<Begin Segment 4>

TI: Now, going back to your family situation, at this point, your home, was it rented, was it owned? Do you recall?

KG: It was rented. My dad couldn't own the house, because he was an Issei, and they weren't allowed to own property.

TI: Right, but then because you had older brothers, sometimes they put it in the names of the...

KG: No, my dad couldn't do that. It wasn't right, it wasn't legal really, technically.

TI: So tell me a little bit about your home. What was it like, like how many rooms?

KG: Oh, I don't remember.

TI: So when we... so what I'm trying to understand is, what kind of preparations, as the weeks went by, pretty soon people in Sacramento got notices that they had to leave. I'm trying to get a sense of that feeling, and what you had to do to get ready.

KG: Well, we got rid of everything. I mean, neighbors came in and practically walked off with everything. Because I remember my bed being, going down the steps, and watching this person walk, he and his friend walking down carrying my bed, and that sort of thing. And I remember my one brother, he made model airplanes all over, and he had one special one, he had just started to work with motors on model airplanes. And he didn't get a chance to really fly it, but he couldn't take it with him, so he promised it to his close friend. The day we were leaving, this boy was sitting on our porch early in the morning, because my brother had promised him that he'd give him that plane, so he was waiting. And I wondered, "Who are you?" then I realized what had happened. And we watched that boy walk down the street with this model plane with a motor in it, and my brother just watched it. And I really felt sorry for him because this was something that he was looking forward to working with.

TI: Working, and then eventually flying it.

KG: Yeah. And he never got a chance, but he saved his money to buy that engine.

TI: Tell me a little bit about that feeling. So your parents decided to sell everything. And you talk about the bed being taken away, your brother's, eventually his model airplanes, and finally his prized airplane. How would you describe how it felt to see all those things leave the house?

KG: Well, it just... the house was empty in the end and, you know, there wasn't a whole lot we could do. It was time to go.

TI: So in those last days, that last night, for instance, where did you sleep?

KG: On the floor, because everything was gone. So we spread sheets and blankets on the floor and we slept on the floor.

TI: And during this time, do you recall anything that your parents said to you as this was happening?

KG: No, no, it's shikata ga nai, as you're familiar with that term, everything is shikata ga nai.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.