<Begin Segment 11>

MN: Let's talk about how you got out of camp, then. Do you recall what month you left Gila?

KY: No, I do not.

MN: How did you feel about leaving camp?

KY: I don't know. Like I said, I was a kid, so I did whatever Papa said. So it didn't matter how I felt.

MN: Now you had mentioned earlier about leaving Gila to go to Selma.

KY: Yes.

MN: What memories do you have of that drive?

KY: The only thing that sticks in my mind is we went through a town that had a sign that said, "No Japs Allowed." And I was very fearful that if we had car trouble, I didn't know what would happen to us. But we didn't, so that was a big relief.

MN: Now once your parents got to Selma, what did they do?

KY: I guess they worked on the farm again. I don't think they had any other skills that were useable as far as the unskilled labor.

MN: And how long were you in Selma?

KY: I don't really remember. I think I went to part of the ninth grade in Selma before we moved to Sanger, but I don't know if we stayed the whole school year or not.

MN: So did you go to part of ninth grade in Selma and then finish off at Sanger?

KY: I think so.

MN: Can you share with us this incident you had when your family moved to Sanger with this truck driver?

KY: Well, if you're talking about VJ Day, we were walking on the street and some rednecks drove by and said, "Why don't you fuckin' Japs go back to Japan?" And that was a little frightening, but they didn't stop, fortunately.

MN: Now how did your family hear that the war was over?

KY: I don't know.

MN: How did you feel when you heard the war was over?

KY: I guess it didn't matter to me. I mean, I was on the outside now, we were able to do pretty much what we had to do. So the war being over was not any different than the war continuing.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.