<Begin Segment 8>

AI: And then how did you get to the point where you were supposed to gather for the evacuation?

RS: Well, I'm sure that the guy that bought our place took us, took the truck that we sold him, and took us to the railroad siding in Wapato. And then from there on we got on the train.

AI: Do you remember what date that was?

RS: It was in June sometime, I'm going to say about the 6th or 8th of June 1942. I'm not too sure about the date though.

AI: And you were there with all the other Japanese families from that area?

RS: Mm hmm, yeah, all the Japanese families were there. Everybody that I knew from the valley was there, because there was none left. Unless, beforehand you moved to Idaho or something like that, then you weren't there of course.

AI: But your family was still all together?

RS: Yeah, we were all together, all the kids were there, my folks were there and like I said earlier, most the Japanese did not leave. Maybe one or two left for, like I said Idaho, but yeah, they were all there on the siding there in Wapato.

AI: And did you know where you would be going?

RS: I don't, I don't remember where we were going, but I know that we were going. But we didn't know where we were going. And then I guess there were rumors, some people saying, "Yeah, you going to Portland," or, "You might go to Idaho," or something. And I kinda heard that, I think. But I did not know where we were going to go, and how long we were going to stay anywhere.

AI: How did you feel about that?

RS: Well, kind of felt lonesome, lonely, because you don't know where you're going, and you can't call that a home. So you kinda felt lonely. And I think everybody else did, too.

AI: So you're on the train together, you didn't know where you were going. About how long was the ride?

RS: Well, we went from Wapato, Wapato to Portland racetrack, so I'm going to guess about four hours. And then, in fact when we got there, somebody said at was racetrack. So I remember that, otherwise I wouldn't have known where we were at even. Although later on, I noticed there's a horse stall there, so, you knew it was some kind of racetrack or something.

AI: So, the Portland racetrack was your assembly center?

RS: That was assembly center, and we stayed there about, I'm going to guess about three weeks to a month. And then they said they were going to take us to a permanent camp, so then from there we went to Wyoming.

AI: Again by train?

RS: Again by train. And I think it took us about, I'm guessing again, but...oh, two days.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.