Densho Digital Archive
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community Collection
Title: Sally Shimako Nishimori Kitano Interview
Narrator: Sally Shimako Nishimori Kitano
Interviewer: Frank Kitamoto
Location: Bainbridge Island, Washington
Date: February 26, 2006
Densho ID: denshovh-ksally-01-0007

<Begin Segment 7>

FK: Some people say they can't remember the time when the notices were posted on the walls through the time of leaving for concentration camp. Do you remember the six or seven days before you went off to be taken away? Do you remember that period of time, and can you tell me about that?

SK: In what period?

FK: The time between the notice being posted on the 24th to leaving on the 30th. Do you remember that period of time?

SK: Oh, when we went to camp?

FK: Yes.

SK: I remember it quite clearly. It was, I don't remember what the family did as far as preparation. All I know is... well, I remember hearing the fact that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and then I remembered the time when we were told that we had to leave the island. And my mother and my sister had quite an argument. My mother said, said that we kids were Americans and so she said, "You should not have to go to camp." She says she and my dad were, were basically aliens and so they, yeah, they understood that they had to go, but she felt, my mother was very determined that we should not go, but then of course, we had to go, and so we all went. But it was, it was very difficult for the family, I think, and I was, again, it was very hard on my older brothers and sisters. And I, being a little kid and being protected from everything, I didn't think too much of it. I do know that I got to wear a purple dress and black patent leather shoes to get on the train.

And the soldiers on the train were wonderful, they were very, very nice. They were eighteen years old, young fellows, just gotten in the service, I believe, and they didn't know what was going on other than the fact that they were told to guard us. And so they were very, very nice to, they got involved in visiting with all of the people on the train, the older people. And I was told later that some of the, some of the islanders did correspond with the soldiers during the war, so that's how close they were. And of course when the, when we got to camp, the soldiers took one look at the place and they were just devastated, and they just, they were in tears when we had to say the good-byes. This is what I was told. But, so it must have been very traumatic for them to think that this is what happened to us.

And I guess, I guess the teachers, the teachers on the island were very unhappy over that whole situation, and they, I remember we were gathered into the principal's office, and she talked to us and told us she was sorry that we had to leave and so forth. But again, my experience with the, with the schools was very, very good -- they were wonderful people. So like I say, my experience was very different from the rest of the family.

FK: So, do you remember what you decided you wanted to take with you?

SK: I didn't decide.

FK: You didn't decide at all?

SK: I didn't decide. My, my sisters all decided. There was one thing that I had to leave behind, and that was a beautiful doll. And it was a brand new one I had gotten from Santa Claus, and I had to leave that behind. And I was very disappointed, but with only one suitcase that could be taken, I got to take a rag doll that my sister had made, and so that was the only thing, the only toy that I think I got to take with me. They were... but the funny part of it was when we came back to the island, my doll was still sitting on that sofa. So I've had it all through high school, I think, it was just sitting on my bed, but, so that was my, the one thing I loved so much as a kid.

FK: So, what was going through your mind when you were transported, you were transported by army truck, then, to the...

SK: Yeah, army trucks, yeah. It was, I saw these great big trucks there and we had a, there was a jeep there, also. And... no, it was a jeep there, and they took... well, maybe there was a truck, too, I don't know. I just know that I rode in the jeep and I sat right next to the soldier, and I had to, my legs were caught between the gear shifts and so forth. That's all I remember about that. But they were... I remember at the ferry dock, there were a lot of neighbors, school friends of my sisters and my brothers and all the other kids, and they were, they were all in tears over the fact that we were leaving. But other than that, that's, that's basically my only memory. The ferry ride over was nothing, nothing new. And the train, train ride was uneventful other than the fact that I got to sleep in a Pullman, in the Pullman coach and I got to have some nice meals. That's all I remember about that.

FK: Was there anything going through your mind as you were walking down that long road, down to the ferry?

SK: No, nothing, nothing especially. Like I say, the problem is I was a kid. You accepted what... I guess I was, I had to accept everything that my family told me to do. I had four, four older sisters and a brother, and they said, "Okay, this is what you do, period." So I never gave it much thought.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.