Densho Digital Archive - Art Ishida Interview (denshovh-iart

<Begin Segment 12>

MN: Now what were you doing on Sunday, December 7, 1941?

AI: I don't know what I was doing but I don't remember what the particular day but I remember that later in the evening when I came back from the field, found out that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was blasting on the radio. Because we used to turn the radio on to listen to the vegetable markets news. They used to have a Japanese program that used to what price cabbage was so much at the wholesale market and so forth and we used to listen to that. And that would give us what to harvest to send it in the next day. And the same time is that we heard that news.

MN: Now when you heard this news what was your reaction?

AI: It's something out of the blue we couldn't believe and still didn't believe.

MN: Did you hear of any Japanese Americans in your area being picked up by the FBI?

AI: Not then, not then.

MN: When did you hear?

AI: We didn't hear anything about somebody was picked up. Later on before we went in camp we kind of got together with the other friend was in Compton and we heard that they start picking up the reverends, Japanese school teachers and the chamber of commerce president and so forth that we heard.

MN: But this was later, months later then you had heard.

AI: Yes.

MN: Now when the government instituted a curfew were you affected?

AI: Yes, we were affected.

MN: How were you affected?

AI: Well, curfew is nine o'clock to next morning, seven or eight o'clock or something like that. And we had to be home, wherever we are we had to be home and then they said we're not supposed to go beyond five mile radius from the home. So in the short time we can be home. Being a young teenage we used to go out and we got caught couple times but being a teenage, cop would just say go home don't come out after nine o'clock so they let us go. That's I think a benefit of the small town, if you're a big city I think it's a different story.

MN: Now how did you hear that you had to go into camp?

AI: 1942?

MN: How did you get the news? Did you read it in the paper or did a friend tell you?

AI: No, we got the notice to evacuate within three days.

MN: You got it in the mail?

AI: Yes, and we had notice came we had to evacuate within three days and that was on a weekend that just happened to be Friday, Saturday, Sunday and we asked to leave on Sunday rather than Friday or Monday because we want to sell whatever we had, farm, tractor, house and our crop and so forth so we asked last day to leave so we picked Sunday to leave.

MN: Was this all the Japanese Americans in Artesia only?

AI: No, no. The first area is including Long Beach, San Pedro, and we were considered as north Long Beach so part of the Long Beach Artesia was. Right up to the boulevard and to the north and to the east is -- I don't know how far they went on the east -- I think we were just about the end of east boundary and west wise, Compton wasn't end. So Bellflower or somewhere around there.

MN: Now when you got this notice that you had to go to camp, how did you feel?

AI: We don't know why, we don't know what the camp is, no idea what's going to happen or what they're going to do or what. It just felt like we were treated as an enemy or something. That's all we could think about.

MN: Now you're given three days' notice. How did you or your uncle get rid of the farm equipment, the house furniture?

AI: Just give away practically. We bought... I bought, I should say my brother really did, car, that was the first car we purchased three months ago before the evacuation and I remember that we paid nine hundred dollar, Mercury convertible, and that was real sporty car then. And we couldn't find any buyer so he took it back to the dealer and all he offered was three hundred dollar, no choice, we had to grab that three hundred dollars. Farm-wise I think Mr. Hamano got nine hundred dollar for the tractor, the horse, the house, and the crop. And the crop is ready to harvest and that alone will pay back the buyer his nine hundred dollars.

MN: Now yourself personally, what did you pack to go into camp?

AI: Two suitcase. So how much can you put in two suitcase immediate clothing?

MN: Did you buy new clothing?

AI: No, no, no. I mean you put your underwear, one week or whatever the underwear and a couple of shirts and no suits but just everyday clothes. You'll fill up the two suitcase.