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MA: And so, can you tell me about that day and you were in Puyallup, arriving to Puyallup and what that was like?

YA: We went to Puyallup with, on a bus. We... some people in Puyallup were still farming and they waved to us, so they came later. They left their crops in the fields for, I don't know... they lost a lot, too, the farmers. Unless they had a neighbor who was honest enough to harvest and then give them their share of the profits, yeah. But I think those were far and few, few and far between.

MA: And so when you arrived in Puyallup, what was going through your head at that point?

YA: Well, it, it was a totally new experience. In Puyallup, there was four different camps. And the most terrible thing of the, that camp was the women's toilets. I couldn't believe it was what it was. Usually an outhouse is only one person, but this one had to be shared by six women. No partitions, no curtains. I think in other areas of Puyallup they had running toilets. Like if it was in the infield, you know, where the racetrack was, they had running toilets. But in the, our area and another area, we had to share the toilet like that. And that was terrible. I'll never forget that. And we had to endure that for three months. The showers were also shared showers, no curtains, and six showerheads, that's it.

MA: You had mentioned to me earlier that you actually had a graduation ceremony?

YA: Yes.

MA: In Puyallup, right?

YA: In Puyallup. Fortunately the vice principal came and one of --

MA: The Garfield vice principal?

YA: Garfield vice principal, Mr. Hanselman, came And one favorite teacher of the Niseis, Leon Brigham, he was Jewish, (and) he was one of our favorite teachers. And Marian Jaffey, she was the Girls' Club president, those three came, and they gave us a little graduation ceremony. And I remember I didn't even had a, a new dress. My mother telling me, "Someday you will have new dresses," and she was right.

MA: So how many, how many students participated in the ceremony with you?

YA: I think there was about, gee, maybe twenty-six, twenty-five, twenty-six students. Maybe, that, not that much. But at least we got our diplomas.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.