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IW: So we thought that was unfair but we had to ride the train, Eagledale, we got there everybody marched to their own place. We had one soldier look after our family and we went to Seattle and the train was waiting for us, and we still didn't know where we were going. And just two suitcases, whether it was warm weather or cold weather, we didn't know what it was, we had to... and when I used to go to the high schools and speak, I would ask them, we were carrying two suitcases, I wonder how many jeans could we have put in there. And they get attentive and listen, you know, because, oh, yeah, you didn't know where you were going, and they would really take charge and listen to us. So that's what it was. It took us three days by train to go to California, that's where we found we were going. When we got to Lone Pine, we got to go on a bus then, and then when we finally got to our destination, it was Manzanar. And I swear, to this day, it was sagebrush, all over. And our first meal was rice, canned spinach, canned wieners, and we had pudding, bread pudding. It wasn't anything good, just like bread that was crushed. And I swore that they gave us sagebrush, that they must have cooked sagebrush. And we never ate canned spinach either, because we were raised on Bainbridge Island, you had fresh everything. And so we, it was canned spinach, and then canned wiener too, We never heard of canned wieners and it was not good. And to this day, just like recently, I have tasted bread pudding. Everybody says it's so good, and I tried and it was good. But what we had wasn't good and no wonder everybody started to gain weight because we had all starches. [Laughs]

Oh, and the soldiers that took us, you know, we got to be friends now, for two, three days, day and night you were with them and they cried when they saw what we had to go through, and because we had homes, and they weren't fancy but they were nice homes, and here we are and army huts, they were, and so, and we cried too, but they were from, most of them were from Brooklyn and they said, "Oh, you people speak well," and I would say they spoke like we "lawffed and lawffed to see the cawff come down the pawth and men in the hawff," they would talk like that, and so, we were now buddies, you know. So that's what our first impression of Manzanar was. They did have no, it's army barracks, but windows was open, and we wondered, my goodness, fresh air, you know, maybe it's hot so we'll get... we were issued pea coats, and also goggles, and we thought, why are they selling, they were First World War things, and the food utensils, they were still from the First World War. And we soon knew what they meant because the windows were put in after awhile, the floors just were seeping dust storm. The first dust storm, we wore goggles, and so we knew why they issued us goggles, and then pea coats, later on, we were right below Mount Whitney, and so we knew why they... because it got so cold. And of course we could only carry two suitcases and our clothes were not for the cold weather. And then we managed to make friends with others and it was good to be with some other people. So I guess I'll stop there. I don't know... do you want me to go on?

HM: Oh, yes, of course, we're going to try to get all we can.

IW: And we had regular, oh, we didn't have to go to school, and the school was supposed to send us our assignments but they didn't know what to send us, it was a little here and a little there for a senior, so they decided we all had credits enough that we could graduate. And on the same day that our classmates in Bainbridge graduated, we did too, in a rec hall, we, "Pomp and Circumstance" and had a record that played. And we marched to that and it was really a sad time, because there were thirteen of us, and to this day, we feel that we missed out on the best years of our life, grade school. But anyway, we soon met with people and had other friends. And it wasn't all bad. As you say, my husband and I met in Manzanar. And I was in a play in Manzanar, and they met again in Manzanar but I really don't remember too much of what it was, but I made new friends because we all were in the same boat. And so... and when we took our sons when they were small, they thought, oh, it was exciting, they were excited they'd get to go to Manzanar. And when we got there, there was nothing there except the monument. And they said, "Wow, I thought it was supposed to be so romantic and nice," and they were so disappointed. And thereafter we have people that have been writing about the World War II and the Japanese internment, we took them to Manzanar to see for themselves, and we took a couple of people that day, and some other high schoolers, I talked to them and they wrote their thesis and they got an 'A' in it. [Laughs] So I felt good that at least I was able to do it.

And recently, we went to Whitworth. It's a university now, but it was college then, in Spokane, Washington, and our son is one of the professors there. And they wanted us to come to speak to them, and he said, oh, we spoke, both of us, and not a student left. And this was not an accredited thing, it was just random that they would listen to. So he said, "Oh, gee, Mom and Dad, I was proud of you. And not even one student left." So we felt, in many cases, I was promoted from fourth grade teaching and Japanese, when they studied Japan, and I put that to the test and they got it. And later on I went around the high school in Orange County speaking about Manzanar, and first thing the students asked was, "How come you're not bitter?" And, well, what is there to be bitter about? It's the past, and so the government made mistakes, we all make mistakes. And they didn't want anything to do with Christianity or religion, but I couldn't help it. I said, "The people that helped us were Christians." And Andy, Reverend Andrews and his Blue Box, it's just about falling apart, he made how many trips to Minidoka. Because he felt sorry for the Japanese, and he felt almost like a Japanese because I've been on camping trips with him out at Mount Rainier and everything, and he's been such a joy to have. And people that took our furnitures, and we didn't have much good furnitures, but anyway, they were Lions people that just got married. And so things were cared for. And when we went back, my parents had their house anyway to stay. So I always say it wasn't all bad.

But another thing that we saw, that Bainbridge people were so envious of us, the same classmates that we left in '42, they said, "You guys got to go all over. You seem to have flourished." And here we moved from one, five miles to another area. And so we felt good. But they said, "We missed out on everything," and it's true, when you consider. Because after the war, we traveled all over. And so I can only say that for us, it was a good thing. Because we were, we talk about it, it's not things that it's pitiful or bitter because they said, once they said they didn't even care to listen to me because they had, one week they had an Indian woman speak, and she was so bitter. And they thought I would be more bitter. Then when I started out with, "Well, I carried two suitcases. How many jeans would fit in a suitcase?" Now remember, we didn't know where we were going, because we didn't know if it was to a cold area or hot area or where. And that alerted the kids to ask questions, and they felt freer with what I had to say. So that was good.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.