Densho Digital Archive - John Nakada Interview (denshovh-njohn-01-0012)

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RP: Then a short time afterwards you were on a train heading for another camp?

JN: Yeah, and that's where we went from Pomona Assembly Center to Heart Mountain, Wyoming. So from southern California to Wyoming it must have taken us over a week to get there. And normally it would only take, you know, two, three days but the war was on and so we were the least high priority on the train track so we were always on the side of the train track to let the, you know, the main people go... use the main railroad, you know, the soldiers, the construction material, the people that are building tanks and planes and guns and everything else, they were the top priorities. We were the last priorities on the list so we were always on the train track on the side there waiting to get on the main line. So that's why it took us so long. And see, we just sat and ate in a chair, just a chair, in the coach, and that's how we traveled. And even as an eleven year old, I remember having to eat and sleep in a chair for a week. That was terrible I thought, that's the part I really hated is that train ride, oh, I still remember that. And then the soldiers came through all the time to make sure we were all okay. And every time we came to a city we had to pull the shades down because the soldiers said, "We're protecting you because the people outside might shoot you or something." So we had to pull our shades downs every time we came to any kind of city, and I still remember that. The only time we could put the shades up was when we were out in the country.

RP: And were there soldiers in each car, in your car?

JN: Yeah, counting and everything, yeah, in fact in Pomona Assembly Center they came through to make sure that we were all there in every room.

RP: Like a roll call?

JN: Yeah, roll call, just like in a prison.

RP: And that was done by the soldiers?

JN: Yeah, and they called numbers out because they couldn't pronounce all the names.

RP: Oh, family numbers?

JN: Yeah.

RP: Do you remember yours?

JN: Yeah, I have a whole list of them there. Well, our family number was 10561, 10561.

RP: And each one of --

JN: Each one had a letter and my letter was G, 10561G. I don't know why. And on this list there that they have, you know, I guess my oldest brother was A, my father was B and my mother was C, another brother was D, another brother was E, sister was F, I was G, sister was... younger sister was H and the youngest daughter was... or son was I. And I also had another brother had a different number he was... he went in as a bachelor so his number was 10577.

RP: That was Paul.

JN: Paul, yeah, Paul Minoru Nakada.

RP: So let's shift over to Heart Mountain, when you get to Heart Mountain, what were your initial impressions of the landscape and then the camp which was to be your home for at least a year?

JN: Well, the living quarters were a little bit better than Pomona because it was permanent, you know. But it was located in the desert and the sagebrush and it was in an isolated area and I noticed there was a fence, barbed wire and soldiers guarding with searchlights at night going along the fence line. That was at Pomona too they had the same thing but in Heart Mountain it was a lot bigger camp, a lot more people, so that's what I kind of remember when I first went there. And I remember that winter was so cold it was terrible.

RP: You mentioned that your mother had been confined to a wheelchair?

JN: Yes.

RP: And why was she in a wheelchair?

JN: I think I have that information here. She had multiple sclerosis so from the waist down she was paralyzed.

RP: And how long had she had that condition?

JN: Oh, gee, probably, well, it was before we went into camp. It must have been five years before we went into camp she had that situation.