<Begin Segment 19>

TI: So let's go back to the, the flood. So you're essentially homeless, I mean...

FK: Right, it was.

TI: You only had the clothes on your back, and you're there for two days at this, this woman's place. Then you find an apartment?

FK: Yeah, well, we, our friends who lived in town, up towards the west, west side, they had a cleaning shop in the bottom, but they had rooms up above, so they, we rented those rooms. And the Red Cross helped with some of the clothing and stuff that you could buy, but it was not much. Of course, they couldn't, but so we, I had to go out and buy some stuff.

TI: So what did the government do? I mean, it's kind of like their fault, right, that this dike broke?

FK: I don't remember, well, I don't remember their giving us... not that I can, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't remember getting, getting anything from the government. At that time, because we were staying in a housing project, then the city should do something. But Red Cross helped us, you know, they were helping people. But we lost two Japanese.

TI: Oh, in that flood?

FK: Yeah, and one was my girlfriend, the Oyamas, you know, the father was a newspaper, put out the newspaper. Well, his wife, she didn't go to the cemetery because she said she wasn't feeling well. So she stayed there, and, but I think it was about three days after the flood, the city allowed us to go into the project where some of the homes were on the second floor was all tipped, but then they were still there. So they allowed the family to go in and look for whatever, you know. So the family, the son and the daughter and the father went on the boat to look, and she wasn't even there. I mean, she wasn't, the bed wasn't turned or anything, so they didn't know what happened. And when they, they found the family that lived downstairs, so they talked to her, and they said that Mrs. Oyama had had a coat on, and she had, she had gone out that day. But to this day, I know the daughter was saying that didn't know why she went out or where she went, but she was, she was caught in the flood. And her body came up, I can't remember, a week or two later. But she had that coat on, you know, they had to identify her from, I guess from the coats and stuff. It was sad. And then the man, one of the men, he was a single Issei man, you know, and they tried to get him out of there and he says, "No, I'm not leaving," and he died. And there was another lady who was on the second floor who didn't want to leave. But luckily, she was on the second floor, and her, her building was tipped but wasn't under. So right after the flood they, they sent out boats to look for people who were still in their... and then so she was saved. But it was sad when two people from the community died.

TI: Well, how was it for the community? Because during the war, the community was displaced, and then they finally get back to Portland, and then something like this happens, and lots of Japanese, and they're, again, displaced again. I mean, the trauma of that...

FK: It is, but you know, I think, I don't know, but we were all, we just picked up and just went on with our lives, and that's what we did.

TI: And it sounds like the community supported each other? That, like this woman who opened up her house and someone who rented.

FK: Right. Oh sure, they all... and then lot of 'em were able to find apartments, or their friends sort of supported them. And then we just went on with our lives, you know. Little by little, we had to buy our clothes and shoes.

TI: So how was it for you? At some point, did you just, like, "Oh, I just can't deal with this any more, it's just too much"?

FK: No, I just went on in my life. I figured, well, what else can you do? But one sad thing was, you know, when Ish and Gyppo got married, she had asked me to be a bridesmaid, you know. And so this happened on Memorial Day, she got married the first part of June, remember, and so, but the thing was, that night, that whole, the flood, the floodwater had broken the highway, and it went all the way to the Portland airport. And so there was no way of getting to Washington. Only way was to go way down to the Dalles, no, Hood River, and then... yeah, the Dalles, I guess, and cross up, cross that bridge, and then take that slow highway.

TI: So you missed the, missed the wedding?

FK: So I told Ish that I just couldn't make it, 'cause we were trying to find a place to stay and our, finding clothes to, all this, so it was pretty rough.

TI: No, I should clarify, so you're talking about my, my Aunt Ishi, who is my mom's sister, and they were married in Seattle. And you were gonna be in the bridal party.

FK: But, so Marty Fukuma took my place.

TI: So that must have been sad for you to have to miss that.

FK: Yeah, it was, it was sort of traumatic times, but we all made it.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.