<Begin Segment 9>

JD: Can you talk a little about the photograph that was taken of your family and Felix the day you all left for camp?

FK: Yeah... I'm really not sure who took that picture. But we were standing in the yard and our family was there, and Felix and Elaulio and another man who was never... another man of Filipino descent that no one can identify, not even Felix, 'cause I don't know who he was. But I don't know who took that picture. But it was just... it was the day we left 'cause we're all dressed to leave. So it must have been just before the, we boarded the army trucks to go over to the Eagledale site. I remember once Felix's cousin Elaulio -- was the other Filipino American that was with us -- Mom said he came to Minidoka to visit us, and that he was eating in the mess hall. And she said as he was eating, he dropped his fork on the floor and when he bent down to pick up his fork, he took the fish that was in his mouth out of his mouth and left it on the floor, and picked up the fork. And I guess we had gotten used to the food by then, but he thought it was awful. [Laughs]

JD: What do you know about what it was like for the rest of the Bainbridge Island community on the morning of March 30th, '42, the Filipino Americans or the Caucasians or other people who were seeing you all taken away?

FK: Again, I was really young so I don't remember. But just listening to people talk, like Jerry Nakata's friends like Hal Champness and Earl Hanson... that class that Jerry Nakata was in was just really close. They... every chance they get they, they meet together. And, and I know Jerry is not feeling well right now, but his daughter-in-law makes lunches and invites all these people to come to their house for lunch. And, and I'm really lucky 'cause he'll invite me to come sometimes and I can sit down with them. But it's just hilarious listening to them talk about their... what was going on during their high school days and stuff. And I, I thought some of us were really bad in high school, but those guys did things you can't believe. [Laughs] So they... it was just, it's just... you can just feel the closeness of their class. And Sada Omoto was their class president and, and they just... I just know that they just had this special feeling toward each other and that it was really hard for them when they had to separate out. I know Earl always says it was really hard on him not being able to personally say goodbye to Jerry at that site, because they weren't allowed to come close to them because the soldiers were there and wouldn't allow them to go down to say goodbye to them or for them to leave that area to come up to say goodbye to them. So I know that it was really hard. And in the case of the class of '42, I know there were thirteen kids of Japanese descent in that class of about fifty. And, and I'm sure it felt really weird to look at your class the next day and see thirteen empty seats there.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.