Densho Digital Archive - Mary Hamano Interview (denshovh-hmary

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MH: Well in the meantime, all this notices start coming around, and then my brother, his draft notice start coming around. My second brother, my oldest brother didn't have to go. They said he was the head of the, he was old enough to say that he didn't have to go to war, I mean, to be drafted. So my second brother had to go register. Well in the meantime, he didn't pass, took two or three times. The third time, he got his notice and it was in March. And he left in March, and we left in April, because within that one month time. They told us to get ready, start packin' up, and gettin' things ready to leave. And to meet at a certain, certain place, and to be prepared to be out in the open country where you need to wear high-top boots and you need to have jean pants and long-sleeved shirts because the area's going to be out in the open and you need some protection. And so therefore, they kinda warned us ahead of time what kind of clothing to be prepared, so we got shopping for that. And got all our, our telephone and utility all paid up before we leave, and tell them when we were going to stop all that. And fortunately, our landlord was a very nice person. And they said, "Well instead of packing up your stuff and putting it in storage somewhere, just leave it as it is and board up your store and leave everything there in boxes. And when it's time for you to come back, you'll have it here. And just pay the rent." And so we did that. And so, in the meantime, my father, somebody he knew, wanted to buy the equipment, his electrical equipment, so he sold that. And the owner came in and let them in and they took whatever they needed, whatever it was. And that was okay. Well, everything else was left behind, supposedly. Well, then in the meantime, when the war, we went to the neighbor upstairs packed up a lunch for us, some chicken and some sandwiches and whatever in a basket. And took us to where we were supposed to meet, and where all the, whatever district you were in, you were to go to this certain place. And I don't remember where this, it was a residential area is all I can remember. And all these two-story houses, all the blinds were down. Nobody was lookin' out or nobody was walking out of the building. Everybody was shut in, while we were there. And we sat on the curb and there was a bus, a row of buses waiting for us.

MA: Did you know where you were going at that point?

MH: We didn't, I don't know, I can't remember the street or area. It was in a residential area, somewhere, I don't know what direction it was either.

MA: Did you know where you were headed though? You were going to get on the buses..?

MH: Well, I can't remember the, we got a notice telling us where to go. But that's all I know. I can't remember where the name of the street was, or what area it was. Was south end or east end or... it was some real quiet neighborhood, area. And there was a Bekon Storage van way in the back there. Your bedding all had to be tagged up, and when you got there, you got a nametag. And they, they put that all in this van. You only were allowed to carry two suitcases with twenty-five dollar each, not more than that. And whatever you had in the bank, either had to draw it out, or leave it. And then if you did leave it, it was frozen. You couldn't draw any money out, once it was whenever, you know, you couldn't draw it out anyway. You had to leave it there. Well, my parents got it all out and we each carried twenty-five dollars each. With the two suitcases.

MA: And it was you and your brother.

MH: My oldest brother, my mother and father, myself, there was four of us.

MA: Four of you.

MH: And we were nametag 8902. We had one, two, three, four, and I was the last one. And my father had one, and my mother had two, and my brother had three, and I was four. And so, that was our nametag. And then we got to this place. Waiting and then when we got on the bus, this lady, I guess I would assume either it's a Red Cross lady or a church lady, all gave us a sack lunch before we got on the bus. And there was a military man, a person, with those bayonets standing right there, guarding to make sure that nothing happens. So she would give us a bag, a lunch. I had an apple and a sandwich and a cookie, I think that was in there. And we ate that while we were on the bus to go to Santa Anita. We were sent to Santa Anita, then we got off, there was a string of military people and a doctor. The first thing we do you open your hands, you put whatever and they looked in your mouth and face, to see if you had any disease or any kind of complications. They would put you aside. And then they pass you on and then you were assigned to barracks wherever. And then, we settled down.