<Begin Segment 16>

MN: So after you finished this ice cutting job, you told me that you went to Heart Mountain.

HY: Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right.

MN: Share with us --

HY: There's a fellow by the... should I name him? No.

MN: If you want.

HY: Anyway, he wanted to go to, he had a car, see. Yeah, he had a car with him. And he said, "Hey, you guys want to go to Heart Mountain?" he said, "I'm going." "Yeah, I got a relative there, too, so I'll go with you." So the four of us got in the car and went to Heart Mountain. I think it was around about March or April. You know that worst winter they had back in '40 or '41? '42 or something like that?

MN: No, it had to be '43.

HY: '43? '42 or '43?

MN: 'Cause '42 is when you guys went into camp. Well, you didn't go into camp, but '42 is when the...

HY: Oh, yeah, yeah. '43 then. Anyway, then it was the worst blizzard they had there. So when we got into the Cody, you know, it was just snow. Everything's white. And far away, we could see bunch of light, just miles away we could see the light. So that must be the camp. It was about ten o'clock at night when we got into Cody. So we took off. We didn't know there was a horseshoe turn there. And as we drove, we went down the seven-foot bank and messed our radiator up, we couldn't do nothing. So we walked back, maybe about couple of miles, to town. And we see "empty," "empty," sign on that that cabins, I mean, "vacancy." So I went to one of 'em and knocked on the door. This old lady came out and looked at me and said, "We don't rent to no Japs." Bam, you know. "Oh, man. Hey, let's go into town anyway." So we were walking to Cody, and we see a light coming from far away. And he was the sheriff, so we flagged him down and told him about the, what happened. He said, "Yeah, it's pretty bad around here now." But he says, "I got the jail with the heater going, and nobody there tonight. You could stay there." Oh, heck, that's a good deal, you know, with the heater going and everything. It's cold outside. He said, "I bet you guys are hungry, huh?" "Yeah." He said, "I've got a friend of mine who had a restaurant. I'll take you there." Man, we went and ate up a storm. Gee. And he took us to the jail, god, they had the heaters going. He said, "We got plenty of blanket, you guys want it." And we stayed there overnight.

[Interruption]

MN: Okay, ready? We're back on. Tell me what you did the next morning.

HY: Next morning, the sheriff called the tow truck. And there's a town named Powell close by, and there was a car agency there. I think it was a Ford agency. Ford or Chevy, anyway. And they towed it to the agency and had it repaired. From there we went to camp.

MN: Was it hard to get into Heart Mountain?

HY: Huh?

MN: Was it hard to get into Heart Mountain?

HY: No. No. Went there and registered, you know, right in, no problem.

MN: So you said you had relatives at Heart Mountain?

HY: Uh-huh, yeah. My cousin was in there.

MN: So you were staying with them.

HY: No.

MN: No? Where did you stay?

HY: They gave us one... you know, that time, there was a lot of empty barracks. Lot of 'em, you know, they were, they went to Chicago, Denver, whatever. Those people can't get out, see. So there's a lot of barracks open. So they gave us one barrack, we stayed in the barrack there, yeah, about a week.

MN: What did you think about seeing Japanese Americans living in camp?

HY: Oh, man, it was sad, man. They kicked us out of our home and, you know, put us in this damn compound? It wasn't right.

MN: And you got into Heart Mountain in early 1943. The draft resistance movement should have been just starting. Did you --

HY: Yeah, they give us 4-C classification.

MN: Now, in Heart Mountain, did you see any of that movement starting already?

HY: I saw some fliers up there, you know, yeah.

MN: Where did you see the fliers?

HY: In the kitchen area, the mess hall there. Japanese, you know, the one in Japanese, one in English.

MN: Did this influence you later on to resist your own draft?

HY: I didn't think too much of it then. But after that I went to Chicago, you know, and see the papers, and see Frank Emi and all the people's name on there, Heart Mountain people. Amache groups, I know they were in county at that time.

MN: Okay, before we go there, though, we're still in Heart Mountain. So was it difficult to get out of Heart Mountain?

HY: No. No problem.

MN: No problem, you just walked out?

HY: Go in, yeah, walk in and out, like.

MN: Did you have to pay to stay at Heart Mountain?

HY: No, no. Not a single penny.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.