<Begin Segment 13>

SY: So at St. Mary's, when you arrived there, do you remember what happened when you arrived and how you, how you got from there to Santa Anita?

YM: I don't remember. I just know, I know we got to Santa Anita towards evening. It was not that far, so I can't remember why, but it was dinnertime or something, so we had our first meal there.

SY: At Santa Anita?

YM: Soon as we got to Santa Anita. And I know it was something like kind of a salad with beans. I know there were beans in it. And in the middle of the night I had a tummy ache, so I went to the latrine; there was a whole line of people at the latrine. [Laughs]

SY: In the middle of the night?

YM: It just didn't agree with us, I guess, whatever it was. [Laughs]

SY: You hadn't had beans before. Wow. And did you have any idea of what was, what was gonna happen to you?

YM: No. Just followed the line wherever we're supposed to follow, whatever line up we had to do. And we were assigned barracks. And we were under one family name, the whole nine of us. It's not like we had two numbers. So it was kind of hard to get a place for nine people, so they must've given us two, two rooms or something. But it was too small, so we were there for a little while and they moved us to another section for the quarters to be more comfortable. So I don't know how long we were all together, my brother's family and myself, but we somehow moved to, away from our own group because the available barrack was kind of far away. So I was, we landed up in the corner of the parking lot, away from the grandstand. It was a long walk to the grandstand. And everything was happening, happened at the grandstand, except mess halls. There were several mess halls within the parking lot, and we're all assigned to one mess hall. But if it was bathing or laundry or going to classes or anything it was at the grandstand, so we had a long walk 'cause we were on the edge.

SY: You had to walk. And you were separated from the rest of your family?

YM: I think just, I think so, because it was too many of us and they couldn't put us all in one room or something. So we went from Green mess to Orange mess.

SY: So it might've been you, so you went, might've been just you and your brother?

YM: Yeah, and my mother. I think the three of us must've moved. I can't even remember that.

SY: But you remember walking.

YM: I think my, the rest of my family must've all gone together. Anyway, yeah, so we had to, if we worked it was in the grandstand area. It was a long walk. And you take a shower and on the way back you're all, it was so hot you just perspire on the walking home.

SY: Really? At Santa, this is at Santa Anita still?

YM: Yes.

SY: It was hot there?

YM: Oh, it was. It was. I worked on the camouflage nets there on the, in the grandstand there's a ramp there where people could go watch their horses and so we, they put the net with the pattern on it on first and then they put another net over it and we just copied the pattern with these burlap pieces. We weaved and we'd tie the end, and we'd weave it and then tie the other end. And it was so hot, and we had to, we're on the ground, we're squatting, we're sitting on the ground and doing this, and we used to complain, so we'd take turns going into the shade and refresh ourselves for a while. And we were envious of those who were in the building, until we saw what they were doing. 'Cause their, their nets were hanging and they would roll it up as they wove the stuff, and when you weave burlap the lint just gets all over you, so the girls would wear scarves and long sleeve shirts and masks, and it was hot in there. So we were grateful we were outdoors.

SY: And this was, were, was it just women who did the camouflage nets?

YM: No, no. It was men and women, except our crew happened to be all female. But I think they had, you had to do so many a day or something like that, so they had some quota or something.

SY: And you were recruited, basically signed up for it?

YM: Yeah, it's a, it was a job. It was...

SY: So you got paid for it, extra for that.

YM: Uh-huh, that's right. 'Cause there weren't that many available jobs, but I don't know how long I did, I know I didn't do it the six months I was there because I went to some classes. There was a man who had a tailor shop in Japanese-town and he was teaching tailoring, so I went to some classes there for several days, several, so I must have not been working. And then towards the end of the time in Santa Anita I was a clerk in, working for medical social service, social service, and what they did was, there were many people in camp who had relatives outside the camp who were in hospitals or convalescent homes or such, and this particular department would arrange bus trips for them to go see their relatives.

SY: I see.

YM: So that's what --

SY: So it was kind of a service that they were providing for people in camp.

YM: Right. It was like, everything was, you were either inside or you're outside. This is the outside, for the outside. You called everything "outside." [Laughs]

SY: Those are the words, huh?

YM: Yeah, right. I heard my little nephew said any time they, when I was in Cleveland, or when I had left the camps, they would say, "Ask your," ask me in the outside to get this for them, "Ask my auntie in the outside."

SY: Right. 'Cause by then you were outside.

YM: You were outside or inside.

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