<Begin Segment 13>

JS: So once you got to Poston --

MN: Yes.

JS: -- or I guess, the train doesn't exactly go into Poston.

MN: No, it went to Parker.

JS: Parker?

MN: Uh-huh. And then they, they load us onto this great big huge truck, a huge truck.

JS: What was that like for you?

MN: Oh, I don't know. It was kind of fun.

JS: Do you remember anything unusual happening on that trip?

MN: No, no, uh-uh.

JS: Okay, okay. How long was that?

MN: I think it, Parker isn't too far from Poston, probably hour, hour or two?

JS: Okay.

MN: I really don't know.

JS: Okay, and you arrived there in what month?

MN: May.

JS: 1942?

MN: Uh-huh, 1942, and it was hundred fifteen degrees.

JS: Oh, boy.

MN: It was really hot. So as soon as we got there, they, the people that were there made us drink salt pills.

JS: I'm sorry?

MN: They made us drink salt pills. I remember that distinctly, uh-huh. To, for us to perspire.

JS: Now, when you reached Poston, what were your, what was your impressions of that?

MN: Oh, it was, it was devastating. Oh, gosh.

JS: Why was it devastating?

MN: The room that we had, I mean, it was just a room, just a room, barrack. Just one little barrack. It's just a room.

JS: And how many of you were in that room?

MN: Anna, Lori, my mother and my father, my sister and I. Six.

JS: Six people?

MN: Uh-huh.

JS: And where did your brothers go?

MN: I think there was a boys' room, I think. I really, 'cause my brother never slept with us. He, and there were, there was a, there was a barracks for young, for, just for the boys, I think, 'cause I know, I never remember my brother staying with us.

JS: Did you, did you do anything to create privacy?

MN: Yes, uh-huh.

JS: How did you...

MN: We put, we put a rope around the, rope around the, across the barrack, and then we put a sheet, blanket, so that one side of the bedroom would be closed. One side of the bedroom would be closed, and then we had a little kitchen. Well, it's not even a kitchen, it's just a hot plate and a sink. There was a sink in there.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.