<Begin Segment 14>

MN: So on February 26, 1942, all the Japanese on Terminal Island were given forty-eight hour notice to leave. Now how did you feel when you heard this announcement?

JM: I was too young, and my mom and sister were were doing everything. There was nothing for us to do. Only thing we worried about, where we gonna go? Then there's a gakuen in Compton. It was empty, so they all bused us in there. From there we went to junior high school in Compton, Enterprise Junior High School.

MN: How did the students treat you at Enterprise Junior High School?

JM: We didn't have any problem.

MN: What was it like living at Compton Gakuen? Is this like a dorm situation?

JM: Yes. We had a bed, so we had a [indicates a bunk bed], so I slept on the top and my brother slept on the bottom. And then the mothers did all the cooking. We didn't want to go to school, but we had to.

MN: How long were you at Compton Gakuen?

JM: I don't remember. about a month (or so)? Then we found out that we have to go, get on the bus, and we didn't know where we were (going). They put us in the train with the windows closed off, then before we know it we're in Manzanar. And when we went into Manzanar it was blowing sandstorm, and we had to go into one of the barracks, and you should've seen the barrack. It was full of sand. They didn't have any carpets, so all the sand was coming in from the bottom. They gave us a sheet, told us to go fill it up with straws. Then nighttime we had to put that army blanket, scratchy blanket, on our face to protect us from the sand. I said, oh man, don't tell me I'm going to have to spend all my life in this prison. That was really sad. And they didn't have any heating oil and it was really cold. I don't know where we were, but it was really cold.

MN: You're part of the early group, so you didn't go to Santa Anita.

JM: No.

MN: Straight to Manzanar.

JM: Yes.

MN: Do you remember any of the train ride at all?

JM: Yes, I remember the train ride.

MN: Did you get fed on the train?

JM: Yes, I'm pretty sure.

MN: Do you remember what you ate on the train?

JM: No.

MN: But they didn't tell you where they were taking you, is that right?

JM: [Nods] Maybe they might've mentioned Manzanar, but we don't know anything about Manzanar.

MN: Were there military men on the train?

JM: Yeah. I'm pretty sure.

MN: What was going through your mind when you're on this train ride to this place called Manzanar?

JM: Where we're gonna be, where we're gonna end up. And kids, we don't talk about those kind of things.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.