Densho Digital Repository
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Helen Takeshita Interview
Narrator: Helen Takeshita
Interviewer: Brian Niiya
Location: Emeryville, California
Date: March 13, 2019
Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-471-3

[Correct spelling of certain names, words and terms used in this interview have not been verified.]

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BN: Going to the wartime, do you remember December 7th, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and do you remember what you were doing or what your family was doing?

HT: I'm trying to remember.

BN: You were only, like, six or something like that.

HT: Yeah, I don't know. Because when the war started, then we were sent to camp, and we went Topaz. No, before Topaz it was Tanforan. When we went to Tanforan, I think my mother had some kind of sickness, and Tanforan there were all these horse things, and because my mother had some kind of measles or something like that, they wouldn't put us in those, they put us into a barrack, and after that, we were there for a while.

BN: So that was better that you were in a barrack, probably.

HT: Yeah, we were in a barrack. And I remember this thing, they had guards up there like that. And I remember that there was a guard there that was really good to us, and I was really, really young, and he says that, "If you're really good, I'm going to give you candy." And no one had candies in those days, and this guy decided to give us, he goes, "You behave and you come back here after whatever you do, and I'm going to give you candy," and he would throw candy down to us. It was like really... you know, that's something that I remember, that candy. And then after that, we went to Topaz.

BN: Now, prior to, I know prior to Tanforan, in the period between Pearl Harbor and when people went to camp, the FBI arrested various leaders, and I believe Reverend Fukuda was one of the ones who was arrested.

HT: Oh, yeah, he was.

BN: Do you remember other community leaders and so forth?

HT: Fukuda-sensei was really a very strong person. And I don't know, I remember there was a man that lived within our church, and he was an elderly man, and he was the meanest guy, but then he always did everything for the church. He cleaned everything and threw out trash and everything, but he had nowhere else to go. And Fukuda said that they had a room for him. I remember he was so scary to all of us, all the kids, you know. But then it was always...

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.