Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Chizuko Norton Interview
Narrator: Chizuko Norton
Interviewer: Alice Ito
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: April 27, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-nchizuko-01-0017

<Begin Segment 17>

AI: And you were saying that you, on the evacuation day that you all gathered together. You saw all the other folks from your community, and then you were, you eventually boarded the train to Pinedale. At that time, did you know, realize where you were going?

CN: No, none of us did.

AI: So it was...

CN: And I remember distinctly how dirty that train was. And we, of course, kept our, we didn't change our clothes. Once we got to Pinedale and got settled, we took our clothes off and the... you talk about ring around the collar. It was black. But...

AI: Do you recall much about that trip?

CN: Some of it, yes, I do. Sleeping sitting up. And I know my, my mother and sister and I -- we were amongst friends so we were, we didn't run up and down the aisles -- but we did some talking and laughing and that kind of thing, but not too much. It was all, "Gee, I wonder where we're going," and, "I wonder what would happen." And so there was --

AI: Sounds like a lot of sharing your anxieties with each other.

CN: Yeah, uh-huh. And then once we hit Pinedale and saw this place that I'm sure that the dust was not three feet deep, but that's what it felt like. And then it was, then we'd see these people all lined up in long lines waiting to get into the mess halls and being fed Vienna sausage. And instead of jelly or jam or butter for your bread, it was apple, apple butter, which we got -- or I should say, I got to hate so that I refused to eat it up until a couple years ago when my friend made some apple butter. And she said, "I know you hate apple butter, but I made this because we got so much apples when we went to Wenatchee." Well, her son lives in Wenatchee now. And so she said, "Do me a favor and just take a taste, and I'd like you to have this jar." Gosh, I liked it. [Laughs]

AI: But did it bring back some memories?

CN: Yes, it did and I do eat it now, but Barbara and I had to laugh about that. But I thank her to introducing it to me. But it was, it was pretty bad really, and I'm not just talking about apple butter. But the fun we had was going around trying to locate (our) friends and where they lived and the new people that they had met and that we had met.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.