Densho Digital Archive - Sumiko Yamauchi Interview (denshovh-ysumiko

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WP: So what do you remember about December 7, 1941?

SY: I remember it was Sunday morning, and there were a lot of commotions outside. And there was a newspaper man there hollering, "Extra, extra, read all about it." And I don't think the war affected me as much as when I went to school. To me, the war was over there, it didn't affect me. Like I said, at my age at that time, I was fourteen, fifteen, but we weren't sophisticated like you guys are now. I think kids nowadays know a lot more than I did at that time, because we were held back. We didn't have the television and the computer and all that that you guys have. And the little that we had, we heard from the radio, and that was only if we did all our work, that we could listen to the radio.

WP: What did your parents say about Pearl Harbor? What was their reaction?

SY: My mother was devastated because the neighbor who lived three blocks away, her husband was taken away into prison camp or whatever. Not the camp like we went. The FBI came and just took 'em away. And so my mother was afraid that my father was gonna be taken away, but they never... so we, I think the wife, the lady who her husband was taken right away, she called my mother and told her her husband was taken away. And so my mother said, well, if Papa was going to be taken away, the other mother said that he didn't have anything, he was taken away without any clothes or anything, just what he had in his hand. And so we, my mother was packing a suitcase just in case they came after him. And my remember my mother said, "Hmm, I guess you're not important enough for them to come after you," you know, sort of a joking like. But that was true, they didn't come after my father. I think that was about the only thing that... and then when I went to school and the children ignored me...

WP: Tell me about your first day when you went back to school after Pearl Harbor. What was that like?

SY: Well, I went to school, and everybody walked the other way. Everybody didn't talk to me, I was just kind of isolated. Even the teachers didn't ask me a question. I mean, usually, you know, they'd say, "Raise your hand," she'd say a question and you're supposed to raise your hand if you know the answers. And even if I did raise it, she never even asked me. You know, I was just completely ignored and isolated, and you feel very devastated. I didn't care about the war, I think losing my friend was more devastating than the war was to me at that time.

WP: How did your life change in other ways, do you remember, after Pearl Harbor? Were there any restrictions put on your family, what you were able to do?

SY: No, because we never did travel anywhere. They limited us that you couldn't go beyond certain, away from your house. You couldn't go anywhere because you didn't have any money, because they were already, the bank was closed, and you couldn't touch any of the money. You had to make do with what you had. And so I don't think... I was ready for camp, to tell you the truth. I think I was ready. And they said, well, you don't know what's going to happen once we got there, and that's true, we didn't know. We didn't know whether we were gonna all be together, whether we were going to, what kind of clothes we had. And I remember my mother saying we had to wear our Sunday clothes and put new good shoes on, and then we go up to Manzanar. By the way, do you still have those terrible windstorms?

WP: Oh, yes.

SY: Oh, and I used to think, when the wind was blowing and we had to go all the way up to our mess hall to go eat and walk in that windstorm where the rocks would hit your leg. And in those days, we didn't wear pants, we wore skirts, you know. And then you get dust in your eyes and dust in your nose, oh, you still have that?

WP: Yeah, terrible dust storms.

SY: I guess there's no way you can get away with that out there.