Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Miyoko Uzaki Interview
Narrator: Miyoko Uzaki
Interviewer: Kristen Luetkemeier
Location: Fresno, California
Date: September 11, 2014
Densho ID: denshovh-umiyoko-01-0012

<Begin Segment 12>

KL: So you left to go to the assembly center. What was that -- I shouldn't say you left, you had to go to the assembly center -- what do you remember about traveling there, or actually leaving home?

MU: It was a mixed emotion. We had just bought the ranch two years before, and we felt, well, now our life is going to be secure, and then you get uprooted. You don't know what the future's gonna be. It was very unsettling.

KL: How did you, how did you go to the assembly center?

MU: We were put on a truck with a few belongings.

KL: What was Fresno assembly center? Had you been there before?

MU: It was the fairground. I don't think I've ever been to the fair, Fresno fair. We have our own in Caruthers, nice fair in Caruthers, so I think it was the first time I'd been in that area.

KL: What did you see when you arrived at the Fresno assembly center?

MU: We had, saw barbed wire fence around and all the barracks, and we had sentries posted here and there. It was, it was scary.

KL: Were, what was your barrack like?

MU: We had the end barrack at Fresno assembly center, tarpaper, boards with grass comin' up, iron cot beds. Not at all homey or comfortable.

KL: Was it an old building? Had it been part of the fairground, or was it new?

MU: I think they were all new buildings built for this.

KL: Did you have visitors ever while you were there?

MU: I can't remember that we did.

KL: Did you interact at all with any of the soldiers or the guards?

MU: No. They checked us at night, at ten o'clock. Everybody had to be in. We knew, we knew the rules, so we abided by that. So I don't think there were any problems, violation.

KL: When you say they checked you, what did that mean?

MU: Knock and see that everybody was in.

KL: What was their demeanor? Did, was there ever a conversation that was part of that, or was it always very quick and just...

MU: No, there wasn't too much conversation. Rules and we just obeyed it, not much else we could do.

KL: When did you arrive there, what month?

MU: I think it was May. Yeah, I think it was around May.

KL: And how long were you there?

MU: Until October.

KL: What did you do with your time there? What were the days like?

MU: Well, some people worked in the mess hall. I had, my youngest brother, helped Mother take care of him. Wasn't much we could do.

KL: How, did he have special things set up in your home to help your mother care for him or make his life easier? And how was he affected by coming into the assembly center?

MU: I don't know. I took care of him, carried him most of the time while we had to register, sit in line a long time. But I don't think he understood at all what was going on.

KL: Did your father have medical needs in the assembly center, because of his health?

MU: Yeah.

KL: Was there any treatment, or what was his situation?

MU: No, there weren't any special treatments. He probably got some medicine from the clinic, but...

KL: Did you have a job there?

MU: When we moved to Arkansas I worked as a block secretary. The highest pay in the whole camp was nineteen dollars, and the next wages were sixteen, and I think I got sixteen dollars a month.

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