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TI: So then at some point, Minidoka's ready for people. So tell me about sort of moving from Puyallup to Minidoka. How did that happen?

TT: I don't know how they did it. We just knew that it was our time to go, and they had the buses, so we just got everything that we had and put it together, and then went on the bus. I think we went on the bus from there to the train station. And on the train station, you know, everybody had to pull their shades down because they didn't want us to know where we were going.

TI: Now did you know where you were going at this point?

TT: No.

TI: So still you're...

TT: We went because we were told to get on the train and we're going.

TI: Do you recall any of the, what people thought when people were going on the train?

TT: No, they just peek and they says, "I wonder where we are." And they'd see dirt, and everybody was just the case of wondering.

TI: But at some point you were probably thinking, well, looks like we're going to Eastern Washington, or we're going east.

TT: Yah, well, we didn't know because we didn't know Eastern Washington or anything before the war, we never went anywhere.

TI: Now in the train and on the bus, were there soldiers there?

TT: There must have been. Because we weren't supposed to look outside. If we were peeking, somebody would tell us, "Oh, you're not supposed to peek, you're not supposed to look."

TI: Okay. Any memories from the train ride to Minidoka?

TT: Yah, I did one thing, because one of my friends had epilepsy, and so she had an attack there. So that was the first time I knew about epilepsy, too. And so I helped her mother. And so once we went to Minidoka, she and I worked in the mess hall together, and so I was able to kind of watch her. But if anything happened, I knew that I should go after her mother.

TI: And when she had an episode, or I guess a seizure, was there any medical assistance?

TT: No, all I did was whenever she had one, I made sure I put something in her mouth so she wouldn't bite her (tongue) and then I'd go and get her mother, wherever her mother was. But I don't know, she must have gotten out of it, because I saw her years later, and she became a teacher and she's fine.

TI: So you eventually make it to Hunt, Idaho, or Minidoka. What are your impressions when you get there?

TT: Well, it was big. And all of this is where we're gonna stay now, and then they told, and we didn't have school then yet either, because school didn't start 'til November, and we went over there in about August or September.

TI: Now do you remember what block you were?

TT: I was Block 21, right by the sewer system. [Laughs] Well, you have maps of the blocks.

TI: Yes. And what were your impressions of Minidoka versus Puyallup?

TT: Well, it was bigger, and this is where we're gonna stay. But, I mean, we didn't ask too many questions, you know, everybody says, "Well, why didn't you ask?" And I said, "Well, we just did what we were told, and they would tell us what we're gonna do next."

TI: But as you were going through it, did you feel like, oh, this feels like a better place?

TT: Yah, it was better because it was (larger). We didn't have that much more room.

TI: But the facilities were...

TT: Larger and spread out.

TI: You had the block system so that your mess hall was closer.

TT: Right in the middle.

TI: Things like that. And did you, did your parents have jobs at Minidoka?

TT: I think my father worked in the laundry room or (delivering) the coal. They used to have to help to get coal into the (apartments). My mother worked in the kitchen, she helped wait on tables.

TI: And so what did you do at Minidoka?

TT: Just goofed off, just had fun with the friends.

TI: And at this point you're sixteen, you're still fifteen?

TT: Fifteen, sixteen. Fifteen, I think, 'cause I left right after my sixteenth birthday.

TI: Okay.

TT: And then we had ice, you know, snow, because the winters were real cold. And in those days, women did not wear pants, we just had these skirts that came up to my knees, and bobby socks. Oh, my father used to have a fit, but we were young and we could take all that. So we'd go outside and play with our friends and I'd come in and he'd get mad, and he'd just rub me, he said, "Baka no koto."

TI: Yeah, because your legs were probably bright red from just being out there. Because it would get not only below freezing, but probably down to zero.

TT: Yah. Well, when you're that young, you're having fun with all our friends.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.