Densho Digital Archive - Sumiko Yamauchi Interview (denshovh-ysumiko

<Begin Segment 8>

WP: I know you talked about this a little bit already, but can you tell me about the day that you left for Manzanar and what that was like?

SY: I think once we got to the Greyhound and we found our Greyhound bus, and then once everything was settled and they started rolling up. Is that what you mean?

WP: Yeah. So Mr. Waters drove you to the...

SY: Mr. Waters drove us over to where the Greyhound buses were. And then from there...

KL: Where was that? Do remember the intersection or was there like a police station?

SY: I can't remember. I can't even remember... I know it was a park. It was lawns and trees and benches and things. But the buses were all lined up there, and I do know that they did mail us this little card, I'm sure you were... and had a number on it, and we had to, with that number, we had to go find our bus, and we walked until we found our bus and then we got on. And we were just lucky that we were all able to get on one bus, I mean, all together. Which was... I think nobody really knew what was going to happen once we got on the bus. We had no idea how Manzanar was. You do know that they had already recruited all the young boys to go to camp before the camp was ready, to prepare us for coming. Did they tell you that?

WP: Uh-huh.

SY: Yeah, okay.

WP: Did you know any of those people?

SY: No, no, we didn't. But they were the ones that organized all the paperwork and probably maybe helping with the building, I have no idea.

WP: Did you know anybody on the bus when you got there?

SY: Yeah, because we were... oh. I think when I was in junior high school, we used to have to go to Japanese school after elementary school, or regular school for a couple of hours. And there were quite a few of those people there at the bus that were on our bus. So when we were on the bus, they had already put... the people who lived around my area were, it was Burbank, Glendale, Los Angeles. I can't remember if there were any more. They were the ones who we were on the bus with in that district, that whole area. And there were quite a few people that I knew family-wise that was on the bus. So when we got into camp, we were kind of neighbors all in that one area.

WP: And what was the bus ride like?

SY: [Laughs] Oh, the buses weren't as luxurious as it is now. If you think it's luxurious, it isn't. It isn't anything fancy right now even, but it was, the seats were hard, and they didn't have any facilities, no bathroom. If you had to use the bathroom, the bus would stop in the bushes and everybody ran out there in the bushes. And I think we were worried about lunch, and they had box lunch which was nice on the way because in those days, you don't go eighty miles. I think it was forty-five, fifty miles going up there, and then I don't know how long it took you, but it took us twice as long. And it was... if it was hard for me, and I was fourteen, you can imagine how it was for the older people. Our seats were hard and no comfort, and the seats didn't go back or forth, you just sat there like this, you know. And the windows wouldn't open, and it was just horrible.