<Begin Segment 7>

KP: So December 7, 1941, do you remember what you were doing on that day?

TF: Oh, yeah, we were, we were playing a football game. Just all of us, and it was near the Western Boulevard where Charlie Chaplin was making his film The Great Dictator about that time. And that's nothing to do with anything other than the fact that it's sort of like an empty lot there. But when I heard about it, it didn't mean anything to me because didn't know what the heck was happening other than the fact that you hear "Japs" more. But it wasn't strange because I was beginning to hear that quite a lot. So the next thing I know, we had to go to school. And you get this feeling that you shouldn't be there, it's this kind of thing. There was no physical harm, but I'd be ready to run, because the times were a little different.

KP: And how did it affect your family?

TF: Well, all of the people got fired.

KP: And who would that be?

TF: My father, my sister and brother, older brother. And thinking back, I can't remember what they were doing except my father was a janitor. He was working at two theaters, and he got laid off from both. But then I think a couple weeks later, the little one rehired him because, I guess they couldn't find anybody. But they were pretty good.

KP: So was your brother old enough to be of military age at that time?

TF: Oh, let's see. I must have been fifteen or sixteen, so my other brother would be about seventeen... he'd be nineteen or so, out of high school. And so since they were broke, well, without a job, when the government offered to hire people to help build Manzanar, he jumped at the chance. Because they were going to pay ninety dollars or something a month. And so he went with whomever, and they went to Manzanar. And so the next thing we know, a guy comes to the door Friday evening at eight and said the family has to be at the train station at eight o'clock Monday morning, because we're going to be leaving. And you could only take what you can carry. We didn't know anything about it. They said they had this thing posted where the Orientals are going to get moved anyway, but I never seen one of those. You could tell I wasn't very astute.

All I know is that this thing happened, and the next thing I know is that... next day is Saturday, and my father is doing whatever, and being the youngest, I guess they didn't share too much with me because I don't remember anything other than the fact that the word must have spread out a lot, because some of the friendly neighbors were on our side of the street. But the ones across the street we didn't know too much. And they were coming to the house and digging up the garden and the rose bushes and stuff. And I kind of wondered, gee, how did they find out so fast? Because a lot of our friends didn't even know that. And so they were doing that, and I guess they didn't think anything about it because we didn't own the place. If you're renting, all the plants belong to somebody else. But that kind of stuff happened. And then there was a few people that came over to say how much they'd give for the furnishings and all that, because everybody knew you can only take what you can carry. And being poor, we don't have any suitcases or anything.

And my father got a piece of canvas, and so when we left, we stuck all the bedding and clothes and all that and wrapped it up, and that's what we took. But I know that there was one guy that came and offered fifteen dollars for the furnishings and whatever, and to my father, you either accept that or else they're going to take it anyway because you can't take it with you. And I don't know if he gave in to those guys coming or maybe he left it for the owner of the house, because he could get more from the furnishings and everything. And all I remember about that episode was that I told my parents, "Oh, we better go say goodbye to Mr. Swanson." And then they tell me, "He's not Mr. Swanson, his name is Swan." And the honorific that the Japanese put on people, they call him "Swan-san." And to me, it's "Swanson." And so that part I never asked again with the language barrier, if they just decided to leave it with Mr. Swan.

KP: And who was Mr. Swan?

TF: He's the owner of the place. But he was having a rough time, too, because when the house leaked, he used go up there and put the California license plates on there to stop the leak. And so times were hard for everybody. But then for the people to come and start digging up the garden, I thought, was wrong. But at my age, I didn't think too much about it because I didn't understand people. Because they were the ones that we hardly ever said hi to, because they're across the street. The only one I used to say hi to was a Mexican family who was across the street. And we had to be careful because they might have taught us bad words instead of good words. [Laughs] You know, that kind of stuff.

KP: So when your family packed up to leave, and you had your big bundle of canvas, you're famous for that, right?

TF: Well, we're famous to the extent that when this guy told us eight o'clock Monday morning, he never told us how we're going to get there. And so I'm sure my father asked our neighbor, who was a gardener, had a pickup truck.

KP: And where were you supposed to go?

TF: We were supposed to go to the Union Station downtown. But they never told us how we're going to get there or what, and you couldn't do anything because there's a curfew between seven and seven where you couldn't get out of the house. And so he, our next door neighbor was a Japanese guy, was a gardener, helped carry this thing and took us down to Union Station. And as we were at the Union Station, we find out there's a boxcar where people are taking their suitcase and stuff, and here we are, my brother and me, with this great big bundle, and carried it to the thing. And next day in the L.A. Times, section B, there's this picture of this big bundle being loaded onto the boxcar. And the high school people somehow found out that it was us, and put it in the high school paper. So it became kind of popular. And after we visited the Smithsonian, we found out that picture is in the Smithsonian also, and that's it. Where'd you get it?

KP: You want to hold it up to the camera?

TF: [Laughs]

KP: So you're in the back there.

TF: I'm in the back. I don't think you can see me, my brother's up here, you should be able to see his hand, but my dad is... gee, without my glasses...

KP: Okay, that's okay, you don't need to put 'em on. I'll have you actually mark this picture when you're done so you can show who your family are.

TF: And then this other fellow, their family moved into Block 1-1, that's Block 5, Building 1, Apartment 1, but they made the apartment 1 the block office, so they had to move. And the guy that's picture is my age, in the same class as I am, but he never came to our annual meetings like right now. However, his younger brother did. I didn't know him at the time, but he came up and introduced me a long time ago, and so he's a substitute. And so it's just one of those things. Some of those pictures are pictures of people I remember seeing in camp, but I can't identify them by name.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.