<Begin Segment 13>

FO: So, anyway, our group was split in two. Father John took the early register people to Gila, and we all went with Grandpa Yamazaki to Jerome.

SY: And do you remember... so you were in Santa Anita for a few months before this happened?

FO: Yeah.

SY: And you were all told that that's what was gonna happen?

FO: Yeah, we were told that because these people were all being, certain areas already were gonna be evacuated, and they were loaded on the train to go wherever they went.

SY: Like people going to Manzanar and other places.

FO: Well, not too much Manzanar because most of the... Manzanar, most of the people were volunteers that went there, I think. But, you know, we got to know a lot of people, and they used to make camouflage nets in the stadium.

SY: At Santa Anita?

FO: Yeah, they hang all these nets up and they put all the canvas sacks making various designs.

SY: And that was something that mainly women did, though, wasn't it?

FO: No, everybody did that.

SY: Everybody helped?

FO: Yeah. But later on, I found out that the army wouldn't allow non-citizens to work there. It was only the guys that were citizens were able to make camouflage nets.

SY: The Nisei.

FO: And then we were all assigned to different mess halls. We had four or five mess halls in that parking lot there, and I was in the, I was assigned to work at the Red mess hall which was in the stands at Santa Anita. So that's where I got to know a lot of people, too, because the San Diego people ate there, and some of the other L.A. people ate there. But our family was in the Green mess hall, so they had another mess hall by their area. Then my wife's group was, her father was a dentist, so they were sent way in the corner, and their mess hall was called the Orange mess hall. But the fact is, that's when the family order broke down. You know, before, we all used to eat together at home, right? And we used to talk and everything. When we went into camp, we ate with our friends, and we just hoped that my dad and mother were able to eat.

SY: But families were kept together in each mess hall, though? It's just that you ate at different times?

FO: Yeah. Presumably, because some of us went to other mess hall to see their food.

SY: You kind of checked it out.

FO: Yeah.

SY: And you had to work in the mess hall.

FO: Yeah, I worked in the mess hall as a dishwasher.

SY: And is it because you were a certain age?

FO: I don't know. I don't know how I... I've been trying to recall how I got there. But we met a lot of young ladies from San Diego.

SY: There was a different area.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.