<Begin Segment 20>

MN: And when did you leave Leupp?

TH: It was December, the first part of December, 1943.

MN: So you were, you got in there in July, you left in December, so about six months you were in Leupp. How were you transferred from Leupp to Tule Lake?

TH: Actually, I don't remember. I found out later it's by train.

MN: You blocked out a lot of things.

TH: Well, it's not so much, but probably just don't have a good memory. But anyway, only thing I remember is on the parting day, we were called to the playground and Mr. Robertson gave the parting address. I understand he accompanied all of us to Tule Lake, but that's the only thing I remember. Next thing I remember is finding myself in the stockade with a couple of other people, couple hundred people.

MN: At Tule Lake.

TH: Yeah.

MN: You know, this parting address that Mr. Robertson gave, do you remember what he said?

TH: No.

MN: And the Tule Lake stockade doesn't exist anymore. Can you describe what it looked like?

TH: Well, gee, I don't know whether the jail, which is, which still remains, was part of stockade. But when I got there, it was, there was too many people there so they put up a large tent to accommodate all these people. When I got there, really a lot of people were crammed into this tent, hardly could move, you know. And people were very agitated, tense. I really don't, didn't know what happened the previous month.

MN: So when you arrived, was there a hunger strike going on at the stockade?

TH: No, not at that time.

MN: Did you ever feel threatened inside the stockade?

TH: No.

MN: Now, when you were in the stockade, was it regimented? Did you have to have roll call?

TH: No, not as far as I know. I can't remember how long, maybe I stayed there maybe a couple days.

MN: Where did you sleep? Were there enough beds?

TH: They were a bed, really. Close, you could hardly walk between the bed. But I can't really remember.

MN: And inside the stockade, was there a hierarchy? Like were the Buddhist priests the bosses?

TH: Well, I didn't really have a chance to mingle with any of them. Only thing I remember is when I got there, there was one person who seems to be the boss type. I don't know whether he was a priest or not, but he was in his mid-forties or fifty. People were kind of catering, you might say, around him.

MN: Now, how were you released from the stockade?

TH: I don't remember how I was released, but the next thing I remember is that I find myself in a regular barrack room, Block 5. 5-19-D, I think it was.

MN: So were your parents already transferred to Tule Lake when you were released from the stockade?

TH: No.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.