JAPANESE INTERNEES START FOR NEW HOME IN IDAHO

[Photo caption]: The trip evacuated Japanese took from Puyallup to Idaho yesterday was a honeymoon for this couple, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony J. Gomes, who were married Wednesday in the Camp Harmony chapel. "Speaking for publication," said Mr. Gomes with a grin, "our honeymoon will be spent at a widely-publicized desert resort. Very exclusive, too." Gomes' mother is Japanese, his father Portuguese.

[Photo caption]: Part of the 500 Japanese internees from Camp Harmony are shown as they boarded a special train which left Puyallup yesterday for the Minidoka Relocation Center near Eden, Idaho, which will be their home for the duration. About 500 a day will be moved.

[Photo caption]: Moving some six blocks by bus to the railroad station was the first stage in their Idaho journey for these Japanese. Hand-luggage and owners were separated, but quickly reunited. Soldiers stumped by jaw-breaker names on removal lists got help from hardy-jawed young Japanese. Note smiling faces attesting to good treatment at the camp; a lesson to Tokyo.

Japs Backtrack Oregon Trail To Idaho Camp

Reversing the historic trek made by Ezra Meeker over the Oregon Trail nearly a century ago, 500 Japanese internees headed eastward from Meeker's former home, Puyallup, yesterday, on their way to permanent quarters at the Minidoka (Idaho) Relocation Center.

Both journeys were made against a background of uncertainty and danger. Both tested the courage of a man and his family. And there was room in both for light-heartedness.

At Camp Harmony on the Western Washington Fair Grounds yesterday, light-heartedness predominated among those who were leaving and those who would shortly follow. Nor was it a forced emotion to serve as a mask for bitterness or anger.

"This must be done," they seemed to say. "When it is over, we will come back."

So, what had to be done was done cheerfully, and when there was fun to be had, they reached for it.

There was laughing and smiling among the families as they boarded the big double-decked busses which were to carry them to the railroad depot half a dozen blocks away.

They came in single file, some in dusters, some in overcoats or lettered sweaters or slickers. They came bustlingly and haltingly, some gay, some sober.

They came carrying unbrellas [umbrellas], battered field hats, paper bags and string bags, cookie tins, metal buckets, pillows. Here was a doll clutched to a 9-year-old breast, there a box of chocolate bars, yonder a wine jug filled with water.

Soldiers Boss Job

Soldiers -- who handled the transfer with the smoothness of oiled machinery -- perspired over lists of names, aided by a young Japanese who hustled his countrymen along with shouts and grins.

In the air was a subdued clamor of voices -- a portion of it in the clipped tongue of the Nipponese but more of it in English.

From the bus windows emanated calls of "Good-bye. Good-bye" and "See you Monday" and "I'll be meeting you guys."

Hand luggage was being passed into an accompanying truck by a "bucket brigade" of teen-age boys who had developed a spine-chilling technique on other projects about the encampment.

That baggage flew, and wisecracks flew along with it.

"Swell coolie system we have doped out here," one boy quipped.

His neighbor took a more personal view. "Hey, you bunch of rats, how about somebody besides me doing some work?"

And on came the line filing toward the busses -- young men and old, doctors and field laborers, faces smooth and wrinkled, children alarmed at the shuttling trucks and busses, mothers watchful and anxious.

No families were divided. Authorities were careful of that.

In the middle of the line were Mr. and Mrs. Anthony J. Gomes. They had been married Wednesday in the Camp Harmony chapel. "Our honeymoon," said Gomes, smiling at his bride, "will be spent at a widely publicized desert resort. Very exclusive, too."

The biggest family making the trip in this continent was that of Frank Uyehara, numbered 11. Ishi, the grandmother, was 76 years old. Sue, the mother, was 39, James, 19, Howard, 18, Mary, 17; Agnes, 15, George, 13; Thomas, 10; Loretta, 6; and little Yaeko, 2. The Uyeharas formerly resided at 518 16th Ave.

Mrs. Ko Takashi, mother of eight, said softly, "It isn't so bad to go for a little while, but we want to come back."

On board the train, families fell at once to chatting, reading or playing games. Train trips didn't happen often, and the most must be made of this one.

One youngster had discovered the luncheon menu and was gravely spelling out the day's fare -- choice of halibut, meat loaf or roast pork, vegetables, lettuce salad and ice cream or jello with a choice of drinks. He was smacking his lips.

Transfer of the 7,200 interned Japanese will continue at the rate of 500 a day until August 22. After a delay to assure the preparation of adequate accommodations, the transfer will proceed from August 29 until the entire population has been shifted from the Coast, according to Col. Karl R. Bendetson, assistant chief of staff, civil affairs division, Western Defense Command.