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BT: Do you remember what the journey was like? A lot of people describe being sick almost the whole way there.

FS: I was sick (two) days -- I mean, two days. Then I met a black sailor, and we got talking, and he said, "You sure speak good English, huh?" I said, "Well, I was raised in America all my life." He said, "Yeah? Where are you from?" I said, "L.A." He said, "What school you go?" I said, "Belmont High School." "I just graduated from that place." So, you know, kurombo kid, nice kid. Then he says, I was on deck, walking to get refreshed, because they make it mandatory, get a walk. He said, "You sick?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "I'll cure you, come on." Took me in the mess hall, I don't know where he got the food, but he jammed food in me. And then I threw up, he jammed more food. Over and over. And pretty soon, third day, I started eating, and I didn't throw up. And from that day, I was, no seasick. And then he says, "Work in the mess hall. I'll get you a job." And then I said, "Don't they know?" He said, "They don't care. They want you guys to work anyway. There's about two guys working there now, they volunteer." So I worked in the mess hall for that eight days. Then he's the one that told me about Japan. He says, "Don't go, don't get off. Go back. I didn't want to tell you until now, but there's nothing there. Nothing, absolutely nothing." He said, "Even the mice is not there. Nothing for them." So I said, "It couldn't be that bad." He said, "It is." But he says, "The minute we unload all you people, this boat is going right back where it come from, Seattle." Said, "You stay on the boat, and I'll hide you for ten days. We might make it quicker." Then I told him, "No, I'm committed. My family's coming," this and that. Then he says, "You know, on the last day, they're gonna make you guys empty the hole out. They're asking volunteer, but nobody volunteered, so maybe us sailors got to go. But we're gonna ask the lieutenant, Navy lieutenant, he's the captain, to get more volunteers from our people to clean the hole out." You know what they did? The guards on the boat were slashing our suitcases for meanness, cutting it. They go into the hole and just, you know what I mean, bad things. So there's all the baggage was opened. And he says, "You know what? There's a lot of cigarettes floating around." So he says, "You could find a bed sheet and throw all the cigarettes, as many as you can. Even if they haul it like Santa Claus, take it ashore. That's money." He told me that, so I did that. Stayed behind, cleaned the boat out, cleaned and threw all the stuff, throw away, got all the cigarettes, put it in one corner. Loose cigarette, because even the cigarettes' getting loose, cut. So then I had I don't know how much cigarette like this. I was carrying that, and I had my little suitcase. I only had one pair of pants and something. I was poor -- I couldn't buy nothing in camp. There's no store to buy clothes. Anyway, I had a lot of cigarettes when I got to Uraga. And they thought Santa Claus coming out, but they didn't know what was in there. I didn't want to tell 'em. Because that sailor told me cigarette, "If you find cigarette, that's the thing you need, nothing else. That's better than money. It's good for exchange." That's all.

<End Segment 32> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.