<Begin Segment 37>

AI: Well, and now what happened to you? Because you were, now in the fall of '42, you were in Tule Lake also. And --

TH: '42?

AI: Right. And then did you go out on, you went out on a work labor crew also.

TH: '42. I know I went out with a group of, let's see, there was three brothers. Guy, John, and James Matsuoka. Then my relatives, and let's see, Choppy Yasui, she was our cook, and oh, Mizo. And, well, I think there was a, seems like there was seven of us. But, we lost money. We didn't make money, because the workers aren't, weren't the best in the world. And then, we had the best things to eat, so we ate, what we made on the beets, we spent it on food. I, anyway, I don't think I came back with a... and then it's poker every night. So -- [laughs] -- it was quite a, quite a deal. But we survived and that was, that was about...

AI: So, it sounds like you had a, you went out on the work crew, it was a way to get out of camp.

TH: Yes. That's, that's, yeah.

AI: Then you went --

TH: We had a good time.

AI: And then you went back to Tule Lake, and then in 1943 did you go out again?

TH: Yes. We came back and then Gary, our older son, was born on December 4th.

AI: In Tule Lake?

TH: So... and then Tom, they used Tom Matsuoka as a recruiter, they didn't keep him in detention camp in North Dakota. They shipped him back into camp, and then that's why we ended up, he says, "There's a spot in Chinook, Montana," which is one of the coldest spots in the United States. It's a... we were out there, well, I guess we, we... well, that's where we eventually ended up, anyway. Out in Chinook.

AI: So you went out on a work crew, and then you decided to stay out there?

TH: Yeah. And we stayed until we made enough money so that we could come back, see. The evacuation wiped us out. We had to, so we worked for... pretty hard up. We got to, one farmer wasn't too good but the other farmer was... gave us a sharecrop deal. And, so that's how we... yeah.

AI: So that's how you were able to...

TH: Made enough money so that... but we had to stay out there until November of '46. I think. And then, the place where we, the 5 acres that we had, there was a party in there and they didn't, it seemed like they didn't want to get out. So, then when we had the, we were taking care of another place, and she didn't come back to it so, she says, "You can take over the greenhouse." That's how we ended up in a greenhouse property.

AI: So when you first came back to Bellevue in '46, you went to the greenhouse property.

TH: Yeah, yes. Then I tried that for awhile, but it didn't work out so then Tom Matsuoka didn't want to come back to his place so that's how we took over his place.

AI: He stayed out in Montana, you took over his farm.

TH: Yeah. He decided to stay in Montana, and we took over his place. And then, then from there, the next place was [Inaudible], another home on Bellevue-Redmond road. And then, then we moved again to, we stayed eighteen years in that place, and then we moved up to Lake Hills. And we stayed there eighteen years, another eighteen.

AI: So ever since you moved back, you've stayed here on the Eastside.

TH: Yeah. And then, we ended up where we are now... and we're, as you know, we're in a condo and we've been there, I believe, I think it was seven years? Yeah. I think we, that's about the -- and, do you know, want to know what the rest of the family are, well?

AI: Well before we go onto that, we don't we go up and pick up where we left off with Mr. Matsuzawa.

<End Segment 37> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.