Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Ben Tonooka Interview
Narrator: Ben Tonooka
Interviewer: Martha Nakagawa
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: February 6, 2012
Densho ID: denshovh-tben-01-0018

<Begin Segment 18>

MN: So once the people at Fresno Assembly Center found out that you were gonna be shipped to Arkansas, what kind of rumors started to circulate that, what you had to get or buy?

BT: Well, one of the rumors was that the camp was built on a swampland, so the barracks were on stilts, above the water line, and also a lot of rattlesnakes. So they suggested that you buy boots, protect yourself. So we all bought boots, and when we arrived in Jerome, the barracks, they were not built on stilts, it was regular. But then the rattlesnake was true. Not within the campground, I think they, with all the commotion building the barracks, it, I think it chased all the rattlesnakes out. But there were a lot of rattlesnakes in the forest area.

MN: So how long were you at the Fresno Assembly Center?

BT: Five months. October, we left.

MN: October 1942?

BT: Yes.

MN: Do you remember what the train ride was like from Fresno to Arkansas?

BT: Yeah, it was terrible. It was, I think the trip was about five days. And we were in the train, very uncomfortable wooden seats, and no showers for five days. So it was pretty bad. We had this one lady that, she was a real outgoing person, so first couple of days she's singin' away, trying to keep the morale up for all the people. And about the third day she kind of started quieting down. She was starting to get motion sickness or whatever. But yeah, that was a, that was a bad situation.

MN: Did you get motion sickness?

BT: No.

MN: Now, you said about five days, you're not able to take a shower. Did you at least change your clothes?

BT: No, not that I remember.

MN: How, where did you sleep?

BT: Right on the chair that we were sitting on.

MN: So you had to sleep sitting up?

BT: Uh-huh.

MN: Did people get tired and just go into the aisles and sleep on the aisles?

BT: I think some of 'em did, yeah. We weren't allowed to go between cars, though, we had to stay within our car, 'cause they had a soldier on each end of the car.

MN: What was the atmosphere in the car like? You said there's one lady trying to keep up morale, but I mean, other than that, was it pretty relaxed, or was it tense?

BT: I think it was pretty relaxed. I think that it was worse for the Isseis. For one thing, they didn't know what was gonna happen. It had to be hard for them.

MN: Can you share with us what happened to the train when you stopped in Texas?

BT: Yeah, in El Paso, when we stopped there, we found out later that someone had written on the side of the car, "Only good Jap's a dead Jap."

MN: Did you have to keep the window shades down at all times, or just when you're going through a town?

BT: No, at all times.

MN: Your sister was pregnant at this time. Did she have a lot of problems on this trip?

BT: She didn't, she didn't mention anything, yeah. But I 'm sure it was pretty, it was uncomfortable for just normal people, but being pregnant, I mean, it must've really been bad.

MN: Now, when the train got into Arkansas, where did it stop?

BT: Stopped right in front of the camp. The railroad tracks ran right in front. Or, I should say, the camp was built right next to the railroad track.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.