<Begin Segment 27>

MN: Now, how did you learn that the Jerome camp was going to close? How did they make that announcement?

BT: It was in the, we had a paper. I think it was a weekly paper. Anyway, yeah, so...

MN: Did you know why they were closing Jerome at that time?

BT: No, not at that time, but again, fast-forwarding, I think it was 1992, we went down there to dedicate the monument at Jerome and Rohwer, and that's when I found out that they used Jerome as a prisoner of war camp for captured German soldiers.

MN: Once, the war is still going on, so they have to transfer you somewhere, were you given a choice of which camp you want to transfer to?

BT: Yes, and if they had an opening in that camp, then you were allowed to go there. So we went to Gila.

MN: How did you choose Gila?

BT: I wasn't in the decision making, but my sister and... anyway, but they were gonna go to Rohwer first, but then the rumor was that Rohwer's gonna close next, which didn't happen. But then Gila was more like Fresno, so I guess that's why we ended up there.

MN: How did you, when you moved to Gila, how did you ship your one hundred records?

BT: Yeah, well, I had made a wooden box to hold the records, and you packed the records so that they won't move around. So none of 'em broke.

MN: So on this transfer, the government did not limit how much luggage you could bring over?

BT: No, I think you were allowed to take whatever you had there. Yeah, so... well, I don't know if they allowed to take furniture or not.

MN: What was the train ride like from Jerome to Gila River?

BT: You know, I don't remember. I guess it was okay. There's nothing... and then we landed in Casa Grande, which is close to Gila.

MN: Do you remember what day or month you landed there?

BT: It was in June, but not the date, June of '44.

MN: What was your first impression or introduction to Gila River?

BT: Well, we had a good welcoming thing. At dinner, they had a sandstorm that day and it showed up in our dinner. You had beans and wieners and sand on that. [Laughs]

MN: Now, did your group from Jerome, were they able to live in the same block?

BT: You mean when they went to Gila?

MN: Uh-huh.

BT: Well, no. They, we were all in different blocks 'cause they, depends where the opening were. And we got, we got a nice unit. Someone that had that unit before us, I don't know where he got the lumber, but he made a partition inside so it separated the bedroom and the living room, so that was neat.

MN: Do you remember what this new address was, what block, what barrack?

BT: Let's see, it was 47-8-B or something like that.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.