<Begin Segment 12>

KL: When you did learn that you were gonna be forced out of your home, how did you respond, how did you make sense of that, or could you?

HF: We couldn't believe it. We couldn't believe that the government would do that, you know, to us.

KL: Did you see any options?

HF: No. My mother said, well, we could load up the car and then go to Arizona or someplace, then they decided, no, that's not going to work out. What if you got there and they didn't, nobody... couldn't work, you know, you didn't have a job, what were you gonna do?

KL: So they just didn't see any options, they didn't feel like they were supporting the war effort or like they were... how did you get to Manzanar?

HF: On the bus, they took us in a bus.

KL: Where was the departure point?

HF: Pardon me?

KL: Do you remember where you departed from?

HF: From San Fernando.

KL: Was it at the Japanese school, or was it at the police station?

HF: I don't remember where it was. I don't remember how we got there either, but somebody must have taken us, some neighbor.

KL: What do you recall about the bus ride?

HF: We had the shades drawn, we couldn't open the shades, so we didn't know where we were, we didn't where we were going. We heard Manzanar, but then where is Manzanar, you know?

KL: Did you speak with the bus driver at all or have interactions with...

HF: No, we didn't.

KL: Was there a military police or any guard type person on the bus?

HF: No. All I remember is that, just us and the bus driver. We had a whole busload.

KL: Who was the rest of the bus?

HF: From San Fernando, most of the people were from San Fernando.

KL: So they were people you know.

HF: Yeah, mostly friends.

KL: What was the mood on the bus? What did people do during the ride?

HF: Probably slept on the bus, and we talked on the bus and slept on the bus, but we didn't know where we were going. It's kind of a... you're anticipating, but then you really don't know if you're going to be in jail or what.

KL: Were there any stops on the way?

HF: We had to stop for the bathroom stop.

KL: Where was that?

HF: I really don't know where we stopped.

KL: Were there toilets or was it the side of the road, or what was it like?

HF: Yeah, there was a toilet. I don't know if we ate. We must have ate, unless we took something.

KL: How long was the ride?

HF: Took, seemed like it took a whole day to get there. It did take a whole day, because when we got to Manzanar, they were serving dinner. We had hot dogs, I remember.

KL: Where did you eat?

HF: We ate in the mess hall, they had a mess hall.

KL: What do you recall... how did you know when you were, how did you know you had arrived? Were the shades still drawn and the bus just stopped?

HF: They probably said, "We're here," I'm sure they must have said, "We're here."

KL: What did you see from the bus when you arrived?

HF: Nothing, because they had the shades drawn, so we couldn't see out, so we didn't know where we were going.

KL: And then when you first got out, what was your first visual impression of Manzanar?

HF: We said, "Oh, this is Manzanar?" Because we didn't know what to expect.

KL: Was it a busy place? Was there lots of... I mean, we were talking earlier, it looks like you arrived in Manzanar in March 1942, so was there construction work going on when you got there?

HF: Oh, yeah, there was a lot of construction. It wasn't completed.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.