<Begin Segment 14>

MA: So how, how long were in Gila? How many years?

HT: Three years.

MA: There years.

HT: Yeah

MA: And you eventually left by yourself, right?

HT: Yeah. I cried all the time I was out there. I went to, I got a civil service job in Indianapolis, Indiana.

MA: And why did you decide to leave?

HT: I, well, everybody else was going here or there. And I thought, "Oh, maybe I should go." And then my brother was in Minneapolis already and I thought, if I could get a job in Minneapolis, it would be neat. But then I thought, Indianapolis, I got a pretty good job. It was a transportation department where the people would come in to get gas tickets. And I just typed them up, but I didn't know. If I had to say which person gets this, I wouldn't have known, but I was secretary. And I slept in the YWCA and I thought to myself, I'm going to cry every night. Why did I come here? I was lonesome. It was the first time I left my family.

MA: And your family was still in Gila? Except your brother.

HT: Yeah. And then I, later on I, this lady, her, she's a, one of her sons went to Canada -- she's one of those religious person -- so I stayed with her for a little bit. And my family was coming out so then I thought, wait, I'm going to go to meet them in Minnesota. So when they first came out they were in Chaska, Ches-mar farm. My father was a farmer so they thought he would be a good farmer. But he couldn't do it. His hands weren't that good. So, we stayed there for maybe a month or so and then we moved into town, into hostel. And then my brother got us, we rented a place near Washburn High School.

MA: So a little bit more about Indianapolis and the YWCA you stayed in. Was this all for Nisei girls?

HT: No, I just happened to, I talked to, they had a, they had something there that we could go talk to... it was Japanese, I can't remember...

MA: Like a resettlement office?

HT: Yeah, a resettlement thing. And they said, "Go to the YWCA." So I did. I stayed there for a little bit. And it was right downtown so it was easy for me to go to work.

MA: Were there any other Japanese Americans there?

HT: No, I don't think so. Uh-uh. There were quite a few because, like I said there was the army camp close by. 'Cause I've seen, when I go on a bus, I could see soldiers, there's some, a lot of Japanese girls that relocated out there, too, I think. But it was just not even a month or so that I stayed, so I don't remember too much. But I remember they were having some kind of a celebration. I don't know if the war... I think the war ended or something. She wouldn't let me go downtown because they thought I might be... it was, I think it was, they were having some kind of celebration of the war ending or whatever. See, I can't remember too much of it because it was such a long time ago and I was, I didn't keep any pictures or anything. 'Cause that was the saddest part of my life.

MA: When you were all alone it sounds like, away from your family and you didn't know anyone.

HT: It was the first time I ever left. And I thought to myself, "Why did I come here?" I was so happy to meet the rest of the family that came here.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.