<Begin Segment 10>

MA: So right after Pearl Harbor, what happened to your father's gardening business?

LS: Well, I think he sold a lot of his things, and the only thing he had left was the pickup. And then we left most of our possessions there, and left it up to the landlord to do whatever he wanted.

MA: So your father decided to go to Colorado where your mother's sister was living already.

LS: Yes, uh-huh.

MA: How did you feel about leaving Santa Monica?

LS: Oh, I hated to leave, because all my friends were there, and they were all going to relocation center. By then we had heard that they were gonna be sent, and my dad decided against that. And I so wanted to go with my friends to be with them, but then it didn't turn out that way.

MA: So this was maybe March? Or when did you actually leave Santa Monica?

LS: We left, I would say, about the first of March, because we got here, if I remember distinctly, it was March 3rd that we got here.

MA: So you were, before you left, I remember you had told me that there were, there was, like, one incident where you felt a little unsafe?

LS: Yeah. My dad was going to cut across Arizona, and the people were pretty hostile. So he cut across north through Utah and then came into Colorado from there.

MA: So he had to change his route.

LS: Uh-huh.

MA: Do you remember the people being hostile?

LS: No, I didn't see any of them. Because my dad fixed it so that my one brother, two brothers, my two brothers and a cousin was in the back of the pickup. Because he fixed it with a mattress, and we laid there and stayed in there throughout the whole trip. And then my mom and the baby brother and my dad was in the front.

MA: So you were all in that pickup so you didn't see the...

LS: No. And by that time I was so sick it wasn't funny. [Laughs] I didn't care what was going on, I just, I slept most of the time. And I understand that there was one incident where my dad had to stop and get gas or something, and then he didn't come back. And then my mom got worried, and so sent my cousin Harry out to see what was going on. And Harry got out of the pickup, he slipped and fell and hit his head, he was unconscious. And none of us were aware of that, so my dad did come back and then he drove off. And then this sheriff saw that, and he took Harry into his car and chased us, and gave Harry to my dad. That was Nancy's brother.

MA: Oh, Nancy Miyagishima's brother?

LS: Miyagishima's brother.

MA: There was another story you told me before you left for Colorado where you found, someone had put something in your car?

LS: Oh yes, shotgun shells was on the seat of the, of the pickup. In fact, it was there the day or two after Pearl Harbor, and we don't know who put it there. We have no idea.

MA: Are you the one who found the shells?

LS: Uh-huh. 'Cause I remember distinctly, I saw that, I went running inside to my folks to tell 'em, "What is that?" And of course I didn't know but my dad knew right away. And he, and he took that all out and I think he threw it away in the garbage or something.

MA: That must have been unsettling.

LS: Yes. But what was scary was when the sirens would go off. Oh, we'd be shaking like a, like a leaf.

MA: What sirens?

LS: Whenever they thought that there was Japanese submarine along the coastline, then the sirens would go off, or planes. And it really wasn't, but at that time, anything pointed to Japan anyway.

MA: How often would these sirens go off?

LS: Oh, I would say two or three times that I know of. And of course my mom was quite frightened.

MA: So in going back to your move, how long did it take you to get to Colorado from...

LS: About three days.

MA: Three days?

LS: Uh-huh.

MA: And were you also driving with other folks who were going over?

LS: No, it was just us.

MA: Just you in the, in your truck?

LS: Uh-huh.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright ©2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.