<Begin Segment 9>

RP: Do you remember when, when you found out that you would be having to leave your home, the evacuation order?

FN: Oh, we didn't have very much time. I think six weeks or so to get out, so we had to give all of our furnitures and things to our friends. And, 'cause they say you can only take whatever you can carry so I think we sold our car, my car for fifty bucks.

RP: Your car?

FN: Yeah.

RP: What, what car did you have?

FN: I had a Plymouth. I don't know what year that was but it was car anyway. And most of our furnitures and everything we gave to our friends. They were all nice. I mean none of 'em... they were backing us up. They were sorry to see us go. But they can't do anything anyway. Yeah, we had a lot of friends. More so than the government anyway. They trusted us but the government didn't. They, to them we were "enemy aliens."

RP: So do you remember where you assembled to go to Manzanar?

FN: Where?

RP: Yeah, where.

FN: Yeah, it was at the corner of Lincoln and Venice. We assembled there and took the bus.

RP: Now, you were the oldest son.

FN: Yeah, uh-huh.

RP: And so did you have the primary responsibility for getting rid of things and...

FN: Oh, yeah.

RP: Did you also have to register the family before you went to camp?

FN: I don't remember. I guess they knew. They told us to leave.

RP: And do you recall what your feelings were about this whole removal experience? How were you feeling when you found out you had to leave?

FN: Well, we feel like the government kind of didn't trust us anymore and we were "enemy aliens." I mean, what else can you feel when you get put out in the camp?

RP: You described the bus trip to Manzanar as a long miserable trip.

FN: Oh yeah. It was long and it's not like a bus nowadays. They didn't have any toilets so every so often they have to go so we have to stop out on the side of the road and with sagebrush. One of the women goes, squatted down behind the sagebrush and a gust of wind came and blew the sagebrush away and we saw her bare ass and was she embarrassed. I don't blame her, I mean... 'cause they were afraid to stop in big bus at any restaurants or any place like that because well at that time we were just "enemy aliens." And you didn't, and every time they told us when we went through town to pull the shades down. Boy, you know you're not a citizen anymore. You're "enemy aliens."

RP: Do you remember a military policeman in the bus, a soldier?

FN: I think there was one soldier sitting out in the front.

RP: Did you know where you were going on the bus trip?

FN: Yeah, we were going to Manzanar but I didn't know where Manzanar was or anything.

RP: Did you know anything else about Manzanar?

FN: No. Just, it was just a relocation center, that's all.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.