Densho Digital Archive - Kay Shimada Interview (denshovh-skay

<Begin Segment 15>

Off camera: I can't think of anything other than, other than, you didn't, from Clarksburg High before you went to camp, you didn't graduate at Clarksburg High?

KS: I did graduate.

Off camera: You did. Just, but you left in May, so you had to graduate early.

JS: Did they send you a diploma?

KS: No, no, we did, June 8th is when they had, we left Clarksburg, and June 8th was the graduation.

Off camera: Okay, so tell that story.

KS: So I didn't have a service.

Off camera: Tell the story of graduation, so start with, start with what time of year it was. So you were, start with, "I was a senior in high school," then.

KS: I was a senior in high school back in, that was, what year was that?

DG: '42.

KS: '42. And I could hear the graduation going on. They had it at the elementary school. We all had to gather to get on the truck to take us to the train in Freeport and take us to Tule Lake, and I could hear the graduation song going, the people are... half of this class were Japanese, and there must've been a real short service or something. Anyway, I could hear the graduation song going on. Yeah, that was really heart-wrenching, you know? I wanted to be right in there. But see, that time there was war going on, so no nighttime; they all had to do it in daytime. These, all these gatherings had to be done -- no lights, you know. So they had it in the morning, and we had to gather at the same school and with our suitcases and stuff and waited for the trucks, army trucks to come pick us up, take us to the train in Freeport Bridge. That's where we did, we got on the train in Freeport and took off for Tule Lake.

DG: So you could hear your graduation ceremony?

KS: Right, we were, as we gathered at the elementary school, I could hear the graduation going on. And I should be right in there. But they just gave us, they mailed us a diploma, that's all, when I was in camp, about two months later. Got my diploma.

DG: Wow.

KS: Yeah, that's the only reason...

Off camera: That's tough.

KS: [Laughs] When you say...

Off camera: Did the other students, what were all the seniors, who, like who were some of the other seniors that were graduating with you? What were some of the seniors?

KS: Well, there was quite a few of 'em, but see, there were, we had the biggest class. We had forty-two people, pupils at that time, we had the biggest, and about twenty, twenty-two were Japanese, so only half of the class, they were going through the service, graduation ceremony. And we could hear the music going and everything, but what can we do?

DG: So when you were standing there at the grammar school hearing it, were people crying, were they angry?

KS: You know, that, I can't remember. I can't... me, I was kind of sad because I could hear the graduation music going and I should be there. But I don't know. I don't know what, I guess it must've been sad for the rest of the people too, 'cause they had to leave everything, go, get on the truck and get on the train at Freeport Bridge.

DG: And even sad for the kids who were in the ceremony, that half their class was gone.

KS: Yeah, I know. There was quite a few Japanese in that class.

Off camera: Yeah, what was, like, your last day of school like? Do you remember?

KS: My last day that we attended school? Gee, when was that anyway? I can't remember.

Off camera: Well, the day doesn't matter, but do you remember that, did your teacher know that you guys were all gonna be going off to camp?

KS: Yeah, because when we, we all had to be inoculated, so when we left the school, the class to go do the inoculation, there's only half the people there. The rest have already gone, and then the Caucasians were the only one left there, and I'd say about twenty, twenty-four maybe. That's all, out of a big class. We had the biggest class, forty-six or something like, forty-two, forty-six.

DG: But the teachers and the principal didn't say anything.

KS: They didn't say anything. They didn't even came, come to say goodbye. Some classmates did come over, say goodbye. But other than that, we could hear all the graduation music going, and I thought, "Gee whiz. I should be right in there marching with them." I mean, in fact, half the class should've been there. Yeah, mostly Japanese.

DG: So you said some classmates did come to see you?

KS: Some of the classmates came and --

DG: On that day?

KS: That day, as we were waiting for the bus, I guess, to take us to the train. They came with a truck, army truck. We had to hop on that, throw our, whatever we had, throw it on the truck and go to the train.

Off camera: Yeah, 'cause I imagine that's, I mean, it's one thing to happen in Sacramento, but in Clarksburg it's big news because you're right in town, you know what I mean?

DG: You're a big part of the population.

Off camera: You're a big part of the population. So you got to imagine...

KS: I imagine so, yeah. It was kind of a, I don't know how the Caucasians took it, losing half the class. I never did get a school annual for that class. I never did got, get it. So they must've had a class of '42.

DG: We're gonna try and go find those.

Off camera: Yeah, tell, repeat for the camera, what was the class and where you went to high school.

KS: Well, like, I think we had one of the biggest class in Clarksburg. We had about forty-two or forty-four people, and half of that were Japanese, and I could tell because when we left to get our inoculations, there's only half a class left there. Where's all the rest of 'em, you know? But that was it.

Off camera: And have you been back since, to the high school?

KS: Oh yeah, I've been there a couple of times.

DG: Did you go to any reunions, class reunions?

KS: [Laughs] They talked about it, but it never went through. It never went through. We were supposed to go to El Rancho, have a dinner there. I think the first reunion we had, but the class was small because a lot of the Japanese stayed away. I went because I knew a lot of classmates, and they were all good, good to me, so I says, well, I'm gonna go. So we went to El Rancho at the time and they had a party there. But there wasn't too many of 'em there.

DG: Not too many Japanese.

KS: Not too many Japanese, or even a lot of the Caucasians didn't show up. Probably they moved out too, they got married and moved out too. That was our twenty-fifth, I think, twenty-fifth anniversary. So a lot of 'em were out of town or they moved out.

DG: Did you keep in touch with any of your classmates?

KS: No.

DG: So that was the first time you saw a lot of them?

KS: Yeah, that was about the only time. But no, I take it back, because it was, Clarksburg is a small community. They had auctions there and we went to almost all the auctions, and they all, my classmates all treated me good. Yeah, they all came and say hello and all that. We talked. There might be some bad feelings there, but no, we went to Clarksburg, Courtland, Walnut Grove, and we were all treated alright. Yeah. So we had quite a bit of gatherings that we went to, but... yeah, it's a small community, small community.

DG: I think we're good. Thank you so much.