<Begin Segment 8>

KL: You said that people were gonna pick you up to take you from your home into --

IT: Yeah.

KL: What do you recall about going into Puyallup? What was --

IT: Well, I do remember the post having a sign, and of course I couldn't read all that, but it was that sign for us to evacuate and they were gonna pick us up. And I don't know how my mother found out from the sign or somebody came, I don't know, but anyway, we did go to the place and they put us on a bus. And I think from there we just went straight to Puyallup, and I remember there was Area A, B, C, D. D was the big one, and we went to D. I remembered we had to have our own plates, and they must've passed it out, 'cause I don't think we would've brought it, plastic plates. Every meal, we had to bring. After we ate it, we washed it and bring it back, brought it back the next meal. But there was somebody who wrote about our evacuation in the Northwest, the book, something about Hotel Sweet.

KL: Yeah, yeah.

IT: Okay, and he never went, but he described it pretty well. I could remember things when I was reading that.

KL: Like what? What were some of your pictures or sensory memories?

IT: I remember walking toward, I don't remember if it was the grandstand or somewhere, and we'd pick up our food. We ate there and then... so in that book, they brought the food in and I thought, "I bet you they did that." I didn't know that then. But they wouldn't let, like, the principal come. We had to talk through the fence.

KL: Yeah, I was curious about that encounter. Who, do you remember the principal's name, or do you know her...

IT: Mahon, Mahon.

KL: What, why did she come? What did she say, what did she bring you?

IT: I think, like, she gave us candy, but I, in the book it said she threw, or somebody from the park, I think, gave us balls, too, over the fence. I don't remember that, but I think she gave us little candies. I think she just was sad that we had to go. She liked the Japanese, and so she was...

KL: How did you know she was there to visit?

IT: I don't know how we found out, but it must be from word of mouth and everybody runs to the fence. And I don't remember too much except there was a guy in our, in that area that, he was not mentally stable, and my dad used to smoke, so he used to look for ashtrays and take those little stubs. And we were scared of him. He was tall, lanky, but he didn't, I don't think he spoke much. But anyway, so we would just sit back and watch do that, and then he'd take off, but he'd walk around, go to people's places and pick up stubs. But that's, that's all I do remember.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.