<Begin Segment 27>

TI: So let's talk about, so now you're in this situation where you've renounced your citizenship, you turned eighteen, you're eighteen, and they're gonna move you to Santa Fe. So what was the reaction of your parents as they...

NH: My mother was stunned and says, "Where are you going?" "I'm going there." "How come?" "Well, we have to go there." But that's all.

TI: And did they tell you where you were going?

NH: No.

TI: So it must have been a very...

NH: They told me that I was -- no, they told me I was going to Santa Fe, and I said, "Oh well, okay, if I have to go there, I'll go there."

TI: And were you, you must have been pretty concerned...

NH: I was saying, "What kind of a place is that?" "Well, it's just an internment camp, just like here, only except with all men." That's all I knew. And when I went there, I found out I was probably the youngest person in camp.

TI: So let's talk about the transfer. So when you went to Santa Fe, how were you transported from Topaz to Santa Fe?

NH: Greyhound bus.

TI: And how many other men were there with you?

NH: Just me.

TI: So you were the only one?

NH: Was there somebody accompanying me? I think somebody accompanied me, like a policeman or something.

TI: But it was just like a normal Greyhound bus?

NH: Normal Greyhound bus.

TI: That was going to Santa Fe. So you get off in Santa Fe, and then what happened?

NH: I guess I got on a bus -- oh, I got in a private car.

TI: And that drove you to the...

NH: I guess it must have been an Immigration and Naturalization Service car, I guess, is what it was, I know it wasn't a bus, 'cause I was the only one on it.

TI: And then you're driven to the camp.

NH: Uh-huh, checked in.

TI: And tell me, tell me the processing there. Was it about the same as going to Topaz?

NH: Processing your name, and then said, "Okay, now you're assigned to Barrack so-and-so, bed so-and-so, and that's where you're gonna stay." I said, "Oh, okay," and went there.

TI: And what were you carrying when you went to Santa Fe?

NH: Just a suitcase. I had my toilet articles and some, change of clothes, and that was it.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Topaz Museum. All Rights Reserved.