: So you were one of the first groups.

HS: We were one of the first, yeah. Prince Rupert people were, being the furthest away, we probably, they started us probably first. But we, by the time we got there, we were not the first to disembark. It was other people that already arrived by a little bit closer by, like people from Salt Spring, 'cause they just had to go, bring 'em by truck. Go across the, across the ferry and bring 'em directly to the, to the park. So they might have (come) in the day before.

TI: So how did they get you organized in terms of sleeping quarters and all that?

HS: Well, all, they had already made that. They had put workmen in all the big buildings, what they had done, they had big floors on these buildings. Big display, exhibition. All the stalls, animal stalls, they had put families in each one, so the stalls were used. And then my mother, I remember they had, and Mrs. Nishikaze, we had to clean out the stalls, because although they hosed them down, they hadn't really cleaned them perfectly, so they were still dirty stalls. And so they had to clean all these out. Then what they did was we were given, the bed, the men's, I was thirteen years old, so I was designated to the men's dormitory. And the men's dormitory was older people plus young, young boys. People under eighteen. And there were also a number of other people, too, that were in-between -- there were, not all the men were taken to the camps for some reason. My father actually, I think my father was... I believe he was there. He came with us. I can't remember, 'cause we were separated on the train. We were somehow, we were, he was in another part of the train. But my mother, I know, we were, we had a family. And then my father and Mr. Nishikaze were in that building that we were there in this, in this Hastings Park, but he was definitely there, and so was Mr. Nishikaze. It might be possible that they, they might have gone earlier. That may have been the reason why they were not on the train and I don't remember. But they had had gone down there, and they had built, they had done all the initial building of these double, double bunk, double bunk beds. All they had done was just, and they put springs in the middle, and they put the double, they make the double beds. And the whole, four of 'em that was there filled. It was, it was a skating rink that was completely filled with all these double bunks.

TI: So in the men's dorm, it was just a large room with double bunks.

HS: Oh, large room with all these, all these bunks.

TI: Hundreds of men sleeping --

HS: Hundreds of men. And then they had made, they had made... they adapted or changed the washroom area, and they made it into a great big washroom area, big sluice area where you, where they had made it for a urinal, possible urinal and everything else, toilet, and they just, the water just came shooting down there and just cleaned everything up. The flushing system was all done in one fell swoop. And it was, and then they had, on one, another side they had put all kinds of washbasins for you to wash with there. And that was the men's dormitory. Same thing was done, and they changed the, they did add, like, toilets and stuff to the, to the livestock areas, but they, all the plumbing was already in there because you know how these things are done. The central area you have a big open area, then you have, for livestock, they had put all these livestock stalls, and above the stalls they had a ring of seats, benches, that they used as, for people, the audience. Well, those benches were still there, and those, and people, some of them, they did was, some of those places was just, they put barriers in between and made that into a, a little area for a family to live. And, 'cause it was mainly to sleep there, and to, those were, each family was given that, and people, I know my mother made a curtain from material they had brought with 'em, and put a curtain up for privacy, each, each stall.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.