<Begin Segment 13>

MA: So can you talk about your journey, then, to Poston and what that was like?

KI: Well, to me, it was, it was very hot in the car, the train. And when we left, everybody had, I think they gave us two sandwiches. And it was so hot that before I had eaten my sandwich, somebody came down, hollering, "Don't eat your sandwich because I think it's spoiled because it's too hot." So none of us got sick that I -- not in our car, 'cause we didn't eat it. And after we got there, I don't know if it was a rumor somebody started or not, but somebody said they had the heat on all that time, but I don't know. You know, there's always somebody that starts rumors. And it was a real slow train, I don't know how long it took, it seemed to have taken so long to get there. And then after we got there, it was so disappointing, just flat, hot, 'cause you know, it was around the Fourth of July. And no trees to speak of, I thought, "Oh, what a terrible place." And, like, army trucks were out there, and I don't, there was a couple of buses, but a lot of trucks, and you just stand and then when they start to move, the dust would come up. I thought I would die, it was so hot. 'Cause I'm used to this kind of a climate where the fog comes in. And I hardly ever wear a sweater or a coat, just, so I had nothing to take off 'cause it was so, and it was so hot. And then you had to line up and they made you sign a piece of paper. I remember that, 'cause I said, "Well, I'm not going to sign anything I haven't read," I told my brothers. They got so upset, they said, "Well, gee whiz, if you don't do what they say, they're gonna send you to a concentration camp." And I said, "What is this?" you know, I said, "What is this?" But I'm pretty sure -- I can't get anybody to agree with me, but I read that paper and it says something like, "Signing this paper, you agree that you're not gonna sue the government," or something. But I said, "I can't be the only one that read that crazy paper," you know, but I'm positive that's what I read. That's why I said, "Gee whiz, I don't want to sign this."

MA: So you never signed it, then?

KI: No, I had to because my brother said, "You're gonna be taken away and separated from us, so we need to stay together." So, oh yeah. And everybody's like sheep. And then, well, a lot of people didn't want to take the shots, you know, but they gave it to you, too.

MA: What type of shots?

KI: I don't know what it was.

MA: Some type of vaccination?

KI: Some kind of a shot, yeah.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.