<Begin Segment 9>

JN: Oh, of course later, when we found out that there was going to be an evacuation, I was in, by this time I was twelve years old, and my mother was in the hospital with her kidney removal operation. My father had to dispose of his restaurant. I had a bike, a Schwinn bike, a beautiful bike, that I had to dispose of. And then I was the oldest child, of course, and I did a lot of things for my father. I remember going to a place like Penney's store to buy sea bags for the family, for each member of the family, and to write down the name, our names on the sea bags, in whatever, black paint, and putting our family number on each one of those things. I remember that when people came to knock on our door, our whole house -- not that we had furniture, but we had a full house, and there was furniture in each room, and to see that it was sold for fifteen bucks, fifteen dollars, it was tragic. I got five dollars for my bike, in comparison. And my father had to give away his business, his restaurant. Well, anyway, he was compensated, I think, for up to $1500 later by the WRA or the War Relocation Authority after we relocated to Philadelphia. But I remember the compensation was unjust.

RP: A lot of things were happening at that time like you said your mom was, was ill.

JN: Oh, yeah.

RP: And you mentioned that she stayed behind when you were evacuated to Puyallup?

JN: Right.

RP: Can you talk a little bit about that?

JN: Well, we went to Puyallup in busses and that was almost festive to a twelve year old. We got on a bus, we go to this camp, we get into a... we did not live in some of the stables that other friends, later I found out, had to live in. But we lived in real shacks. That's all I can describe it. I mean, we had chicken shacks that were better constructed. And I remember when we first got there, we had to fill up bags with straw which was our mattress. And there was two blankets for each, either one or two blankets, big army khaki blankets for each cot. And the cots were not metal cots. They were the kind that folded out, although maybe my father had a metal cot later for his bed. And then of course we had a little child. My youngest sister was not even one years old at the time. Yeah, my father must have really had a rough time taking care of the -- but fortunately, that whole community came to him.

Indeed, one of the people that I see at all our reunions, the Kaseguma family, they were my father's dear friends from way before he was married. Indeed, not only that, Mr. and Mrs. Kaseguma were my godparents, but the children are my contemporaries. Yasuko, the youngest, was my, one year younger than me. She wrote to me later about writing her master's paper on her experience in camp and also taking care of the Nishimura baby, she and her sister, Masako. So, indeed, there were many, many people like Masako and Yasuko that came to my father's aid as the male (single) parent of a young infant child. I'm sure that must have been a great help to my father.

And of course in assembly camp, I mean, there was nothing to do. I remember selling papers. I don't know how I got the papers, the Seattle Times, the Post-Intelligencer, we got it, bought it for two cents, and we sold them for a penny -- three cents. And I probably made more money than all the guys that worked for the War Relocation, WCCA, I think it was called or something like that. But camp was not a... the assembly center was really nothing, I was just... oh, although we had some fun. It was in the Puyallup Fairgrounds and there was a fun house, and I remember going into that thing. We (all knew) it was prohibited, of course, but we would somehow get in there. And there was this huge barrel that you'd walk into, the dang thing would be rolling around, and we had crazy things like that to play with. And I remember spending hours in that -- well, not hours at a time -- but many, many times going back there and spinning in that thing. [Laughs]

RP: Folks described that there was some type of a roller coaster, too, there?

JN: Well, we weren't privy to, it was never operating of course. Yeah, there was a roller coaster on the periphery of the fairgrounds.

RP: Kind of an ironic contrast to the circumstances.

JN: Oh, crazy. Crazy, crazy. And I remember Mrs. Peppers, Margaret Peppers was a deacon of our church. And she was Caucasian, and she was not in camp, but she would come to the camp to see us and tell us about my mother, because she would minister to my mother. I remember meeting her at the, she would not be permitted inside. So there was no chain link fence as (...) in the more permanent Minidoka camp, but it was a wire fence. I remember her telling us -- and I don't know whether it was legal -- but she passed over candy or whatever it was for us. Those are cuckoo things to remember, and I remember that kind of kindness. I mean, because it was, it was a kind act.

RP: So what hospital was your mother at?

JN: My mother was in the Seattle Municipal Hospital. What is that called, it's on Yesler Street... Harborview. Harborview Hospital.

RP: And that's where all the people that couldn't make the trip to Puyallup were kept?

JN: I think she was the only internee that was in that hospital -- of Japanese descent (during) evacuation.

RP: She joined you in Minidoka?

JN: In Minidoka much later.

RP: How much later?

JN: Well, I think she (came) three months after we went into Minidoka. I may be completely wrong, maybe it might have been two months, but it was some time after the fact, which was just as well because Minidoka took many, many weeks before it was really habitable. I mean, I'm sure other people may have told you about some of the conditions we found. The camp was not completely built. Our block, well, even if it was built, there was a lot lacking. For instance, there was no walks. I remember stealing, I guess is the word, going over the fence on the other side where the contractors left their scrap lumber, and dragging lumber back to make little tables and things in our stark, very stark rooms that were issued to us. Or most of the older people, they made sidewalks on which to walk to the mess hall and to the community block laundry room and the bathrooms. And, well, anyway...

RP: What was it like to see your mom again after...

JN: Oh, it was such a joy to see her. Yeah, she was just, I know, very happy to see us. I mean, medicine back then was not like it is today. A kidney operation must have been a major, major surgery, procedure.

RP: I imagine your dad was real happy to see her.

JN: Oh, I'm sure he was. He was relieved more than happy. [Laughs]

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2007 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.