Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Chizuko Judy Sugita de Quieiroz Interview
Narrator: Chizuko Judy Sugita de Quieiroz
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Torrance, California
Date: July 8, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-qchizuko-01-0006

<Begin Segment 6>

CQ: And so when we went to camp, I was not afraid, but I noticed that, you know, there were soldiers with guns with bayonets on the end. And I noticed that there were all these people dressed and carrying suitcases and duffel bags, and just anything. And I knew that we couldn't take anything with us unless we could, unless we could carry it. And I knew all of those things, I know, I remember when they pinned, when my sister pinned my little tag on me with a number, and I just thought, "Oh, so it wouldn't get lost." But then everybody, my whole family, had them, it was A-B-C-D-E, and our number. And then all of our bags, they tied the same tag number on all of our bags. Or we did, or my sisters and my brothers did. And then, and I knew we were just jam-packed into a train, just jam-packed into a train. And it was long and dusty and the shades were drawn, and it was really hot. And then when we got to our destination, there were all these army trucks waiting for us, and they were throwing all the bags on these trucks also, you know, and we were just loaded onto the truck like cattle, just as tight as possible. Then we were taken, we arrived in Parker, Arizona.

MA: And you were headed to Poston?

CQ: Yeah, and then we went with army trucks to Poston, Arizona. And then when we were in Poston, Arizona, the first thing I remember was this horrible sandstorm. And it just was really, it just, it was like you had to close your eyes, and it was just this really windy, windy fine dust. And so my sister said, "Close your eyes, put your head down, cover your head." And then it sort of subsided, and then we walked over to where they were registering everyone. And so I guess they did the registration, but I don't remember that. I remember putting straw into canvas bags for our mattresses, that's what I remember. And I remember my oldest sister, she was the middle sister, but she was the oldest, she was like our mother. She was sewing up these canvas bags. But I remember putting straw into them, and then I remember that we were taken to our room that we would be living in. And I do remember the light bulb was the only thing there. And then later, some people must have brought the army metal cots, you know, with the little wire, I mean, the army metal cots, they were all folded like that. And so they brought six of them, or I guess seven, seven of them. Because my dad, my two brothers, and then my two sisters and myself. Three brothers, yeah. So there were four boys and three girls. And then my older sister was married, and she had gone to Idaho. So yeah, that's it.

MA: And tell me about, we were talking earlier about you have this memory of a conversation you had with your sister where she basically explained to you what was happening.

CQ: Oh, gosh, after a few weeks or a month, I don't remember, I came running home. And I said, "Lil, Lil, do you know everybody?" The school hadn't started yet, and we were still sort of like a family still. We were still sort of like a unit. And I said, "Everyone in this camp is Japanese. Did you know that?" And I thought I had made the most fantastic discovery, and everybody would just be so astounded to hear this news because I had discovered this thing that I realized all of a sudden. And then she said, "Well, Chizu, this is..." [cries] It just really... she said, "You know, we're all Japanese Americans here, and we were put here for this reason." And it was so upsetting to me because she said that, "They think we're the Japs because we look Japanese, but we're really Americans," and I don't want you to forget that. And she explained the whole thing about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and everything. And it was the first time I had ever heard a whole story, and the whole thing sort of came together. And I was so depressed, and I thought, "Oh, my god, I'm a Jap, I'm a Jap." And it was a terrible feeling because I had played these games just a few months before with my hakujin friends, you know, all these kids near Anaheim, of "Kill the Nazis," "Kill the Japs." And I felt I was an American and I was killing the Nazis and killing the "Japs," you know. And then, and so it was a really, very, very horrible feeling, that I was a Jap. And this just sort of really made me feel terrible, and that was my rude awakening, that was just the worst thing that ever happened up 'til that time in my life. I mean, even being locked in sheds and things were nothing compared to that, you know. And so... and I do have to say that when I came home to my dad and my sisters and brothers, it was just like milk and honey. So the three years I had -- it was not quite three years -- that I had with my family was really great. And then going to camp became another horrendous experience for me, because at first we all ate together in the mess hall. We had to walk to Camp 1, certainly, which was on the other side of the camp, because our mess hall hadn't been completed yet. And a lot of building was still going on, for barracks and things. We were some of the few Japanese Americans that did not go through like a holding camp and then to the concentration camp. We went directly to the concentration camp.

And so, and very shortly after that, a man was killed by a soldier in our camp, and they said that the soldier had shouted, "Halt, halt," and the man did not stop. He didn't stop, and he kept walking along the edge of the fence inside the camp, and so he was shot to death. And so that sort of reverberated through the camp. And so all the kids were told that we have to learn all the army words like "mess hall" and "latrine" and "halt," and "issue," like you were issued a peacoat, you were issued your silverware, things like that. And that we had to learn the word "halt," and "halt" meant "stop," you know. And never go near the fences, barbed wire fences, and never go near the sentry towers. And so that sort of reinforced that we were the enemy. And so it was a very, it was a very demoralizing thing for me.

And I did not like camp at all, because (all) of my sisters and brothers started eating at the mess hall with their friends, I didn't have any friends, I only had this person next door who was my age. And her mom and they would all often go by themselves, of course, 'cause she was the youngest and she was nine years old just like I was. And then I'd just sit in the barrack and whine and cry and gnash my teeth or whatever. And then when my sister or my brother would come in, I'd say, "How come nobody took me to the mess hall with them?" And they'd say, "You're nine years old, you're not a baby anymore, you've got to start growing up." And it was really one of the hardest periods of my life, 'cause I had no social skills, and I had no wherewithal to know exactly what I should do and how to do it. And then it got to the point where I could go take a shower by myself, I should go to the bathroom by myself, and it was a very, very difficult thing for me. And I never liked to go anywhere by myself because I'd never done anything by myself all my life. There was always people around me all the time, you know. I always had someone, my oldest sister, my auntie, there's always someone there all the time. And then my sisters and my brothers, when I came back to live at home, there was always someone there, I could always go out and see my dad when we had the nursery. That was the happiest time of my life because I could just be with my dad and my sisters and brothers would come home from school.

And so I hated camp. It was like... and I always prayed that my mother would come back to life. Prayed and prayed and prayed, because Mary had a mother, and that's why she didn't have to go anyplace by herself. And like my sister who was eleven when we went to camp, she never wanted me following her and her friends around. She had a lot of social skills, and she just did not want me tagging along. So, of course, I was unwanted there. And so I sort of went and became a bookworm, basically.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.