<Begin Segment 7>

RM: So you say you went to Burbank to catch the bus, and was it all of the different families from, sort of, San Fernando area?

GO: Yeah, just around San Fernando, gathered there and took the bus.

RM: And where was, what was the station?

GO: I don't know. Bo was mentioning where it was, but I couldn't picture it. But in Burbank.

RM: Did you take a bus all the way to Manzanar?

GO: Bus all the way.

RM: What was that trip like?

GO: I was wondering where we were going.

RM: They didn't tell you.

GO: No. One of them, maybe they mentioned Manzanar, but who knows Manzanar?

RM: Right.

GO: Because they were traveling and you see nothing but sagebrush and all that.

RM: Do you remember how people on the bus, were they talking to each other?

GO: Well, they all knew each other, so they talked and all that. Then they told me that they made a bus stop, and gals on this side, boys on this side. But one other person was telling me about this.

RM: Oh, I see, a necessary bus stop. [Laughs] What kinds of things did you pack when you were heading out?

GO: Well, I guess I packed mostly clothes. Because you can't pack too much. Then I think my folks is the same thing. So they only give you one duffel bag, and we got to carry one suitcase or something. So the rest of the stuff, got to leave.

RM: Was there anything that was especially hard to leave behind?

GO: Oh, there was a lot of things that was hard to leave behind, but can't help it.

RM: What's one of 'em?

GO: I had a car. That was, I don't know what happened to that. And then I guess that's the most... the other stuff was, I can't actually remember.

RM: Did you have any pets?

GO: No, no pets. If we'd had a dog, it'd be tied outside.

RM: So tell me what you remember about when the bus was getting closer and closer to Manzanar. What was that like?

GO: We didn't know how close Manzanar was. So we were always thinking, gee, where are we going to go? Where are they taking us? Because it's nothing but sagebrush, and it kept on going. We finally got there and said... I think it was getting dark or... I forgot. But most of the people had to make their own mattress, stuff the mattress. But we were kind of lucky. Because my cousins who were living in Terminal Island, they had to evacuate first, so they came over to where we were living, and we took 'em in and then they were the first to leave. So the first to leave, so they were in camp already when we had to go. So they stuffed the mattress for us.

RM: So they had arrived before you and then prepared the barracks.

GO: Uh-huh.

RM: Interesting. What are your cousin's names?

GO: Segimoto.

RM: So your mom's side of the family.

GO: Mom and Mr. Segimoto were cousins. So that's the way we lucked out on that part.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.