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TI: So let's go to Tanforan. So you were there, what memories do you have of Tanforan?

KY: Only hay mattresses. [Laughs] We went to Tanforan and we got bags. Everybody go to the hay field and fill it up with hay for your mattress. And that's all I know of Tanforan. I just didn't do nothing in Tanforan but just, everybody just wandered around, they might have a program up in the grandstand. But other than that, there was nothing. But we only stayed there a few months, and then as soon as Topaz was finished, they shipped us to Topaz, which is in Utah, Delta, Utah. And we went to camp there, and that's where I stayed for two or three years.

TI: And the thing about Tanforan, so you're there, so this had just happened. Like when you're in places like the mess hall or the lunchroom, people were just sort of talking about what's going on. Do you recall some of what people were saying in terms of what they thought about what was going on?

KY: No. I never talked to people. I was -- excuse me -- I was always on my own. I never met, made friends or anything like that. I was always an individual. I hate kidding around with a bunch of people, so I always stayed by myself. I might make one or two friends, but I never ran around with anybody.

TI: How about the family? What happened to your family in Tanforan? Did things change in terms of the dynamics of being together or not?

KY: Oh, no, the family all stayed together. All through camp, the family always stayed together, never separated. Well, they went to eat at different mess halls in Topaz, but in Tanforan, everybody was, our family stayed together. They went and played with, there was different kids during the day, but dinnertime or evening time, they all stayed at home.

TI: Now, did you see anything different with your parents? Because all of a sudden they didn't have to work. And I'm thinking about your father, he probably wasn't able to party like he was before. Did you see your parents in a different way?

KY: Oh, yeah. They became a family. The whole thing became a family, my mother and my father and all the kids, we all stayed as a family. And we stayed as a family all the way until Topaz, 'til I was picked up.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.