<Begin Segment 7>

BN: I'm going to jump to Heart Mountain at this point. So after spring and summer, to the fall at Santa Anita, do you remember anything about when you found out where you were going subsequently?

HK: No, I had no idea, and I don't know if my parents knew, but even if they knew, they didn't mention anything, at least to me or my brother. I just remember we were on a train, and we're on our way.

BN: What do you remember about the train?

HK: Very little. Even though I read the records and seeing that going all the way to Wyoming took three days? Or two days and three nights or three days and two nights, that's a long time. But I just remember we had to sit on the bench seats for that length of time. Don't recall much about the dining car because I guess we had to go, to go eat, we had to go to a dining car, and I don't recall what they fed us or what. But we just somehow survived that long trip. And I don't even remember about having to pull the shades down whenever we got to a town, all I know about that is now what I read about it many, many years later.

BN: And then you get to Heart Mountain, Wyoming. What do you remember about your arrival there?

HK: Again, very little. Because we got off the train, and I've just seen videos that they put us on a truck and take us to whatever block or where we're going to live. And so my case, next thing I know, that we're in the corner in the camp, this is way in the north end of the camp, Block 28.

BN: What was your full address?

HK: Block 28, Barrack 13, and Unit D, which is one of the middle rooms.

BN: The middle ones are the medium sized ones?

HK: Medium sized rooms, square, 20x20.

BN: It's just the four of you?

HK: The four of us.

BN: Who lived in that block in terms of, where were people from in that block? Were they all Boyle Heights people?

HK: Well, I didn't get to meet a lot. We met the Shishima family which was in an adjoining barracks, and they were from where Chinatown is right now, (near Owera) Street, that's where they came from. Another family that met in the block was the Sera family, and they're from San Jose.

BN: San Jose?

HK: Yes, Kinji Sera, he became a dentist. And the other half of the block, I think, had several San Jose people.

BN: Was that the first time you met, I assume this is Bill Shishima's family.

HK: That's when I met the Shishima family.

BN: So you're (eleven), and we've already come across two JANM volunteers, future JANM volunteers. Can you describe what you remember of what the barracks looked like when you got there?

HK: What the barracks looked like? No, I never took a look at the barracks to see anything about the architecture. No, just tried to accommodate or adjust to the different kind of living conditions that we had there.

BN: Was your family, over time, did your family add a lot of things, furniture, curtains, all that kind of stuff?

HK: Well, after the first winter, I think either the government or whoever brought in the Celotex panels, big sheets, four by eight, so that was put up on the inside for insulation. And if you could get a few more panels, then you put those in your room to divide the room up by using the Celotex. And then in our case, somebody was able to get some extra two by fours, so we were able to save one bed space by making bunkbeds. So I don't know who did the carpentry, but eventually my brother and I, we just slept on top of each other in bunkbeds, so that gave us a little bit more room.

BN: And were you able to partition the room or subdivide the room?

HK: Yes, I can remember there was a partition just outside of our bunkbed, another Celotex piece that separated our bed from my parents' bed.

BN: Then how far were you within the block, from, like, the mess hall and the latrines and so forth?

HK: Well, if you get to look at the Heart Mountain blocks, Barrack 13 is close to the mess hall. So we were close to the mess hall, but farther away from the latrine. So it was a longer walk if you had to use the latrine, which was a problem during the wintertimes, because the winters were very cold.

BN: What did people call them at the time? I'm using the word "latrine," is that what you, I mean, what did people say? What words did they use?

HK: Well, I guess they used the old "benjo," or even for short, "ben." "I've got to go to the ben."

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.