<Begin Segment 14>

AL: You said that Captain Williams had harvested your lettuce crop. Who took over your farm, or was it just left abandoned?

RT: I don't know whatever happened. Since it was leased property, I'm sure it was a woman who owned the property in another town, and I'm sure they took care of it, whatever happened.

AL: So your family never went back there?

RT: No. And the property in Morro Bay, which was in our family name, we leased out. But much later on, when we were able to leave camp, we decided that, my father and brothers decided they would like to have some proceeds from that property, and they sold it, and they got very little money for it and were able to invest in a little farm property down in southern Colorado.

AL: The other question I had was after your father was arrested and taken in, did your family know where he was initially? I mean, what did they tell you they were going to do with him?

RT: Well, all we knew was that he was going to be in a prison camp, and that there were several prison camps. But we didn't know where he was, and I understand that they moved these men around from camp to camp. So they didn't give us much information.

AL: Did you get any communication from him?

RT: I think maybe my mother received a letter or two from him, but a lot of it was just blocked out. I don't know that she really heard much from him. But it all happened pretty quickly when Captain Williams went to get my father's release.

AL: How long was your dad there? Was it a matter of days, weeks, months?

RT: Maybe weeks, but it wasn't a long time. Because we went into Manzanar in, I believe, in July of 1942.

AL: And were you there before your father or did he come with you?

RT: We were there before. When we were able to let the prison camp people know that we were there, then they were good, they kept their word, and he was released to us quickly. And so he joined us very shortly after we were in camp.

AL: How did he get there? Did they send him under escort, or did he just show up?

RT: I really don't know. He just showed up. [Laughs] I suppose they just gave him a bus ticket and he appeared.

AL: How did you... I know that your brother brought some of your possessions. How did you physically get from Reedley to Manzanar?

RT: Well, from Reedley to Manzanar, that's all very hazy to me. But I think we took a bus.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.