<Begin Segment 4>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: So let's go back, so you're just finishing the vaccinations, and then...

SA: Yes, and then they told us to -- this was the only place that this ever happened -- to pick up our bags and fill it with straw for the mattress, and that's the first time I saw my mother's tears. To be reduced to that, I think, was just too much for her to bear or something. But she had never broken down, and I was just amazed. But it is demeaning to have to fill up your (bed mattress with straw). Up to this time, I thought, you know, the Japanese are full of pride and dignity, but this was too much (for her) to bear.

TI: So how did that feel for you? You're what, about sixteen years old?

SA: I was fifteen going on sixteen, because I turned sixteen in October and we were in May that year.

TI: And then to see your, your mother sort of break down for the first time...

SA: Yeah, I was (shocked), because as I said, on December 7th, when my father and mother heard about Pearl Harbor, they were ashen-faced but not a word came out of 'em about anything. But like I said, that's a Japanese virtue. They don't want to talk about problems or illness of any type, and they don't talk about finances, (etcetera, it's taboo).

TI: How about your brother, did he have a reaction, was he there also when this was happening?

SA: I think so, but you know, I don't think he noticed the details. [Laughs] (Boys) don't generally, you know, (they're) worrying about other things, and he's three years older, so (he was more) interested about who's coming into the camp. [Laughs]

TI: So you stuffed your bags, I mean, your mattresses.

SA: Yes, we all had to. It was terrible.

TI: And then what happened after that?

SA: And then we were assigned to our barracks, and of course, as you know, I'm sure you've heard, but we had (the long barrack) open-ended on the top (of the dividing side walls). It was kind of a slanted structure, and I think Norio Mitsuoka described it well in his Odyssey book. So we were in this one long barracks (that) had the walls going up to maybe five feet or six feet, but you can hear the sounds, (because the walls didn't reach the ceiling), from one end to the other. And so you can hear babies crying, and I used to wonder about the newlyweds (with no privacy), this must have been a terrible thing. Because a lot, as I said, got married on March 29th, to avoid being separated, and here it was May. But what we did (...) if we knew the person next door (was take) a plank off so we could walk right into their place. We had one door to each opening (from the outside) we were really (crowded inside), much more than (later at) Minidoka, because in Minidoka we were enclosed into (one) room, (not a compartmentalized unit).

TI: I'm curious, so you made an entranceway to the next space.

SA: Oh, yes, we could (do) that.

TI: So why did you, you knew them, but why would you do that?

SA: Well, (...) you can visit back and forth without going outside, the weather permitting. But there we had less privacy, really, and less community places we could play, (so we went next door). It was kind of a hardship for everyone.

TI: And so for those first few days, what kind of things did you do?

SA: Well, I think some of us were walking around trying to find our friends, and we were divided, as you know, at Puyallup, because we had Area A, B, C and D. (...) A and D, I think, was where most of the Seattleites went, but we were in the (smaller) parking lot areas, which (were) B and C, they were the smallest. C was the smallest, we were in Area B, so we're with (some Seattle people). But mainly, we were with the Fife, White River Valley people, which (took in) Sumner, Fife, Orting, Milton, (etcetera), and so (did) Area C. So the places we could play (were) very narrow in between the barracks. The ones that had the Ferris wheel (...) was Area D, and that's where the main (offices were). (The) main post office, the makeshift hospital and a lot of the (administrative offices were) there.

The only time I ever got to go (out) was when I fell ill after we (were in Area B, and I had acute) bronchitis of some sort. I think (it was) the dust, (etcetera), and all that. And so I was taken over to Area D. This (incident was interesting) because I went into (nursing) medicine later. (So) when I look back, (I see it with a different understanding). This place that they put us, and Suma Yagi was also there, she also was having asthmatic problems. But we had one girl having mental problems, (a) young (teenager). She was between us and Suma and I talked about this later and we said we were both afraid of her because she was making all these sounds. And here Suma was worse off than I was. But there were knotholes in these walls, and I thought, for us to be breathing in that (dusty air), when you think about it, we were hardly in a suitable place for what we had been diagnosed with. But anyway, it was amazing we got well. And then they had to walk me back across (under guard as), you know, (to Area B from D).

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.