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MN: Then I know that, say, about April, you folks left for Camp Shelby. Tell me about that trip from Honolulu to the Mainland.

KM: We had no idea we were going to leave or when we were going to go. But suddenly, on a Saturday night, we were told to pack our luggage in duffel bags to get ready for movement. But it was already after visitation hours, so I don't know if I had a chance to call my brother Katsuro. But on Sunday morning was the so-called visitation day and everybody had expected family members to come and visit us at Schofield. But by the time the family, early members came, the ones who came early, we were already on the flatbed railway cars, prepared to move to Iwilei, the railroad station. There was the Dillingham railroad station in Iwilei where the Aala Park is now located. The building is still there, by the way, I think. And so, by the time the family members were all coming to Schofield Barracks, the train had started to move. And so word spread very rapidly through all the city that we were leaving. And so when we arrived at Iwilei, the street on Nimitz Highway, was completely packed with people. And at that time, our duffel bags were fully loaded. We were bringing all kinds of unnecessary things with us. Afterwards we realized, you know. But up to that point, nobody said you cannot take this, you cannot take that, but a lot of them had ukuleles and guitars. And so it was a great embarrassment for a lot of us because that duffel bag was heavy. And we had to walk all the way from King, where that Aala Park is, where the train station is. I would say that's about a mile. And we had to walk in that, one side of the road, all the spectators and all the family members on the other side of the road, and everybody's yelling at each other and looking for members and whatnot, trying to carry their load of, big heavy load of that duffel bag. I don't know, you see, because we were not as physically ready, like after three months of basic training, people who were just, you could just barely carry that duffel bag. But that's the way, how we got the farewell to our families. But I don't remember if my brother was in the line or what. Because my parents were still, my mother was still in Maui and my brother was the only one in Honolulu. So I don't recall anybody family-wise saying goodbye to anyone.

I got on the Lurline. And the Lurline at that time, I remember we were supposed to have something like three thousand or... anyway, the normal bedroom with two people in the Lurline were stacked with bunkbeds, six bunkbeds where normally there were only two people in the stateroom. And four and a half days, four and a half days I was solidly sick, seasick. Somehow I think the smell, the diesel smell is what most people seasick on. Not the rough waters or anything like that. But in spite of all that, the biggest thing aboard ship from Honolulu to Oakland was the gambling that went on. Can you imagine, most of the members of the 442 had already been working ten hours a day, seven days a week, no time to spend the money so they're all loaded with money. On top of that, he had a Japanese sister who, the Japanese community was very strong in supporting us and all the families who did not have anybody in the 442, following the Japanese style of giving money as a going away gift for those who were in the army. So in addition to the earnings, some of which was left home, but a whole bunch of men took their money with them. Never in my life, even to this day, have I seen a duplication of the kind of gambling that went on aboard ship. Can you imagine? The crap game was the most popular games. And we would have these crap games of thirty, maybe twenty or twenty-five to thirty people in one game, and they would have, not only one game, but two games or three games going on in whatever room that we have on the deck of the ship. And even though I was seasick, I would be simply amazed. I was too young to gamble at that point, I didn't know how to gamble. But how the game of craps was played, how poker was played, I had no idea at that point. But twenty-dollar bills just covered the floor in all these games. Because as you may know, crap game, there has to be a houseman. He calls the bet, he collects the money, and he pays off the money. So if that twenty-five to thirty bet people going on, there's an unlimited number of bets that can go on. But there is the basic house pool, that is the basic pot. And there's a houseman that runs the, he's the guy that runs the game. And they don't play one dollar, one dollar, it's all twenty-dollar bills. I've never seen anything like it, now that I recall. [Laughs] Not even in Las Vegas. But for four-and-a-half days, this went on.

MN: And at that time, you were seasick.

KM: I was seasick all the way. I hardly got out of my bunk.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.