<Begin Segment 9>

TI: Well, then going specifically, when you got the order, forty-eight hours to leave, so now things had to happen. Describe what happened in your family.

SM: Well, in my case, I had a second cousin in Buena Park. And I went there, I was able to drive then, so I borrowed their truck and I hauled our stuff and a couple of other families' belongings to their farm. And we stayed at their workers' housing.

TI: So in your case, you, I guess, were lucky you had a relative that you kind of stayed with.

SM: In my case, that was, that's what I did. But there were families that didn't have any older kids, and they were all young, and they had no place to go. And the thing is, they didn't tell us where to go or how to go. And so a lot of churches and Japanese school and community centers, they took a lot of these people they had nowhere to go, to stay with them.

TI: And when people only have forty-eight hours, you had a truck, but I'm guessing people had to leave a lot behind.

SM: Oh, you couldn't take anything that was large. So we had these people come in and try to get whatever we had for nothing. Everything was five, five or ten dollars, refrigerators, dining sets, whatever. That's how things were. It was chaos.

TI: So did you, your family end up selling some of your...

SM: Oh, yeah, we sold the, our dining table, refrigerator and whatever, that was worth anything.

TI: And who did you sell it to, do you remember?

SM: Oh, these, I don't know what you call them. It was these... you know, when things happen like that, you have these people come in from all over.

TI: And so I'm imagining that they came with like a big truck and go from house to house.

SM: Oh, yeah, they had their truck or pickup or whatever, and they bought whatever.

TI: And they would just come to the house and they would just negotiate and say, "We'll pay you this certain amount." Now, were these Caucasians, they were whites?

SM: Well, they were mostly white, yeah.

TI: And then they would just, did you ever see people who refused to sell their things?

SM: Oh, yeah. I imagine there were people that would rather throw it out than give it to them for five dollars.

TI: So when you left your home, what was left there? You were able to have a truck, you sold some things. Anything else you left there? What was it like?

SM: I don't know. I don't remember, I don't think we took everything, 'cause we had to leave a lot of things.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.