<Begin Segment 10>

RP: Do you recall where... after you had packed up your suitcases, where did you go to assemble on the day that you went?

TM: We went to Forest Grove which is further west of Portland, Hillsboro. I don't know how we got there, do you know?

AF: Yes, it was a --

TM: No, I mean who took us?

AF: A neighbor.

TM: Oh, then we boarded a bus, a school bus.

AF: No, it wasn't a school bus, it was Greyhound.

TM: Oh, was it a Greyhound?

AF: A Greyhound and we met at the Forest Grove bus depot and we all got on and was bused to the exposition center, you know.

RP: Which was at that time --

TM: The livestock.

RP: The livestock.

AF: Right, right and we'd been there before because when we were going to grade school one of the activities that we were given was a rodeo.

TM: Well, it was a field trip.

AF: That was a big day for us so we went to the rodeo and you saw the cowboys and you know, the bull fighting and stuff like that so we knew what the place looked like.

RP: You never thought you'd be staying there. So what was that like? Just to back up a little bit, I was just curious to know, what was your last day at school like?

TM: Oh gosh, I can't remember.

AF: I can't either, I think it was just an ordinary day. I can't remember.

RP: Did anybody come up to you --

TM: No, because I don't think they're aware of when we were going to leave.

RP: And you didn't make it very obvious to them.

TM: But I do know a couple of my teachers, I know one of my teachers, she gave me a bottle of cologne, you know, I thought, oh that was so sweet of her. But it seems to me like when we were leaving there were lots of, you know, people we knew and we were waiting and I don't know if it was in Forest Grove or in Hillsboro.

AF: I don't remember that. I mean, like I said, it was an adventure for us.

RP: But you said people that you knew, Caucasians?

TM: Right, Caucasians.

RP: Had come to see you off?

TM: Yes, but we just waved at 'em and smiled, we're going on a trip. [Laughs] You know, it was nothing.

RP: Was there any evidence of army soldiers at the assembly point?

TM: Oh, yes, all over the assembly center, you know.

RP: How about on the bus, were there soldiers on the bus?

TM: There could have been but I don't remember.

RP: And so it wasn't very long a trip from Forest Grove?

AF: Well, it might have been from Forest Grove through Hillsboro to Portland, it might have taken an hour.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.