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TI: And backing up just a little bit, on December 7, 1941, where were you when you heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

MM: I was in a lady's building. She had a boarder, and I was there at that building, and I remember two Caucasian friends came over and said, "Did you hear that?" And I had just heard it in the evening. But then I had, from there I had to walk every day quite a few blocks to go to the registrar's office.

[Interruption]

TI: But going back to you, your thoughts when you heard about the bombing, and then you saw the two other women who told you about it, what were you feeling?

MM: I thought, "Oh, no. What will I do? What will happen?" I didn't call my parents. I thought, "Well, I've got to quit the job and go back home because we had to leave." Then I thought, well, I'd better do something about going home. And we couldn't travel on Greyhound or train or anything. So my good sociology professor and religion professor helped me. They helped us get on the Greyhound to go home to Hood River. That's how I got home after I had to... well, I worked from, until end of March, and then (in) May I had to leave Hood River.

TI: Well, so let me back up a little bit. So on December 7th, so in December, did you go back to Hood River then, or did you wait until March? I mean, did you stay --

MM: Oh, I was working. I was working until March.

TI: Okay, so you stayed in...

MM: Stayed and worked.

TI: ...at Oregon State.

MM: Worked. But end of March, I had to quit. They didn't fire me, I said I had to leave to get ready, May, to leave, evacuation.

TI: And after December 7th, what kind of communication did you have with the family and with your parents about what was going on in Dee, and they were probably worried about you a little bit. How did you communicate?

MM: I didn't contact them very much. No, my sister (...) would call me, but no, I didn't contact them very much. Then when I, after I had to pack up and go home to Hood River end of March, well, then I had April to get ready. And in May, I had to leave. I left ahead of the Hood River people, because I was engaged, and I had to, couldn't get my marriage license. Chop, Ray Yasui, stood in for my husband-to-be and went to the Hood River County courthouse to get my marriage license.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.