<Begin Segment 10>

BH: So back to in the camps, you had mentioned an experience with one of your teachers, she came and she gave you a jar of honey. Can you tell me about her and that experience?

KH: It was Ms. Springer from the physical education department. She came by to see me, and she had to get permission to visit with me first, and then they called me and said that, "You have a visitor." So I went to the gate, and then there was Ms. Springer, and we visited, and then she wanted to hand me a little tub of honey butter. And she couldn't just give it to me, she had to walk over to the sentry that was walking around the area and show it to him, and then after that, it was given to me. And I thought, "Oh, my gosh." [Laughs]

BH: Now, was that sort of embarrassing for you, the whole situation? You're on one side of the gate, she's on the other.

KH: Yes, I think it was embarrassing for her, too.

BH: What about for the guard, how did he take that?

KH: That I don't know.

BH: Because I recall that you had mentioned that...

KH: The guard that inspected the knives and the scissors that Grandma had, I think he was more embarrassed than anything. I thought, "Gee, he must be just fresh doing service as a army private."

BH: So you were in the Puyallup Assembly Center from about May until September. You were there for the Fourth of July, then?

KH: I don't remember celebrating Fourth of July as such. Of course, nobody had fireworks anyway.

BH: And did you, did anybody note, like, I guess, the irony that this is Independence Day, and here you are, American citizens, put into internment camps?

KH: Well, I had some comments, heard some comments from, a girlfriend, but other than that... but you know, I look back on it now, and I think anybody who had an elder brother or elder sister, their outlook was a little bit different from mine. My sister wasn't as vocal on what was going on, she just said practical things like you can take more than one or two suitcases apiece. Not that, the reason why we should go, we just accepted it and went.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.