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BN: And then, as you mentioned, after some short amount of time, weeks, you have the second eviction round, what do you remember about that?

HK: Well, I do remember walking into the Santa Anita so-called "assembly center." And I can remember looking up and I was very impressed to see some soldiers up there on top of a platform sitting behind a machine gun. And I thought, "Wow, look at that, that's a machine gun, whoa." I didn't think that they were pointing the thing at us, but I can still remember that as we entered Santa Anita. That was my beginning experience of incarceration.

BN: Do you remember at all having to pack or select things to take with you?

HK: No, I have no idea, so my folks did all that.

BN: Had you been to Santa Anita before?

HK: Previously?

BN: Yeah.

HK: No.

BN: So this is all kind of new.

HK: Correct.

BN: What else do you remember upon entering Santa Anita? You get in and you're assigned to... well, first of all, where did you live, the stables or the barracks?

HK: Okay, so we were one of the lucky ones, we got to live in the barracks. And even more lucky, we were right next to one of the, several mess halls. So for eating, we didn't have walk very far.

BN: Which color mess hall?

HK: We ate in the green mess hall.

BN: Now, most of your friends from Hollywood area were, did they go to Santa Anita, too, or were they somewhere else?

HK: I think some of them had to go there, but for the few months that we were in Santa Anita, I can't recall seeing any of them.

BN: If you saw your old friends. Did you, even though you're in the barracks, did you venture into the stable area and see what the situation was there?

HK: I can remember going there once, because I recall the Harada family that my (father lived with previously) came through, they were in the stable area, so I went to visit them once. And that was enough, because I went into the stables where they had to live, and (...) the smell was so bad. So I think I never went back to visit them.

BN: Now in terms of your, where you lived, the barracks were pretty much newly constructed. Can you describe them as you remember them?

HK: I can't recall very much. No, we were just in one room, the Santa Anita barracks, I'm not sure. I'm guessing they had four rooms in the barracks, I think. And so we were in one of the middle rooms, and for the few months that we were there, I can't recall anything happening that was anything special, out of the ordinary, other than probably being crowded and no privacy, while we were there.

BN: There was a small, so-called riot there. Do you have any memories of that?

HK: I think this is the one that I recall. The so-called "riot" occurred straight down from the main street from where we were living. I just remember a whole bunch of people going down towards the white mess hall area. That was a big gathering, so I guess I didn't want to go get involved, so I just saw a whole bunch of people going in that area, and that's all I know about the so-called riot.

BN: What do you remember about the bathroom facilities there?

HK: Bathroom facilities? I think in our area they had one of the barracks set up for a latrine, and the only thing I can recall is they had one long urinal, the urinal was one long metal tray like, so a dozen people could be urinating at the same time. [Laughs] That's the only thing I remember about the latrine. I can't remember where or how or anything about the shower facilities.

BN: Flush toilets?

HK: I know there were stories about the big shower facility there just outside the grandstand, but that was a big distance, walking distance from our area, so I can't recall if they had more shower facilities elsewhere in the parking lot.

BN: Then were there flush toilets in the bathrooms?

HK: Good question, I cannot recall.

BN: I know at some of the assembly centers there was an issue because the bathroom, the toilets and urinals weren't designed for kids so they were too high. Do you remember, as a ten year old, do you remember...

HK: Oh, okay. No, I don't remember having any problems with the urinating.

BN: And then with the mess halls, were you eating in shifts there, or was it big enough that everyone could go in at once?

HK: All I recall is when it was eating time, we'd just line up and go in and get whatever they're feeding. So I don't know if there was any shifts.

BN: But there was a line.

HK: There was a line to get in and eat.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.