<Begin Segment 8>

JN: No. So we landed in New Orleans, Louisiana, we got off and right away (we were spayed with) DDT fumigated everybody.

TI: Oh, so you remember that?

JN: Oh, yeah.

TI: So tell me about that. So they took everyone off...

JN: We got off and right away they stripped you naked, everybody, and sprayed the DDT.

TI: And so they did this by, with your whole family all together, so you and your sisters and mother?

JN: Oh, yeah, right.

TI: That must have been very difficult for your mother and sisters.

JN: Oh, yeah, for my sisters and my mother. I was small.

TI: And do you remember who did this? Were they soldiers who did this?

JN: Probably soldiers. Of course, we did take a shower after that. I remember eating sandwich that they gave us to eat, I remember it was a white meat, so it must have been chicken or turkey.

TI: Going back to the spraying of DDT, can you remember any of the smells or sounds? When you think back to that time...

JN: Oh, I'm sure the people were probably yelling, complaining, oh, yeah, and that kind of thing going on. But for once, it didn't bother me at all.

TI: Can you remember any of the smells?

JN: Smells? Oh god, some smell, I just can't remember.

TI: And when this was happening, was your brother or father around?

JN: Oh, we didn't get to see them, so they were not even close with us.

TI: So then you got some food, you said maybe it's chicken.

JN: Well, it was just a sandwich, probably, nothing more than that. So we right away got on a train. So I didn't think we had that much time. On our way to our coach, there were three, well, probably two or three, two where we sat down. There were soldiers on both sides of the train, we had to go through. I remember they were saying something that I couldn't understand, American soldiers on both sides of the train.

TI: And when you say soldiers, were they...

JN: With uniforms?

TI: Yeah, how would you describe it? Were they angry, were they threatening, were they nice?

JN: No, I know they were something.

TI: Serious.

JN: So we had to go through the aisles to the next coach.

TI: Did these soldiers have guns, did you see the guns?

JN: No, we didn't see guns.

TI: So you just saw soldiers (sitting down).

JN: Yeah, they were all in uniform, no guns. So from New Orleans to Crystal City, I don't know how long it took. Not three days, but it was long enough.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.