<Begin Segment 2>

FK: Now you said that the war broke out and you ended up being the only one on the farm. What happened to your dad?

IY: Oh, yeah, when the war started, we were still in school. In fact, I could remember when it did happen we were all called into the auditorium to listen to the speech that I think it was President Roosevelt made. Then they released us earlier from school. When I went home, I wanted to talk to my dad but my mother said, he's not here. She says Sheriff Johnson -- which was our sheriff on the island -- came up, picked him up. Says he's gonna take him to Seattle. That was it. My mother didn't know anything else, but they wouldn't give her any information. I was wondering why and I didn't know until I got to Seattle. My relative told me that he was in immigration here in Seattle. So I decided to go visit him and, well, there were other Isseis there. Went to see my dad. I asked him how come he's in jail? He said he didn't know. He thought well, because the war, but why because of the war that he was picked, taken away. The only thing he knows was he thought he was... well, many years ago he was the president of the Farmers Association here on the island. That's the only reason he knew or thought the reason that they took him, because of the position he was. From there he went to Missoula, rest of the Isseis. I guess he was there about six months maybe, about six months.

FK: So do you remember how long after Pearl Harbor this was?

IY: Not too long. 'Cause Pearl Harbor was December 7, 1941, and we were evacuated March 30th of '42. Just about... not a few days after the war started, when they bombed Pearl Harbor. 'Cause we were still goin' to school and we didn't hear anything about it until it happened. In fact, that was about the last day that, when I heard, where we heard the speech from President Roosevelt that they declared war with Japan and we were released from the class to go home and when I went home he was gone. So, it wasn't too long.

FK: What were your feelings when you got home and found out that they'd picked up your dad?

IY: Well, I thought well, gosh, we were young then. We wonder, gee, what's happening? Just start thinkin' about my parents. They were Japanese and that's their homeland that attacked Pearl Harbor. Kind of felt sorry for them. It was kind of surprising. That's about it. We couldn't think too much about it 'cause we were still kids. After that we just continued farming until we were ordered to evacuate on that day of March 30th.

FK: So you and your, you and your sister... the youngest sister, and you were the only ones that...

IY: Only one, right. She came back from Seattle to join us, to help us to move. 'Cause my oldest sister already were married. She was out in, I think it was Idaho. I think it was Idaho. My brother was in the service already. I think he was already in Australia when it already happened. 'Cause he was already in when the war started.

FK: You said your mom wasn't in good health, huh?

IY: After I was born, well, that's... when I was born... let's see, '24, about three years after I was born...

FK: What year was that?

IY: That was 1924 that I was born. So three years... about, I was only about three, four years old. Since then she'd been ill 'til she passed away 1960. After that we just... we didn't own the land or anything. We just had it leased. After we all packed up and got ready to leave, they came up and picked us up on a truck, army truck, and drove us to Eagledale. I don't remember too much of step by step what I did over there. I can remember walking down to the pier, but I don't recall how I got on the ferry.

FK: So you were a senior in high school?

IY: No, I was only a sophomore.

FK: You were a sophomore in high school. How was it in school when they, when they found out that...

IY: We were treated all right. They looked more surprised than anything else. "Is this happening?" 'Cause Bainbridge Island, you know, school... we were all close 'cause we knew everyone. They were, kind of felt sorry that we had to leave. But as far as treatment was concerned, we were treated pretty well. As you know there was a lot... when we left the island, a lot of people skipped school to send us off, say goodbye and so forth. From there I haven't been back here to the island until after I retired from the service. Yeah.

FK: So how did you, I know everybody had to register and all that. How did, how did that, how did you handle that? Did you, did you go register for the family? Or did...

IY: I think my sister did all that registration. We had help from the JACL member that was making all these arrangement. All we did was more or less follow the order and just follow...

FK: So there was a JACL chapter on the island or was it somebody from Seattle?

IY: I don't know if there was one on the island, but the... they were involved in it. They helped us out. I don't know if they came from Seattle or if they had some there in Seattle. I wasn't a member there then because I was too young.

FK: Do you remember any of your feelings as you were going down to the dock, to the ferry? Or when you were on the ferry or anything?

IY: Well, I felt kind of sad because I have to leave all my friends. We used to play around together and now we had to leave them. We didn't know when we're gonna see them again. The big question was were we ever gonna come back? That was the big thought on our mind. 'Cause they said they're gonna take us to a camp. We thought, how long are we gonna be there? And what are we gonna be doin'? That's the only thing that came on my mind. I mean, if we were ever gonna see our friends again.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.