<Begin Segment 21>

LP: So, I guess, let's talk about leaving Tule Lake and what you recall about Tule Lake and putting that behind you physically and moving on.

EY: The question was?

LP: Well, what do you recall about leaving Tule Lake?

EY: What was my...

LP: What do you remember about leaving Tule Lake?

EY: Well, another was, "Here we go again, going to another camp." I was still fifteen and a half, maybe sixteen. "Now what?" kind of a thing. Still not knowing what's going to happen to us, because we didn't know our future. Would we ever get out of camp? Are they gonna keep us there? What's gonna happen to us? What if I don't get accepted to a college? What's gonna happen? That kind of question.

LP: Where did you go to after Tule Lake?

EY: To Jerome. And then the government decided they needed a place to house the German prisoners, so they said, "Okay, Jerome." So they said once again we were moved from Jerome to Gila, Arizona. So we had to pack up and go again, and we went to hot country. Arizona was hot, dry, with all the succulents and all that.

LP: How long of that time period were you at Jerome?

EY: Not even a whole year, I think. Or maybe it could have been, I don't know. But I was a dishwasher. [Laughs] It was close to home.

LP: Had you ever, you had never been to the South I assume? So what was your impression of that climate?

EY: I thought, oh boy, this is hot. So like Fresno, Pinedale, it seemed like it was hotter because Pinedale, you didn't see succulents. Over there in Arizona, you see a lot of succulents. Dry, hot, sandy.

[Interruption]

KL: Okay, this is tape four, it's Kristen Luetkemeier who's taking over as interviewer for an interview with Eiko Yamaichi. And I wondered first, so we started talking a little bit about your time in Jerome. Would you just compare Tule Lake to Jerome, how were they different, how were they similar?

[Interruption]

KL: You were saying the weather?

EY: Yeah. First of all, the weather was so different, so humid and hot, and muggy. In fact, I got a bloody nose at Jerome and it just wouldn't stop, so I ended up in the hospital, and I just remember eating jell-o. And I don't know what they did to it, but I was there a whole day from a bleeding nose. Such, I don't know whether it was an adjustment between Tule Lake and Jerome or what it was that caused it, doctors never told me, but I landed in the hospital for that, bleeding nose.

KL: Was the hospital similar or different to Tule Lake?

EY: Seemed like there was more at Jerome than there was at Tule Lake, I don't know why. But of course, at Tule Lake, I never did wander around to find out anyway, but the fact that I was a patient at Jerome was a little different. But I was treated very cordially, and the nurses were good.

KL: What about the population at Jerome and Tule Lake? Did you notice any differences?

EY: Oh, much more. Tule Lake had too many, but yeah, there were many, many people at Tule Lake compared to Jerome. And our living quarters was much more nicer in Jerome, they had a lot of flowers and bushes because of the humidity, I think, they thrived. And our porches... in fact, the barracks were like so, but we had porches that faced each other, so that when we got up in the morning and got out the door, "Good morning," it was just like everybody else around here. Whereas in Tule Lake it was different. So they had the porch and we had the doors for each one close together, so if you opened the door, you could just say hi to your neighbors. Whereas the other camps, even in Gila, the doors were not that way. Just the Jerome, Arkansas, was that, so it was just kind of neighborhood friendly kind of thing. So that was nice, we got to know each other there.

KL: Who were your neighbors?

EY: Gee, I can't even remember their names. One was a professor, I remember that. They always dressed nicely, too. No, I can't remember them.

KL: When you moved from Tule Lake, it was the same time as, I assume, a number of other people came from Tule Lake. Were you integrated into Jerome or was there a separate Tule Lake section?

EY: Separate. Once we left, then we vacated our barracks, then I think the groups were, I think someone coordinated that, so that we left as they came in, the "no-nos." I don't know that for a fact, but I think that would make sense, because we had to make room for those incoming persons.

KL: Do you recall your Jerome address?

EY: No, I don't, but I have that.

KL: Would you describe the location of where you were in the camp, in Jerome?

EY: I want to say I was close to... it's not that either. Let's see, the swamp...

KL: That's okay, we can look it up later. So I think you guys, the roster says you arrived in Jerome in September 25, 1943, does that sound about right?

EY: Yeah, that's about right.

KL: So right after that, in October of 1943, there was a group of lumberjacks coming back into the camp and a truck overturned and a guy was killed and other people were hurt, there were calls for a strike and some other strikes had been going on.

EY: In Jerome?

KL: Yeah.

EY: I don't remember.

KL: Do you remember any tensions in Jerome?

EY: [Shakes head].

KL: Do you remember Hawaiian people in Jerome?

EY: No. Very naive, I'll tell you.

KL: You mentioned, you were thinking about attending college at that time. Did you work with any student relocation group? How were you pursuing college?

EY: Nothing, actually, just my thought was I want to get out of here and I want to go to school. I never really made any active inquiries or anything like that. But in the back of my mind, I knew that I could not because of my mother. That's why I really didn't pursue it. Verbally I'm telling my dad, "I want to get out, I want to go to college." But I never really pursued that. In fact, I was even thinking of joining the WACs, remember, Women's Army Corps or WAVE, Women's Navy thing. But always in the back of my mind was my mom, so I never really pursued it.

KL: You mentioned the trip to Rohwer to visit your aunt. Did you ever leave Jerome any other time?

EY: No, never did. That was the one and only time.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.