<Begin Segment 12>

TI: Now, was it, when you started hearing news from places like Los Angeles where they're removing people, like from Terminal Island and things like this, did you guys hear about that in Fresno?

SK: I heard about it, but I vaguely remember those incidents. But I did hear about it.

TI: Now, did people in Fresno think that their community would have to leave also, or did they think it was just going to be the coast people? Was there a sense about that?

SK: No. They were, they weren't too much, but I guess it was more in the newspapers. I know the newspapers were pretty ugly, the things they said. And let's see now...

TI: But I'm wondering in terms of, it soon became apparent that communities right on the coast by the ocean were gonna be removed, but Fresno was hundreds of miles from the coast. Was there a sense that maybe Fresno would not have to leave?

SK: No. No, what happened was we went to the assembly center, and Fresno County was divided in half. I mean, there's a street, Belmont Avenue, that was the boundary. Everybody living east of, east of... what did I say now?

TI: Belmont?

SK: Belmont Avenue was... let's see now. They didn't go to assembly center. You were first evacuated to a fairground.

JS: Fresno fairground?

SK: Fresno fairground, uh-huh. And everybody that lived on the other side of...

TI: Of Belmont?

SK: Belmont, like my wife, for instance, they lived in Sanger, and they didn't go to assembly center, they don't know what it looks like. They were later removed to either Poston or Gila, Gila River.

TI: Oh, so let me make sure I understand this. So if you lived on the west side of Belmont, you were put into the Fresno Assembly Center.

SK: Well, mostly, let's see. You go toward the middle of town, there's, Belmont Avenue goes right through town from the west side. But as you go toward east town, Belmont Avenue turns to the left, and you have your east and west boundary. That was one of the boundaries, everybody living on, east of the Belmont Avenue would be, well, first, they weren't involved into, in this assembly center. And I don't know what the boundary line was, how they divided the whole thing, 'cause people from Hanford, which is a little bit, which is on the west side, they were there.

TI: So the people on the east side, though, they weren't removed until later.

SK: Later.

TI: But, and this line, this boundary is, I guess it seemed somewhat arbitrary in terms of...

SK: Well, I don't know what the boundary, how they did it. But I know that, I remember seeing some people just before we left for the assembly center. Like S.G., I remember saying goodbye to him by Belmont Avenue, and he went to Poston. Although he lived in the city, but somehow he was a pretty bright guy. [Laughs] He's, I said goodbye to him by Belmont Avenue, which went, which was the east and west dividing line for me.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2010 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.