<Begin Segment 14>

AI: Well, now when did you find out what, what had happened to your father and where he was?

RT: Oh, I'm sure my mother must have found out soon. In other words, she may have found out the next day where he was. And I'm sure that she had made contact with... probably the lawyer, Thomas Williams, that my father talks about, possibly some other members of the community that were, that were more aware of where they were and what had gone on, yeah. But we knew he was still in Seattle. And we kept thinking he was coming home any day, "Oh, they couldn't keep him. Well, he must be coming home." And of course, this is December, and the farm had a lot of things to be taken care of, so we kept waiting. We just assumed that he would be home any time now. Well, the days stretched into weeks, and then it was getting close to Christmas. Now, my mother, I don't know how she arranged it, or whether she did have to arrange it. All I know is that she took us, all of us, she took us to see my dad. And we went to this... well, I understand now that it's immigration office. It was actually a jail, I think, where they held them. It was like that.

And we all filed into a room, and they brought him in so that we could talk. And I was, let me see, fourteen, I guess. Yeah. I was fourteen, and you just don't know what to say. So you sit there in a row, all of us kids, my mother, and you say the most inane things; and I know I said some really stupid thing. But you just can't believe how it felt to be in this room with your father, who you hadn't seen, and realize that it was, it was rather precarious situation, 'cause you just didn't know what was going to happen. And I know that it was like a jail. It must have been that they put us into a room by ourselves where he, they could bring him. And I don't know if there were bars or not. Could have been. But I do know it was very frightening. It was a situation that was sad. It was sad. Yeah.

So that was the last time we saw him. It was the only time we saw him as far as I know, that I remember, after they picked him up, as the only time we saw him in Seattle before they shipped him over to Missoula. So this was shortly before Christmas. I know it was before Christmas because my stupid comment was about Christmas and I know that. And then right after Christmas, well, then they moved him.

AI: And you knew where they were going to take him after that?

RT: I think so. I think my mother knew, yeah. Well, Missoula sounded like the end of the world. We probably didn't exactly know where it was, but even Montana sounded far. [Laughs]

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.