<Begin Segment 6>

RP: So you had 'til five o'clock the next day to move to this other house. And this other house was much smaller than the one that you lived in.

KY: Oh, yeah, the one that we lived in, the railroad house, it was a two story house and some eight to ten rooms or so. And this one only had four rooms and I don't think it was much bigger than what you got here.

RP: You also had quite a few animals and chickens to take care of.

KY: Yeah, we had chickens and some livestock, cows and young calves. We always had, that is when we moved from Kelton to Corinne, we got into milking a few cows and sending milk to the dairy. Kind of what we call half-assed farmers. [Laughs]

RP: So you moved up to this other house, the Johnson house, did you call it?

KY: Yeah, we moved into that and then I think I worked with my brother, they rented the land from where the house was on. And some pieces up just a ways away, he rented, the oldest brother did that. The second brother had already started a job in Hill Field, that's the air force base, he had already started a job before the war.

RP: What was he doing there?

KY: He was a machinist and anyway, when Dad lost his job and I can't remember exactly when it was that Brother was brought home from Hill Field, in fact I guess it was before Dad was taken off the railroad. They brought Brother home and he was madder than hell.

RP: And who brought him home?

KY: The FBI... well, no, the FBI didn't, the FBI escorted him to the gate and he had to catch a bus home from Ogden which was about forty miles away.

RP: And in either case, in each case with your dad and your brother was there any reason given at all for these actions? Did you ever get a reason why your brother had been led away or your dad?

KY: Well, I don't know... the reason I guess was just simply that the government wants you off of here.

RP: Didn't trust him?

KY: Out of here, yeah. In fact I remember my mother was questioning them about, the FBI agents about why, why, why and they essentially said, "Shut up or we'll throw you in jail." They really treated her rough and she got madder than heck again. But dad told her to take... we can't do anything about it, they're the law. I don't know that there was any reason given but I guess it had to do with the railroad being declared a... what do they call it?

RP: A strategic resource especially, yeah, during the war.

KY: Yeah, right.

[Interruption]

RP: This is a continuation of an oral history with Kan Yagi and this is tape two and Kan, how long had your father been working for the railroad when he was removed from his position?

KY: I guess he completed thirty-five years.

RP: Thirty-five years.

KY: Yeah, he thought it was kind of like a joke. He says, "I've been working here thirty-five years." But anyway he was resigned to it and when they came and got him.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.