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TI: So in those days before the family had to go to the assembly center, what were you doing? Talk about what your life was like.

CH: After I got home?

TI: Yeah, after you got home.

CH: Well, there weren't too many days after that. I can't remember how... I can't remember how long I was home. Well, I was trying to... I remember it was cold and I was sitting around the stove. In those days, they had wood stove to keep warm, and I was trying to explain to my dad about the thing I heard over the radio, I mean, all about the war, or what they're thinking. Especially they gave, issued what the law, you know, they changed the law or something, and then they'll tell you over the radio, explain to him all about that kind of stuff, I can't remember. But anyway, I just stayed home and helped my parents. And then it got to a point where we'd better start packing, putting some stuff away. And so my mother, I know she was very proud of her silverware and all her dishes, you know, the good dishes and all that, and wondered what they're going to do. So we packed them up in boxes and put it in that storage room that was supposed to have been locked up. And I told you about the WearEver set that she bought, which was brand-new, and I was an aluminum set that has all the pots and pans and roasting pans. Anyway, it was just brand new, and she wanted to make sure that it was packed and put in there real well. When we went to assembly center, the people that stayed in the house the first time were friends of ours. [Interruption] And while they were there at the assembly center, my mother got all the, asked them to bring all the aluminum ware and the silverware that she had. The silverware all came in boxes, and I think they were two boxes, wooden boxes, all set in with velvet. So my mother had that. And then the aluminum cookware, and so she got those. So when we moved from assembly centers to Tule Lake, all of us kids had to carry... [laughs].

TI: Oh, all the aluminum pots and pans?

CH: We had to carry something, yeah.

TI: But it was nice that those friends brought that to her.

CH: Yeah.

TI: And eventually -- I'm jumping ahead a little bit -- but eventually when your parents returned to the house, were all those things in that room still?

CH: In that house? The room that they had put everything in there was broken into. There were a lot of clothes and things that were still there. Another thing, I did remember my dad had a bookcase full of Japanese books and stuff, and they were there, still there, just the way he had 'em. I don't know what kind of books they were.

TI: So I want to make sure, did you say everything was still there, or did some things get taken?

CH: No, there were...

TI: Some things were taken.

CH: Yeah, like the desk, my rollaway desk, that was gone. But all that stuff was scattered all over that room, I mean, the boxes, whatever, the boxes were all open.

TI: So it was good that your mother asked for all that.

CH: Oh, yeah. That's all she had saved out of the whole thing.

TI: But things like you mentioned earlier, the mirror and stuff you got for your parents, that was still there.

CH: Well, that was on the lease. When the Fruit Association put their people in, they had a lease, and the lease listed all, davenport, mirror over the fireplace, I mean, distinct, describing floor lamp, cocktail table, all that, dining room with four chairs, five chairs or six chairs, I can't remember, six chairs. And then the dining room cabinet with dishes, set of twelve, so this and that. Those were all left there, so they didn't touch any of that.

TI: Okay, so things that were listed, okay, that's interesting. So it's good to have all these things written into the...

CH: In black and white, yeah. And I'm sure they inspected it after each person moved out and that family moved. Especially that first family that went in were our friends, and so we weren't too worried about that. But they were kicked out because they didn't know how to take care of the orchard. So the fruit people want to put their own people in there that would take care, do some work on the farm.

TI: That makes sense.

CH: Well, it makes sense, yeah. Because housing in those days during the wartime was very, very bad, housing, trying to get a place to live.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.