<Begin Segment 14>

TI: Okay, so let's back up a little bit here. Yeah, so you were engaged, so let's talk about who you were engaged to. So what was the name of your husband?

MM: Milton, M-I-L-T-O-N, Maeda.

TI: And where did you meet him?

MM: He was at Oregon State, but he graduated ahead of me. He was at Oregon State in engineering. And he was a good friend of the Yasuis.

TI: And when did the two of you decide to get married?

MM: We didn't decide. We hadn't decided, but when the war came, and we heard that we were going different places, then we decided we'd better get married. But now I figure how brave I was at my age to leave home and leave all my family, because nobody came to Portland. I was, I got special permission. I have that with me, I still have it.

TI: Okay, so let me make sure I understand this. So when the war broke out, Milton was in Portland and you were down at Oregon State.

MM: He couldn't travel more than six miles or something like that.

TI: (Six) miles? I think it was (six) miles.

MM: He couldn't travel.

TI: And when the orders came to leave the area and to be put into camps, Portland people would go to the Portland Assembly Center, Hood River people would go to Pinedale and then Tule Lake.

MM: Yes, and Tule Lake.

TI: So it was at that time that you decided that the two of you should get married so you could be together.

MM: Get married.

TI: And so then you would go to Portland.

MM: Portland. I had to get special permission from the army. Jeep in front of me, jeep in back of me, going to the Portland Assembly Center so I won't run away, I guess. [Laughs]

TI: And this was from Hood River?

MM: To Portland. I was followed by the army.

TI: And what were you traveling in? Just a regular car?

MM: That I can't remember all of it, with Min Yasui. He was, he had to go to Portland.

TI: Oh, so Min was --

MM: He was driving that old car, and I don't know what happened afterwards. How he got rid of the car then, but he was there at that time. But we had jeep in front and jeep in back all the way to get to the fence, barbed wire fence.

TI: Okay. And I'm trying to understand, at one point, Min turned himself in, right after Executive Order 9066 came out, because he disagreed with the curfew violations.

MM: Yes.

TI: And so he turned himself in to the police department. And do you remember when that -- you were probably not around, you were probably down at Oregon State, so you may not have heard about that.

MM: No, I didn't follow him. I just know that he drove me into Portland. Then I don't know what happened to him until Minidoka.

TI: But when you had that car ride with Min from Hood River to Portland, do you remember talking about anything during that ride, anything that was said?

MM: No, we didn't. And then after he got to Portland, I don't know what happened to him, whether he left or stayed there a while. That I lost track, I don't know.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.