Dear Miss Haglund

It was indeed a pleasant surprise to hear from you and I look forward to contributing toward the next Best Seller and Nobel Prize winner. Tell you what I'll only take 42% of the take . . .

Yes the evacuation was indeed a trying experience but of course being a youngster there were many light and enjoyable moments since we didn't know better and we were just goofing off but let me share some thoughts with you . . .

The first reaction when the news hit me was one of absolute anger . . . such thoughts as . . . I'm an American. How come they are going to single us out . . . Why don't the Germans and Italians join us in this discrimination . . . What right have they to do this . . . On what grounds do they make this accusation . . . This is not right. Then when all the shouting died down it was the submissive Oriental "old folks" attitude that prevailed and the ole let's not make it worse than it is . . . we must obey . . . we will recover . . . attitude that is still very evident.

What were the initial losses . . . in financial matters our businesses were sold at a tremendous loss since we had a very restrictive time frame to deal and those who took advantage of this really put the ole squeeze on. Can you imagine selling a restaurant business for $2000.00 total . . . and that included all the inventory, physical plant etc. We didn't even get a copy of the menu. Then there was the home and all the furnishings etc . . . just incredible what monetary losses were involved. In addition of course there were so many family heirlooms that were destroyed because of the Japanese affiliation . . . photos of people in Japan, medals presented for professional excellance [sic] . . . time honored scrolls, family jewels that have been handed down from grandparents . . . destroyed forever . . . and what about the impact on a high school student?

Well it meant not playing the varsity basketball team . . . enjoying the companionship of friends that we knew since grade school and of course the dream of attending the local University . . . all the natural steps to betaken [sic] by a high school student. This was crushing and appeared that there would be no way to truly live free again in the US. Of course you thought about whether they would ship you to Japan somehow and all these crazy ideas . . . But I guess it was really hard to take when we were all herded into the buses heading for the relocation centers. To see the many old folks weeping and with bowed hearts completely whipped and beaten . . . boy that was indeed a sad picture and one I will never forget.

But of course the nightmare was not over . . . when we arrived at the Puyallup Fair grounds and we were thrust into small rooms probably reserved for livestock . . . boy talk about being mad . . . can you imagine four families sharing a room no larger than the laundry room where we had our class . . . no privacy at all and there must have been about 12 such cubicles divided in the building we were living and each was divided by a single board wall than [sic] extended upwards of only 7 feet most and so it was easy to hear the conversation of the families living the the [sic] farthest end of the building. Of course it would rain constantly it seems and the mud and goop would be everywhere. What a mess. I felt like we should all revolt and raise all kinds of hell but of course it was accepted by the elders whose word was final. Of course we did the best we could and there were fun times involved but when ever [sic] you looked up the guard towers and saw these rifles pointing down on you . . . boy you really wondered about the Bill of Rights, Constitution . . . "all men created equal" . . . "freedoms" . . . "not guilty unless proven . . . etc . . . you studied these in school and you believed that this country believed in it and now this . . . you begin to understand that this is a Caucasian country . . . From this horse ranch we went on to Idaho and into the "country Club" where only eight families shared a barracks . . . this time they were kind enough to allow individual families to have their own niche . . . we even had the luxury of the pot bellied stove as you remember . . .

I guess at the time it all happened I wished I could have captured all the people responsible for this and shot them all . . . the press was of course very cruel and really added to the fuel as they do now with any such incident. My mother died in Idaho and of course I feel that it was because of the evacuation and inadequate hospital care that she suffered. There are many scars

Of course to have someone like you to ease the pain and understand our needs was a god given gift and helped us get over a lot of the prejudices. Your role was not one of a teacher but one of faith that we must have in our Country and in hopes that we will realize better days.

I hope you will forgive my ramblings . . . I just sat down here and not knowing how to type well . . . I just let my feelings run . . . hoping that you will piece it all together and be of some value . . . I am sure that you have heard these lines of mine many times from other of your former students and nothing really unique.

Take care of yourself and God speed.

Roy Suzuki