<Begin Segment 20>

JS: Now, you had some interesting tasks while you were at Santa Anita.

ES: Yes.

JS: Could you describe some of what they were, and did anything take place that made an impact on you during your stay there?

ES: Well, when we were in Santa Anita, we were like a bunch of animals corralled behind the barbed-wire fence and sentry guards with guns pointing in, not out. Anyway, first thing I saw was the previous evacuee in there working in the grandstand, and making netting, weaving these huge nets. And they asked me to work in there and I says, "No, I can't, because of hay fever, and I can't stand that lint coming." So says, "Got to get a doctor's permission," so I took, went to the doctor's, they got a little shack there, and waited and waited and waited. Finally, after many hours, I got to see a doctor. Doctor approved what I had, hay fever. So then I, next job they offered me is in the motor pool department -- no, warehouse, as a foreman. And that's packing that same stuff, the dust. I got to be on the night shift. Well, that was all right, but when I walked out of my barrack to go to the grandstand, these searchlights always following me through, see. So I, then I got another job as a, in the motor pool, so I drove trucks around in the camp, and then I drove military police to Pomona center when they closed up, to put these MPs on those towers, and picked them up and brought 'em back. Then the next job I got was custodian of Terminal Island property, evacuees' property. And that job was, was September, getting cold, and so they needed jackets and blankets and so forth. So they would give me their family number and what they wanted, and I would go to the warehouse and open their trunks and get the stuff out. In the trunk I found everything you can think of, because, you know, they had to leave in twenty-four hours, so they stuck everything in, piled it onto their car and came in. So that was one of my jobs, but regular job there, I was a Caucasian shuttle bus driver, other words, taking the Caucasians from the outer gate to the administration area.

JS: How far, how long of a distance was that?

ES: Oh, less than a mile. Every day from eight to eight, and when they had the strike there, I didn't know it was taking place. But then the, my orders came to me that I must pack up and get ready to evacuate again. The Caucasian personnel and so, "You can't evacuate, you can't leave us." Says, "Well, I can't leave my parents out there. I don't know where they've gone or anything. I got to go with them." So they says, "Get me an autograph book." So they got me an autograph book, and they wrote a little message on it, which was very nice, I thought.

JS: You still have that?

ES: Yeah, I still have it. Then also, then I got transferred to a God-forsaken country again.

JS: To Heart Mountain?

ES: Heart Mountain.

JS: Yeah.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2005 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.