Densho Digital Archive - Isao Yamashita Interview

<Begin Segment 1>

FK: Isao, tell me about your parents. Did they... where from Japan they were.

IY: Yeah, they came from Japan many years ago, I forgot what year it is. They lived in Taniyama, were born in Taniyama. I'm sure both of them were, but my dad came first to the States. And then he was settled for a while, workin' on the island. Well, no, he worked in Seattle first and then came to the island. And I think after that he got settled. He went back to Japan, picked my mother up. They came over and I think the first thing they had was a farm here on the island but it wasn't too good. So he got into butcher. His occupation was butcher before we were born. Since market wasn't too well, the farm was getting better. So he turned into farm and from there we were born and just continued farming until the war started.

FK: Do you remember about what year it was that your father first came here?

IY: He must have been about twenty-six? She knows more.

Off camera: She's shaking her head.

FK: She says, "Yes."

IY: Gosh, I'm not too familiar. I've forgotten all the... his side.

FK: Yeah. If he was about twenty-six, then about what year would that have been do you think?

IY: Eighteen somethin'?

FK: Where on the island was your family farm?

IY: On the road where it says High School Road. It was just Winslow then. First farm that we were was by where the Safeway is located now. The house we stayed there. And then we moved to another area where the real estate, right across from McDonald's, there was a house there. And the later part of the year we moved again about two miles from Bainbridge High School and there was a house there and we settled there for, until the war started.

FK: So what was your, what was your main farm then?

IY: Strawberries. Strawberry and tomatoes. And few peas and corn.

FK: Did you farm near where you lived or was it... was the farm right on High School Road then?

IY: Yeah, they were all farm. We had farm, well the main farm was strawberry, I'm sorry. And all three places that we moved were all strawberry farms. We just moved because of better soil I guess.

FK: Well tell me about your siblings.

IY: Well, my oldest sister, she... let's see. Well, she passed away already. Also my brother, he's gone. And my... next to me, my other sister, she's passed away. Well, my brother, let's see, he went into service just before the war because he knew one of his friends that was in the service at Fort Lewis and eventually joined. My oldest sister, she was already married and she lived in Seattle somewhere. And my other sister, she worked in Seattle in a restaurant. Which left, in my last area there, in the farm, left me and my mother was the only one. Since my mother was invalid, then they used to do too much. My father was... worked a little bit there but the war started at that time. And he was gone so I was the only one on the farm. Tried to keep it up, but it didn't work out too good, not by yourself.

FK: So were all of you born on the island then?

IY: Not on the island. Just two, myself and my sister. The oldest one, my sister was born in, I think it was Seattle. And my brother also. It was just the two younger ones were born here on the island.

<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.

<Begin Segment 3>

FK: So before the war, when you were a kid, what schools did you go to?

IY: Well I went, first school was Lincoln grade school. Let's see, I think there's a shopping mall right there now. After that we went to Bainbridge High School. That's the only two school.

FK: Were most of the kids you played with kids of Japanese descent or Caucasian kids? What circle of friends did you play around with?

IY: I seemed to play with, more or less, with the Caucasians. Yes. Everybody that I used to go around with was Caucasian. My buddy, he was Caucasian. He went to war and I didn't see him since. I don't know whether he came back or not.

FK: What was his name? What were their names? What were, who were the kids that you played around...

IY: They called it... Billy Freeman. There were... him and I, we chipped in and had a little small car that we'd go here and school, drive around and have fun. And I had other friends, but mostly closest was Billy. Other Japanese friend I had a lot too, but seemed like they all had to be workin' all the time on the farm. It's just not where it is now. If you're on a farm you work seven days a week. If you get a chance, sneak out and go swimming or something like that.

FK: Did you get a chance to say goodbye to any of your Caucasian friends or did they have a chance to say goodbye to you?

IY: Yes. In school, yes. Most of 'em I did. That's why I wasn't too sure after I got to Eagledale drop off there... I mean, we were all in formation more or less so we couldn't take off left or right because of the military guards there. From there we were all together, bunched up. We couldn't take off left or right or say goodbye. When we boarded the ferry, when we got to Coleman Ferry Dock in Seattle, we thought we might see some of our friends and say goodbye to them. It was roped off, so we were all... had to march in formation like and escorted to the train. From there we all loaded the train and went south into Mojave Desert and then from there they load us on a bus and went to Manzanar. That's where our camp was.

FK: What were your impressions of the soldiers? Of the military presence?

IY: The one that escorted us, to my surprise, was... they were real well. They were nice. A lot of them they got pretty close. I was surprise. They got pretty close. Even though we didn't know them by name or person. The treatment... they got pretty close. Now they escorted my mother on both side and they treated her nice. That's why I didn't have to bother with helpin' my mother 'cause she was invalid, she had to have help. Two soldiers there, they took very good care of her.

FK: Is she the one in the newsreel films that the soldiers...

IY: ... right. She's the one that's on the newsreel every holiday, December, you see on the newsreel that she's there gettin' escorted, yeah. They were good. I thought that they treated us very nice, as far as military was concerned.

FK: So how was the train trip?

IY: The train trip, well, like our age group it was more adventurous I think. 'Cause well, we're gonna go ride a train. A lot of people haven't rode a train or even a big bus or leave the farm. Some of 'em got a little tired 'cause they had to work all the time. Now they got away with it and left. Lot of them, I mean, they kind of felt sad about it. Now like myself, we leased our farm. So when we left, that was it. We were just more or less on our own and what's gonna happened in the future is just... wait 'til it comes and go from there.

<Begin Segment 4>

FK: What did you think when you saw Manzanar, when the bus pulled into Manzanar?

IY: Well, when we... well, we didn't get to see anything 'cause when we left Seattle they told us to close the blinds. We went through L.A. and I thought, maybe we could put -- 'cause we went through there at night. But we didn't want to take the chance. Then the next stop was Mojave. We wonder where Mojave, we never heard of that place. After it was in the morning, we got to Mojave and we all got off and got on the bus. They drove us north and they say going to Manzanar. We never heard of the place so we didn't know what it was. All we know it was the desert. After we finally got to the camp, barbed wire and soldiers. They check us and then they let us go through on the bus one by... I think there was three buses. So four drove into camp. The camp we looked at was, it wasn't too pleasant at the time. 'Cause they were just in the, developing the area there and there were trenches, holes here and holes there. Pipe here. Only thing that was there was one or two block of barracks and administration buildings and a mess hall, naturally. To us, well, for the male I think it wasn't too bad 'cause they was more active. They could do this jump here, jump there. I think I felt more sorry for the females 'cause, like when we were ready to go to mess hall we have to jump across the trenches and everything and they're not used to that kind of treatment at that time. They thought it was probably gonna be a little bit nicer place. But after we got to the mess hall, I thought it was pretty good because they served beans and wieners. I like beans and wieners. But lot of girls don't like those. Lot of 'em was cryin'... the younger ones. Then we were sent back to the barracks to get assigned to the barrack. From there it took its course. Didn't think too much of the barrack because of the sandstorm they usually have. Or it's a duststorm, that's what it is. When it blew it blew. And no privacy until about the last, almost a year, the time that we were there, around the last part, it started improving. They put linoleum on the floor and they had lawn in between the barracks. They still didn't have no partition. It's just the outside area. Some of the facilities were improved.

FK: What were the bathroom facilities like when you got there?

IY: Well, it was just like a regular barrack bathroom, shower on one side and on the other side was the bathroom, the toilet, you wanna call it. Not the flushing type. It wasn't a flushing type. It was just like the old military barracks when you go overseas. But we had shower, which wasn't too bad.

FK: Describe the toilets for me. I mean, I'm having a hard time -- they weren't the flushing type? How did they work?

IY: Oh, it's just a regular outhouse, that's the type. More seating... that's the type they had.

FK: So it was a row of seating?

IY: It's a row. One row on one side and then the sink on the other side. The other half was the shower room. The shower room would, I guess you'd call it a laundry room which most of the people gathered together from the other barracks. 'Cause the barracks, the room wasn't exactly a place for friends to gather. 'Cause it's too... the rooms are partitioned off with blankets and the bed was just cot or cot springs or cot and it had straw mattress. And when the dust, it comes through the cracks. It was no place to have visitors and to entertain. So we all gathered in the, the laundry room and do the best we can to enjoy ourselves while we're there. We didn't know how long. But we met a lot of people there from other, like California. There was a lot of people from there. After it got settled for a while. But we didn't stay there too long. As you know, we were moved to Minidoka about... we stayed about a year and then moved to Minidoka. The rest mostly was Californians. They stayed behind.

<Begin Segment 5>

FK: Did they tell you why you were being moved to Minidoka?

IY: What I could recall is I heard someone mention that anybody that had relative or friend from Seattle that... cause that's where they were. And if you wanted to move there with the other group, they'll transfer you there. I mean, we didn't have to. But everybody else was, so we went too. There, I think there's a couple families that stayed behind. I guess because of no relative or so, they had some relative come from California so they, I think those families decided to stay behind and be with them. But we didn't have any relative in California so we went with all the Bainbridge Island group. They were the one that got transferred, the Bainbridge Island group... maybe relatives in Seattle and all the Seattle group was in Manzanar, I mean, in Minidoka.

FK: So did your father rejoin you...

IY: Yes, he, I think he was there in Missoula about six months, maybe a little more. And then I know there were other men with him. 'Cause when they came to Manzanar they came on a bus and about three or four of 'em came off the bus. I figured came from the same place. That's when Dad was there. He stayed with us for about three or four months in Manzanar. Well, he looked good. I guess they must have been treated fairly well. I don't recall if he complained or not. I did a lot of complaining, but I don't know if he did.

FK: What kind of complaining did you do?

IY: Well, I had all kinds of complaints. I mean, you know, facility wasn't good. We couldn't do this, we couldn't do that. Especially when we got to Manzanar, there's not much you could do. Especially the weather. It was hot and dusty. After we got settled and we were able to find jobs... they had jobs in the camp. Like my first job was a messenger. I transferred papers to another office from here to there, from administration to other areas. After that it got to where... you get a little bored when you're young like that. They started the new job opening there in camp. They had two big warehouses that they built camouflage net warehouse. They had two of 'em. The smaller one, the small one was all burlap, different colors. They wanted people to work there. They, in fact, when I inquired, they needed someone to handle the burlap. They call it a stripper foreman. For a foreman you had to have at least six strippers. It's not a stripper where you take your clothes off, you know. It's where they cut the burlap in strips. I have six working for me and I was the foreman of that group. Then I'll go around the other two warehouses... they had nets, camouflage net. Those burlap strips, take it to the net and on one net they have four person with each net. We carried the strips there so they could make camouflage net for the military. I worked that until we were ready to be transferred to Minidoka. It was a nice job 'cause it was nice and cool 'cause it's in an open area. Got to know a lot of people. Course, a lot of... I think it was where if you make so much net, the camouflage, you could quit and go home. I think it was maybe four a day. And a lot of people liked to... even they did get paid, what $16 a month. Instead of just hanging around eight hours or whatever, they could finish their net within half a day, which they took whole day on it. They put in their quota, they could take off, so... we made friend and enemies. Yeah, 'cause when I walked around, I mean, I'm the only foreman. I have to walk to warehouse. When the strip is gone or mostly gone, then I have to yell for the stripper to bring, "Stripper to net number so and so." While they're waiting, well, it kind of slows them down. So they get mad and say, "Send your stripper more strips so we can go home." Some of 'em would take their time and make friends and enemies too. But it was, it was kind of enjoyable on that part of the operation. It was adventurous I guess.

<Begin Segment 6>

FK: Were you going to high school at the same time?

IY: Yes. Let's see. The high school we went there... yes, the same time. Right, it's the same time, right. I don't recall how we divided that school and the... oh, on the school we didn't have to go all day 'cause we had to take three subject, two subject. I think it was in the morning. In the afternoon, that's when we, in the afternoon we worked in the, in the camouflage section. Yeah. And the same thing at Minidoka. I needed only one credit, which was English, and that was only one hour and the rest of the time I was working as a coal crew, coal crew truck driver in Minidoka. That's where we go off the base and load the truck with coal and bring it in and deliver it to all the mess halls. That was a messy job. Shoveling coal, you're just black. It was hot then too. Those gondola, when you're inside of it, it's pretty hot. We finally, they finally issued us a steam shovel type of crane so they could just... instead of us just shoveling it into the truck you get that crane and pick it up and then dump it in the truck. It was hard work. I worked that for quite a while until I got a notice from Uncle Sam. There were two of us that got...

FK: You were drafted?

IY: Drafted. Yeah. Hideaki Nakamura is one of them, and he was from Bainbridge Island, and me... while we were in camp. We says, "Golly. Here we get put in camp and here we got a draft card." It's kind of, unique. It's... you probably never think you'll get one, especially in camp. 'Cause a lot of people kind of wasn't too happy about it. 'Cause, because of the fence and the sentry... you couldn't do anything but they want you and lot of 'em didn't agree with it. I guess some did turn down, but us two, we said, "Well, how else are we gonna get out?" After we found out when we got the card, it was almost for sure that we gonna be in service. They said with that card we can go out the gate. Outside the gate you have the military compound there and they have PX. And they said we can go visit there. So that wasn't too bad. All this commotion they had about "yes" and "nos"... we figured we're gonna... I don't know. I like the service I was thinking about the service when I was a kid anyway. I thought well, here's an opportunity. We'll agree and sign it.

FK: When did that questionnaire come? Were you in Manzanar or Minidoka?

IY: That was in Minidoka...

FK: ... you were in Minidoka...

IY: Yeah, I think when we were in Manzanar, Minidoka yeah. 'Cause they had quite a commotion on that.

FK: There were people that were for it and against it?

IY: Yeah, there were some for it, yeah, but... I'd say almost half was against it.

FK: Really?

IY: Yeah. After they started realizing the situation, some of 'em, most of 'em decided, "Let's say yes." Like me, I signed the "yes" already, before arguing. This is one way to get out of camp.

<Begin Segment 7>

FK: Well, did your father have any feelings about your brother being in the military or you being in the military?

IY: No, well, he was kind of surprised my brother got into the service 'cause he was, he had asthma before, before he got in the service, that was in '42. He was surprised that he got into the service. He went to Camp Savage, language school. He didn't see him then. I mean, that was it. 'Cause when they went overseas, then they start evacuating us. I mean, my dad was pulled and my brother was already gone. My oldest sister was already gone.

FK: So where was your brother serving?

IY: At the Intelligence, Military Intelligence.

FK: You said he was already overseas?

IY: Australia.

FK: That's right, okay.

IY: Then that, that's why there was just my sister and myself that was left on the island with my mother and then we went. When we got in the service, this friend of mine, him and I, we stuck close together, did everything together as we went into the service. We went to Fort Douglas, Utah. That's where we got inducted. From there went to Florida, Camp Blanding, they call it, for infantry training. At that time, the World War II was still on. They cut us our training three weeks short and we were supposed to replace the 442nd. After we got to Fort Meade, that's where the embarkation was, they transferred us from there to New Jersey. From there we got on the ship, liberty ship, it's the small ones. We all had to go down below. We couldn't see anything out. I don't know why. They say you can't see how you're leavin'. But after we were half... oh, maybe about other side of the bay in New York, they say we can come up. We all came up deck and looked around, and New York skyline was way in the back. We could see Statue of Liberty. It was about that big.

FK: So, were these all Japanese Americans?

IY: No, it was just a few of us.

FK: It was mixed.

IY: Yeah. After we got to... well, after we left New York, we got to France, where they call Le Havre. From there we got to move down south out into Germany. Just after we got to our second assignment in Germany they said the war is over and we ended up in occupation force, which wasn't too bad. I thought well, we don't have to fight. I mean on our way down we had snipers then firing and so forth. But you couldn't see 'em anyways, just heard the noise. So we ended up as occupation force. That's... from the last station we were in in Germany we were supposed to go little further to replace the 442nd troop coming back. But then, before that, they wanted volunteers to go to Pacific. There were, there were two of us volunteered to go to Pacific. That's when they had war with Japan. They said they wanted intelligence, interpreters more or less. I said, well, that's not bad. We left early in Germany. There were two of us. When we got to Minnesota, that's where they have the Army Language School, they realized that I didn't have enough time, so they just assigned me to headquarters instead of goin' to school. From there on, I mean, I've been the service until 1971, I retired.

FK: So you made it a career.

IY: I made it a career out of it, yeah.

FK: How high up did you go in rank then?

IY: E-7. SFC.

FK: So, what other, what other wars did you fight in?

IY: World War II and Korean War. I guess I can say I was another lucky one. When we got to Korea in 1953, I think it was April, and in August the war ended and came back. And then the Vietnam war, they were asking for a recall for transportation personnel. So anybody with transportation experience they wanted back. I was one of them. Then they sent us to the language school, Vietnamese language school. They call it the "crash course" at Fort Bliss, Texas. They had a language school there next to, was it Camp... I forgot that camp, training camp... they had a crash course, so we had to take it, three, three months, crash course. It's supposed to take one year, Vietnamese class. You don't know how tough that was. We had couple suicides 'cause they couldn't take it. Yeah. That was terrible. I finally made it. Then they send me to Vietnam. That was just where they had that Tet Offensive. That happened there were got, quite a few got wiped out, military... As we were going in I could see, at the base where we're all gonna land. You see all kind of, holes from the bombs and mortars. I said, "Wow." Wasn't exactly relaxing, you see all that. After we landed there it wasn't too bad. We didn't hear any fighting or anything like that. After I got assigned to the airbase, I'm military, army, and my headquarters was in Saigon, but I was attached to the Air Force, what they call Benoit. I took care of the Army personnel at the base and personnel that's leaving the state, going to inter state, delivering supplies and so forth. I was in charge of the army military.

FK: During World War II or any of those, Korean or Vietnamese wars, did you ever find that it was a problem being Japanese or a problem being Asian in the service?

IY: No, that's... I didn't have that problem at all. I noticed, heard some people had a hard time or they give them a hard time. To me, I... goin' through all three of 'em, I was treated okay. I guess that's why I stayed in until I retired.

FK: Did your brother stay in Australia all that time?

IY: No, he came back and he got out about three years or four years after... he put in his time.

FK: But he was in Australia during the whole Second World War?

IY: He was. But how long he was there I'm not sure. 'Cause I was in the service then I was more or less out of contact with my family.

FK: One thing I'm curious about and while you're in camp, what kind of information did you have from outside the camp? Were there newspapers or were there news reports about what was goin' on in the rest of the world? How did you guys find out what was going on in the rest of the world?

IY: Well, gosh, I don't recall how we got our message... we got the news. I think it's more of a grapevine, I think. I think they did have a paper in Manzanar, that camp Manzanar that... they delivered house to house, I mean, barrack to barrack. But as far as receiving information, I don't recall how we got it. 'Cause I don't recall anything that much, of the news. Just from people would get together and they'd say, well, you heard about this... you heard about that? I don't know, maybe the older people did that was there, had more information and received all the news, or bad news, good news.

FK: What did you do for recreation in camp? What did you do for fun?

IY: In Manzanar, after they... halfway through the camp period that we stayed, they had a field that they kind of leveled off for baseball. They all sent out message that anybody want to start a team, sign up and we'll get a game started. Like they had lot of L.A. team, young teams. And San Diego and Venice. Now the Bainbridge people, they were mixed, I think, with the others. They each all had names. I forgot what their names were, but I can't forget mine. 'Cause our group, there were only two Bainbridge people, myself and another fellow. Rest of 'em was L.A. We called it The Sloppy Nine. It was sloppy all right. I don't know why we called us sloppy, but I thought we played pretty good. We didn't get the championship or anything like that. That's the... that and we did a lot of dancing. We used to go to mess hall. After a while all the mess hall they had... they cleaned the mess hall and moved aside the table and everything. They had dancing. They had music. That, that's about it. They had outdoor music. What do you call these, amphitheater type? It wasn't too much. That was... most of our entertainment was mostly baseball and dancing. We're older people now. But we were, what, sixteen, seventeen. You're just about the age when everybody want to go dancing. Now in Minidoka, it was the same thing. They had dancing. They used, they used to have movie. So, like Glenn Miller. Who was the other trumpeter?

FK: Harry James?

IY: Yeah, Harry James. They had that movie. So while they had that movie on the screen people danced with that music. They didn't have no band or anything. Most of the time they had record.

<Begin Segment 8>

FK: When Minidoka... let everybody leave Minidoka, where did your family go?

IY: [Coughs] I have already left for the military. So, when... see, I was still in Germany, I think. I don't recall right now. But they, after they left, they, my dad and my mother left to Portland. They didn't come back to the island because they didn't have anything to come back to. And they started a hotel there in Portland. Then, I think it was about '45, '46 they got moved out. 'Cause I was still in the military. And that's when I met my wife... got married. In the meantime, I was gettin' transferred from camp to camp, military. In 1953 they left and returned to Japan, 1953. Since they lived there until they both passed away. My dad was already hundred... almost hundred and one when he passed away. My mother died when she was about sixty-eight, something like that.

FK: So did your brothers and sisters, like Harley and your two sisters, did they come back to the Northwest after the war?

IY: Only one that was in camp was my parent and my sister, younger one, and myself. So, the older one, they were in Idaho. They lived in Idaho. The second one, Chizuko, she... oh, I forgot where she went after left camp... maybe they came back here to Seattle, I think. 'Cause I wasn't there when they all got released from camp and came back to the West Coast. But it, overall I guess, to us it wasn't too bad. We were quite fortunate. Like some other people... as life went on... it was all right. I don't have any complaints. Could have been better, but glad that we're still here.

FK: So how did you get around to getting back into Tacoma?

IY: Well, let's see. When I retired in 1971, I guess we had more or less a choice to go to Minnesota or coming up here. And since I was born and raised here on Bainbridge I thought we'll come up this way. We didn't come this far 'cause we didn't know anybody at the time. 'Cause been gone for so long, how many years at that time, almost fifty years I guess, haven't been on the island. So my wife and I decided we'll get started staying at, where was it? Lakewood. Thought I'd like to come here but everything's so expensive. It wasn't like what it used to be. During our time we could walk here and there and know everybody and don't worry about anything. Just be happy and go along from there. But come back after the war, my gosh. Building here, real estate is high... couldn't afford it. So we just decided to stay in Lakewood and still there.

FK: You have any children?

IY: Huh?

FK: You have any children?

IY: I have one, two children. Terry is the oldest one. He works for the Northwest Airline. He's still workin'. And our other, my daughter, our daughter is livin' here at Indianapolis? Indian...

FK: Indianola?

IY: Indianola. Right.

FK: So she's close by.

IY: Right. That's where her husband and her son live there.

FK: Did you ever talk to them about your experiences during World War II or on Bainbridge?

IY: I have. But they couldn't say too much. They liked... they all say, well, should have still stayed here. Would have been nice. I guess they think about it, but I don't think they worry too much about it now. They got their own life and...

FK: Do you ever talk to them about being removed to go to Manzanar?

IY: I have mentioned that. We had mentioned it. It's... well, they think it's too bad it did happen. But that's about all they could think about. I don't know. We're all together, so that was the main purpose I guess. Which... they could think of a lot of things that they wished we had done and so forth, but... all they could do is just think and...

FK: What do you think about the memorial we're working on?

IY: Oh that memorial, I think it's sort of a good thing that's happening. It's keeping others in touch, what happened and hope it don't happen again. The last time we went there, when we saw you, it got to be really nice. The first time we went there it wasn't much. It was just, I think it was just that little rock. This last time we went there they had that little pagoda type building there and... I understand there's gonna be more improvement now at the site there at the... after it's completed I think it's gonna look nice. I hope we'll still be here to be able to see it finished.

FK: Would there be any message you'd like it to give to people or your kids or anybody? Anything you'd hope that it would say when they come visit? That they'd learn from coming to that site?

IY: I suppose they would learn some of the history from going there I'm sure. Just keep it in their thought, I guess, and their memory that this did happen to my parents and it's nice that the memorial is sitting up for them. Hope that it doesn't happen during their lifetime. 'Cause I know they're thinking it shouldn't have happened. But it did and hope it won't happen again. That's all. As far as treatment is concerned, everybody's still gettin' treated same. I guess there's some that's not, but I guess that's up to the individual how they think and act. But, to like us, like me, I have two good kids and a grandson. There's no prejudice to ours. 'Cause I got married to Caucasian and we get along good. For sixty years... must have been something...

FK: Yeah. Is there anything else you'd like to say or add to what we're doing today?

IY: As a project or as the...

FK: Oh, any personal things you'd like to add or anything?

IY: No. I don't think I have. I'm just glad, like yourself, you're puttin' your effort in all these projects. I'm glad someone's doin' it, Proud that you're doin' it. For us, we're so far apart, we can't do it like we'd like to. But as you get older it gets further apart. With your continuing with this project, I'm sure it will be done fairly well and hope people will see that monument and memorial. In other words, just keep up the good job, I guess.

FK: Well, I'd to thank you for coming to do this. 'Cause I think it's just really valuable for us to hear of all your experiences and stuff 'cause the things we know are... I mean, I was so young it's mostly hearsay. So it's just nice to be able to talk to someone who went through it.

IY: Yeah. Well there's a lot of things I could have had said. But to get to get the pieces, pieces. There's a lot of in between that you can't explain because... you could write a book I suppose.