<Begin Segment 14>

SU: And by that time, let's see, by the time in the spring, I was already pregnant. And had, was planning -- I mean, my baby was supposed, second baby was supposed to come in May. And then when our orders came that we have to move in April, my doctor went down to the temporary camp, Camp Harmony, where Puyallup Fair is now being held. Says, "Where's the hospital?" "We don't have a hospital." Well, how many thousands of us were leaving Seattle to go to the camp? And he was so horrified, he wrote to the government. And they said, "If she's, if your patient is in the hospital, then she can stay there. But only as long as she can stay in the hospital." But fortunately, those days, we had, mothers had to stay two weeks anyway, even though we wanted to go home. So I was able to stay in the hospital for two weeks.

But the day that evacuation came for us who were up on Beacon Hill, one family at the First Baptist Church took care of another family from the Japanese Baptist Church. So they had one family who came to the door, helped them pack, and we could carry only what we could carry, take with us. And so I remember this man and his family, who had helped my family, came to the hospital to tell me that he had helped them get on the bus, and that they're safely on their way to Camp Harmony.

[Interruption]

BK: So you were in the hospital when the rest of your family was sent to Puyallup. Now, where was Chick at this time, your husband?

SU: He went to camp.

BK: He went to camp. So it was just you and your newborn that remained --

SU: Oh, yes.

BK: In the hospital.

SU: As long as I was in the hospital.

[Interruption]

BK: Tell me, you had said earlier, too, that you were due in May, and the baby came in April. Did your, did your doctor then arrange for you to have the baby early, or what happened?

SU: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I remember our last meal we had at home -- I told you that my father-in-law had a poultry farm. Well, by that time, my father-in-law wasn't with us. Mother had died. Anyway, Chick's brothers were at the farm, and they brought in some chicken, the last chicken that they were going to eat. And they prepared this huge chicken dinner. And I thought, "Oh, I better ask the doctor if I can, if I'm going to be -- " because I'm, I knew I was going to be induced the next morning -- if I can eat. And he says, "Absolutely not." So all I could do was, was smell that delicious chicken dinner, which I never did have. And had to go to the hospital the next day. Well, our family was supposed to evacuate on the 29th of April -- was it 29th? Something, yeah, or the 30th. So the doctor had, have the baby induced. They give you this orange cocktail thing, and you drink it. And that started the labor pains, eventually. And so the baby was born on the 29th of April, which is also Tenchou-setsu.

BK: What does that mean?

SU: It's the birthday of the emperor that, emperor at that time. So now, when I tell my daughter, "Oh, everybody in Japan is celebrating your birthday," "Oh, what do I care?" It meant nothing to her. So she came on the 29th, and so the family was able to come to the hospital to see the baby, and then they left the very next day. So I guess I was sad. I can't remember too much.

BK: Right, I was going to ask you how you felt, knowing that you were left behind, and --

SU: But, there's a girl in the bed next to me who was crying all day long. So I asked her, our babies were born the same time. I asked her, "What's the matter?" She says, "Well, my husband is in the South Pacific somewhere." So I thought, "Well, I should be very grateful. She doesn't know where her husband is, but at least I know where my family is, even though they were behind barbed wires." Of course, I didn't know at that time, barbed wires, and all. At least I knew where they were.

So two weeks later -- oh, then two weeks later, then I was able to go to Fujin, this Fujin Home that I told you about, the Japanese women's home, the Baptist group. And I was able to stay overnight. And my husband called me, because we were told to take only what we could carry. Well, how can you carry cribs or -- I mean, all the simple things we couldn't take. So my husband called, and says, order the kettle and pot -- well, not pots and pans, but at least he knew we needed a kettle and something to sterilize the baby's bottles and little things like that. Of course, I couldn't carry the crib there. But he asked me to pick it up, so a friend of mine did.

BK: I see.

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