Densho Digital Archive - Fred Y. Hoshiyama Interview (denshovh-hfred

<Begin Segment 19>

TI: So after that meeting at that JACL meeting, so things started to happen. So --

FH: Well, I didn't say started to happen. The government issued stuff, and then they started posting information, and the newspaper kept going, they kept up as long as they're able to continue, until they were closed down. But they posted information, certain communities such as Bainbridge and San Pedro here had twenty-four hours to get ready to leave. And then we were noticed, I mean, there was a list. Marysville, Merced, such and such, San Francisco, and start listing when they have to. So in two weeks, we have to, we knew end of March or April, that our turn came. And so that's what kept us busy trying to survive until we have to leave. We had no choice but to do it, shikata ga nai. And therefore, all we did was just try to get rid of the stuff we had. Nobody wants to buy it except they knew we had to give it up, so they wait, wait, wait. So finally we said, "Okay, take it free." Pianos, dollar. Just, just makes you cry, but that's what happened.

TI: So you had all your personal things to take care of?

FH: Yeah.

TI: What about the YMCA? What was going on with them?

FH: We... that was used as one of the assembly spots, second. First is Kimon Gakuen, the next, the YMCA was the spot. Little closer to their residence. We just locked up the YMCA, put a padlock on it on April 28th, and boarded the bus and went to Tanforan.

TI: Now, was the YMCA used to store things?

FH: No. We just didn't use it to store things because the government said, "We will store it for you free of charge." But I don't trust the government that don't trust us. So we, very few people used the government. Those that did got their stuff back intact. That much the government did. They found a warehouse and did it. So you had to take it there somehow and get the receipt. Our neighbor said, "We'll take your stuff," so we, our valuables, we left with him in his basement, but it got all ransacked. People know this, it got ransacked, so we didn't get anything back. I lost, the thing I lost most was my block SF in the sweater that I got. [Laughs] Of all the small things, and it wasn't important. That was important to me at the time. Our silverware was gone, so we just had to start from scratch when we returned here.