<Begin Segment 7>

BN: And at what point did your family then understand that you were going to be, that you were going to have to leave and sell the store and so forth?

EO: That we would have to move? Oh, same as everybody else when they found out. And actually, my dad tried to be independent of the camps and have his own group go, but it didn't work out.

BN: Oh, you mean to leave to go to the...

EO: We'd evacuate, but go someplace else. But that didn't work out. And it's just as well that he didn't, because I had to finish school yet, and so did my brothers. And my brothers really didn't stay in camp long, because it was my father's... I think that was his first concern that his boys stay in school. So as soon as we got into (camp), we moved to Arizona, I think the University of Lincoln was the first campus to open up to the Japanese students. So right away they applied, accepted, and they didn't spend more than two weeks in camp and then they went off to Lincoln. That was my dad's main concern, and that was taken care of. So they don't know much about camp at all.

BN: Right. But before you went there, your family went to Tulare, right?

EO: Yeah, we went to Tulare, and we stayed there a few months, I don't know how long.

BN: What do you remember about leaving and going to Tulare? Do you remember your feelings on that day when you had to pack up and go?

EO: Oh, the day of evacuation, we all assembled down at the Pasadena railroad station. For me it was very humiliating. I remember being on the train, and the train passes through Colorado Street because that's the main thoroughfare. I look up the street and I see my piano teacher waiting at the crossroads. He's waiting for the train to pass, I didn't want him to see me. Because we were being carried out of Pasadena in a disgraceful way, I mean, we were being disgraced, actually. So I turned my head so he couldn't see me, because I felt humiliated. That was a bad day. [Cries] Okay, you want to change the subject?

KU: Elsie, I know this might be hard to recall, you know the very difficult days, and we appreciate your sharing.

EO: It gives me a chance to express myself, and I appreciate that, I really do.

KU: I know a lot of things were probably running through your head on that train ride.

EO: Hmm?

KU: There were probably a lot of things running through your mind as you were on the train and going to camp. Do you recall at all what was running through your mind that day?

EO: No, I don't. It's just that the sight of my piano teacher just shook me up. Otherwise, no one knows me, as we're going through town. So my best girlfriend, she was on the same train, so it was good. She and I talked a lot.

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