<Begin Segment 7>

BN: Wanted to then jump now to the war. Do you have any recollection or stories about what you and your family were doing on that Sunday, December 7th?

KS: No, I don't remember. But I remember the lady at the end of the cul-de-sac was really excited that day, but I didn't know what was going on. And then I was eight years old, well, 1941 I was still seven. But then I really didn't know what was going on, and all I knew is that one day we went up to that St. Mary's church, and that's where the buses came. So then I don't know how many buses there were, maybe twenty buses there, so we got on the bus. And then at that time, you could also drive to camp. So my father had his truck, and then he brought his belongings in the truck while my mother and the three girls and myself, we got on the bus, and then we went to Santa Anita. And I think that was the longest bus ride I had, from Uptown to Arcadia. Before the war, we used to go to the beach, we used to go to Brighton Beach, from Uptown down to San Pedro. I guess Brighton Beach was on Terminal Island, that was a really long trip. And we would always worry that we don't get a flat tire on that trip, but it was a special occasion to go to Brighton Beach.

BN: And you never got a flat.

KS: No, we never got the flat tire.

BN: Any memories of... between Pearl Harbor and when people, the mass of the population had to be removed, you had the arrest of a lot of Issei community leaders. Were you aware of that, friends...

KS: No, I don't think anybody on Dewey got arrested, but I think I remember people making crate boxes and stuff like that, and they're going to store things in somebody's basement and stuff like that. So that was what's going on.

BN: You met at the church?

KS: That's where the bus met, at the church.

BN: But the leaders of the church were not interned?

KS: I don't think so.

BN: They're Christian, so they're less likely. Do you know what happened with regard to the family business?

KS: I don't know who took over. So then my father did the produce part, and then the other guy did the meat and commodities part. And when I was in Santa Anita, I got eye trouble. Over there, they had the parking lot, we all lived in the parking lot. It was too bright or something, so I got the pink eye. And then somehow my mother got it such that I went to the L.A. County Hospital that's by the I-10 freeway now. So I took the ambulance from Santa Anita to that hospital. And at that time, then my father's partner from the produce, hakujin guy came to visit me at the hospital. But I think my father never met him after he went to camp, but I saw him once when he came to visit me.

BN: And your family didn't go back to L.A., so presumably the business got sold or something.

KS: Right.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2018 Densho. All Rights Reserved.