Densho Digital Archive - Chiyoko Yano Interview (denshovh-ychiyoko-01-0015)

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MA: So Poston was pretty large, one of the larger camps?

CY: Yes, there's three camps. Camp 1 was the largest, Camp 2 was medium, and then Camp 3 was smaller. But then Camp 1 was mostly people from all over, like our, like where we were, Sacramento people were in there with us.

MA: And you were in camp...

CY: Camp 2.

MA: Two. Is that where most Watsonville people were?

CY: Most of the Watsonville people, yeah. So people that went earlier, they were put in Camp 1, they moved to Camp 2. They wanted to come where people they know, 'cause the other camp had mostly the all over, people from all over.

MA: How did people get along in camp? Like Niseis from different areas of California. I mean, how did the Sacramento people and the Watsonville people get along?

CY: Oh, we all got along fine, uh-huh. We made friends, you know. But when you, you wanted to live close to your relatives and friends, so we kind of, like, I was in 209, I think 209, 208, 211, they were all Watsonville people, and 214, 219.

MA: So in Camp 2, I'm just trying to get a sense of how big it was. How long would it take you to, like, walk from Camp 2 to Camp 1?

CY: You can't walk, it's miles. You can't walk from one camp to the other. Probably about three miles, maybe around three miles, I don't know, but I know you can't, I don't think you can walk.

MA: Oh, so it was really, each, Camp 1, Camp 2, Camp 3 were really their own separate camps.

CY: Yeah, own, uh-huh.

MA: Oh, I didn't know that.

CY: Yeah.

MA: Was there, did Camp 2 have its own, like, medical hospital?

CY: (No), there's a clinic-like.

MA: Clinic?

CY: But not a hospital. So when I had my daughter, I had to go to Camp 1 to have the baby. No hospital there. But for, just for a checkup, we used to go to a clinic.

MA: And around, like, Camp 1, Camp 2 and Camp 3, was there, like, barbed wire around each camp and guards and stuff?

CY: Well, you know, we're middle of the desert, there, middle of the desert, I think there were... I don't remember barbed wire.

MA: So if you wanted to, I mean, it was too far, but you could kind of go from camp to camp.

CY: Yeah, you had to, you had to go on a bus, I mean, an army truck or something, like, to go to another camp. 'Cause there was no bus system, you had to, I don't know, there must be a certain time that you could go. 'Cause I never did go Camp 1 until I had the baby.

MA: And what was the hospital like there?

CY: Gee, I just can't remember. I know the lady that was watching me was a colored lady, yeah, the nurse that was watching me.

MA: Oh, interesting. So the employees at the hospital were also non-Japanese American? So there was Caucasian people and...

CY: I think there were, I think mostly Japanese workers there, either nurse's aide or... but the doctor was a Japanese, I think.

MA: You had your -- when was your daughter born? What year?

CY: March 6, 1945.