<Begin Segment 12>

KL: Where were you taken?

HK: We were taken first to Marysville Assembly Center, I think it was just a big, huge warehouse and we had to just all sleep on our suitcases and our boxes and things. And then they --

KL: What was the history of the assembly center?

HK: I don't know much about that. They just called it the assembly center, so all the families had to gather there.

KL: It was not a place you had been before or had any experience with?

HK: No. No, it's not, Marysville's not too far from Loomis, but it was just a huge warehouse or something. It wasn't made for people to live in, (or) for families to live in. So I think we just stayed overnight, or just a few nights there, and then they loaded us on these trains, and they wouldn't let us look out the windows. They kept all the shades drawn, and then the train took us to Tule Lake.

KL: Can you tell us anything more about, you said it was just a couple days that you were in the Marysville Assembly Center, you think?

HK: Yes. I don't remember that much about it, but I think it was, I remember we were very uncomfortable.

KL: What, were you inside anywhere?

HK: Yeah, it was a warehouse.

KL: Was it divided in any way? Or it was --

HK: No, it was just, people (...) all over, as I remember, just a huge warehouse. People (...) had to sleep on your own clothes or whatever you had with you.

KL: Was there a military presence there?

HK: Oh yes.

KL: Was it very visible? Did you have any encounters or...

HK: No, of course we just stayed with our family. But they didn't want anybody escaping. [Laughs]

KL: Were there other people from the community, Caucasians or others who were part of your memories of being taken from your farm or being in the assembly center?

HK: I don't remember. I just remember our own family.

KL: What was, what are your memories of your parents in those days?

HK: Well, I know my father was very stoic and stubborn. He was trying to insist on his rights, but then, yet, as I said, he hadn't even graduated from high school, so what could he say?

KL: Did he talk to you about this later? Or where does some of your knowledge come from about his stance?

HK: Yes, I remember when, I think I was in college, and he talked about some of it. But then usually my parents would say let's not talk about it, let's forget about it. "That was a bad time. Let's just forget."

KL: Did he ever -- you said that he would argue for his rights as a citizen -- did he ever mention, or do you know if he ever got a response from the soldiers or from anyone? Or do you think he was stoic with the soldiers and others too?

HK: I think he decided it was better not to say something, and he didn't want anybody to get hurt. So he just, (...) very silently just loaded us all on the truck. But they did get the piano on the truck too, so that was an amazing thing.

KL: So that was with you in Marysville too, the piano.

HK: (Yes, the) piano. So I think they put it on the train and took it to Tule Lake.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.