<Begin Segment 15>

TI: So now I want to go back to first, going to Auburn, now to Pinedale. Can you tell me who you went to Pinedale with?

KY: I went to Pinedale with the people that were living in a particular area, and that particular area was Auburn, Washington, people, were sent to Pinedale, California, near Fresno. Of course, we were in the Pacific Northwest, it's wet and cold and those type of weather. Of course, this is May, so it's not too bad this time. Anyway, I went with some relatives in the area, 'cause my folks were in, parents were in Japan, and my two older brothers were in Idaho farming. They had what we call evacuated... actually, after the evacuation order was passed, they went, gone there, so that they went to Idaho because it was just past the line of demarcation or wherever people were forced to be removed.

TI: Do you know where they went in Idaho? Was it like with a friend or relative?

KY: They had some friends. My next brother Masao went first and then Tokio went, the eldest, went to Nampa, Caldwell, that area.

TI: So why didn't you go with them, too?

KY: I guess I could have gone, but they were farming, and I guess I didn't... well, I guess I didn't want to farm. I guess I could have gone there, although I'm not sure, 'cause once the evacuation order got precisely set, I don't know if they allowed people to go to the so-called exempt area or the free area. I really don't know, but I said, "No, I'll go with the relatives."

TI: But how about your older sister, Shizuko? Where did she go?

KY: Oh, she went to Japan. She got married to a Japanese national and went there before the war. She didn't go with the family when they went back.

TI: And so you went with other relatives.

KY: Yeah.

TI: And what relatives were these? Who would they be?

KY: They were cousin types, Miyoshi in Auburn. And, in fact, the eldest son Henry is the one that was at Toshie's bedside. 'Cause I was talking to him, he says, "Yeah, I was there. I'll vouch for that," that she said these words. [Laughs] Yeah. He's still here, he's older than I am.

TI: So you went to the Pinedale center, and then from there you went to Tule Lake?

KY: Tule Lake, right. They sent us all to Tule Lake. Going to Pinedale was an experience, too, in the sense that we were sent there by World War I Pullman cars, these were coal-fired locomotives, and it was smoky, and the windows didn't close right, old cars. Had the curtains drawn, in the daytime, shades down. We went to Pinedale, I don't know how long it took from Auburn to Pinedale.

TI: During this time, do you recall any of your thoughts? I mean, because you were a little bit older, you're essentially a college graduate.

KY: Yeah.

TI: I mean, did you kind of think about what was happening and have any recollections of those thoughts?

KY: I don't know. I probably did have earlier, but don't remember anything about getting angry or, "What's this? I'm a citizen, and yet they're doing this to me." Or like a fellow, not a classmate, but a schoolmate, he was a year older than me, but Gordon Hirabayashi from Auburn, the one that became famous, went to Canada, that one. But I didn't ask. Of course, he had Friends, literally, they were the "Friends," quote, that religion, Friends that said, "Oh, you're an American citizen. Stand up for your rights and go to jail," and he did. They packed him up.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.