<Begin Segment 9>
SY: So how, do you remember what happened when, do you remember when Pearl Harbor happened?
YY: Well, yeah, sort of.
SY: You remember where you were when it happened?
YY: I think I was ready to go across the, across the ferry to get the newspapers for the store. I don't know if I went and got 'em or not, 'cause I think that was Sunday too, wasn't it, Pearl Harbor?
SY: Yeah. So the newspapers would've had news of that, that happening? Or maybe it wasn't quite --
YY: I don't think, I don't think so.
SY: Do you remember how you heard? Was it on the radio?
YY: Somebody came to tell us, I remember.
SY: You were still at home. So do you remember what your parents' reaction was?
YY: They, I didn't, I don't know. I can't remember.
SY: Were they, you don't remember if they were upset?
YY: I don't remember. But I know afterwards, when they, we got the forty-eight hours, they were, everything was all hectic and you were wondering what to do, how to do it, things like that.
SY: So how, you got notice that you had forty-eight hours to pack, and you had, you had to just get off the island.
YY: Right.
SY: Do you remember how that notice came? Was it on a...
YY: I think somebody came down to tell us, somebody from the navy. 'Cause I think it's the navy that made us leave, Because it was, part of it was a naval base thing.
SY: On Terminal Island, right on the shore there?
YY: Uh-huh. So that's when we had to leave.
SY: And your, and everybody was, I mean, your, what... was there talk among other, all the families there?
YY: Well, I think most of the families were trying to figure out how to get everything out of there, out of Terminal Island. But we were fortunate that one of the friends came and, with a truck for us, so we were able to take some of the stuff out, but we didn't get everything out.
SY: And did you have a special sale?
YY: Well, we didn't have a sale, but then people were coming in from all over trying to buy things real cheap. So I know we had a piano, I think, but I don't know how much we got for it. We were able to sell that, I remember.
SY: Because you had all your, not only the store things but you had all your household.
YY: Household things.
SY: So you were able to pack some of it on this friend's truck. Do you remember what you took, what your parents took? Furniture?
YY: I'm pretty sure we took a bed and stuff like that, but other than, I can't remember.
SY: And then how about the store things?
YY: Well, my father had a friend that came and took most of the things away, and the liquor, I think somebody else came and bought all that stuff. But I'm pretty sure that they got a good bargain. [Laughs]
SY: And so that was something that you actually helped with? Did you have to pack and do that?
YY: Well, I was, I don't know what I was doing. I can't remember.
SY: And your, you don't remember, do you remember your parents' reaction, just, just trying to get everything packed?
YY: No, my father wasn't, he was pretty cool about it. But my mother was kind of anxious. She was running around all over.
SY: Trying to... yeah, forty-eight hours is really, really...
YY: Yes, especially if you had a store. [Laughs]
SY: And they actually had to find a place to go to, right?
YY: Right.
SY: So how did, how did that happen? You remember?
YY: Well, the principal at the Japanese school, he lived in Boyle Heights and he said he had a big house, and he said we could go and live with him, so that's where we went. Then the first chance that we could move, well, we were gonna move, but then the Terminal Island group, they were told that they could go into Manzanar on April, I think it was April 2nd or April 3rd or something like that. So we went with the Terminal Island group to Manzanar.
SY: And when was this that you left Terminal Island? Do you remember what month that was?
YY: It was in February, but I can't remember the date.
SY: And did you have, do you know, I guess your parents had no idea that this was gonna happen?
YY: No.
<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.