<Begin Segment 13>

TI: So let's... so when you're leaving the farm, how did you prepare the farm when you left? What did you do before you left the farm? Did you find like a tenant? You said I think you had an Italian or something that was going to take it over?

MT: Yes.

TI: And like the equipment and all that?

MT: We left everything.

TI: How about personal things like your furniture or extra clothing? Where did all that go?

MT: Well, it must just have been dumped, I would imagine, what we couldn't take with us, because we were so limited what we could take.

TI: But were you able to store things?

MT: Well, I think my mother said that she had a trunk of some things, whatever she could put in there, and she did. And so I'm sure there were things that she had hoped would remain. [Laughs]

TI: So she left those at the farm.

MT: At the farm, yes.

TI: And do you know if she was able to recover those things?

MT: Well, I think she said that they did recover the trunk, but there were things missing out of it, you know. But I think as far as most of the things, I think she did. But I don't think there were, it was a whole lot, but whatever they could.

TI: How about things like you mentioned the Plymouth, the car? Were you able to sell it before?

MT: Yes, they got rid of all the cars.

TI: So as you, you may not have known this, but because your father signed the papers in camp or something, there was nothing to come home to. The farm was sold and you got the trunk, your mom got you the trunk, and there was nothing else left for them in South Park.

MT: That's right.

TI: So going to the day that you leave South Park, can you describe, some people call it "evacuation day," or the day that you had to leave South Park. What was that like?

MT: Well, all I remember is that we all kept saying, "Where are we going?" because they don't tell you where.

TI: Because you knew you weren't going to Puyallup at that point, you were going someplace else.

MT: Yes. So when we got on the train, there were there military people, and we noticed when we got on the train in the cars, they had all the blinds down on the windows, so you just keep wondering, "What's going on? What's gonna happen to us?"

TI: And when you say "we," were all six children and your mother traveling together?

MT: Yes.

TI: Any memories of the train ride down to California that you can remember, that stands out?

MT: Well, of course, I think everyone remembers that they had these military people with their rifles, so it was not a pleasant ride. And mainly the thing is we didn't know where we were going.

TI: Now, did anyone talk to the guards or the soldiers?

MT: I don't know if anyone did or not, they might have, but I didn't. I don't remember. [Laughs]

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.