<Begin Segment 7>

RP: What was your, what was your initial reaction to the news that you were, that you had to go to camp?

TI: Well, at first, when he told me about going to camp, I told him that I have a place to go. I don't have to go to camp. And he said, "Where?" and I said, "Reno, Nevada, where my in-laws live." So they said, "Well, how are you going there?" And I said, "Well, gonna put everything in our car, and gonna drive up there." Said, "Well, you can't. You've got to go to camp first." So there I was, stuck, so I had to go to camp. So after I got to camp, why, first thing we do is make an application to leave. And basically got a place to go.

RP: To go to Reno.

TI: So we went to Reno, Nevada.

RP: And there was a very short window of time that people were allowed to leave? I think it was 'til March 27th, and then after that, you were kind of frozen in place.

TI: Yeah.

RP: Tom, since your father was so involved in kind of community activities with the church, did he, did he get a visit from the FBI at some point, too?

TI: No, he didn't.

RP: He wasn't touched?

TI: No. What his was was, only mainly religious prisoners, so they left him alone.

RP: You do know of other men in the community that were picked up?

TI: Oh, yeah. Lot of his friends were picked up.

RP: Did you have a concern that he might be also?

TI: No, not really. 'Cause I know we didn't do anything wrong.

RP: Tell me about the day that you were asked, told to assemble at the corner there, and what that scene was like.

TI: Well, at that time, I knew we all had to go. It wasn't a case of getting mad or anything. So we went down there and got on a bus and they took us out to Manzanar.

RP: Talking with Dorothy, she mentioned there was a JACL group in Santa Monica or this area?

TI: West L.A.

RP: West L.A., uh-huh. And were you a member of that group?

TI: Oh, yes, I was.

RP: And were there discussions or conversations about, you know, the situation?

TI: Oh, yes. They said, "Well, you just be nice and go along, don't cause any trouble."

RP: That was the message?

TI: That's what they gave us. So we went. Of course, at that time, beginning to be afraid, because being taken away like that to a camp, you kind of wonder. Really had no idea.

RP: What might happen to you?

TI: Yeah. There was a possibility we may be executed. So you don't know.

RP: Did you, amongst the other items that you, the necessities to take with you to camp, clothing and those things, did you take any of our tools along, too?

TI: No, just clothing, mainly. It's about all we could carry.

RP: Right. So did you leave your tools here?

TI: Oh, yeah, they were in the garage -- no. The tools were with a friend of mine.

RP: Johnny?

TI: Yeah.

RP: And did you also leave a truck with him, too?

TI: No, the truck was my dad's, and it was parked in his house, behind the house, on Colby Avenue. And that's the one that this friend of mine, he was a big shot at the post office --

RP: Post office in Manzanar?

TI: Manzanar. He came down here on the bus and took the pickup truck off the jacks, and he drove it up to Manzanar for us, and drove it right in the camp. Nobody knew whose it was or anything. And here it was, sitting in Block 16, right next to our building. [Laughs]

RP: Do you recall this gentleman's name?

TI: I did know sometime, but I had a stroke recently, that's why I can't talk too good. And lot of my memory is gone, including the names of the people.

RP: Wow, that was a, a nice, nice act of goodwill.

TI: Oh, yeah, I really have to thank him for that. And I offered to pay him, the money he spent on our bus fare coming down here, and he wouldn't take it. He said, "Oh, no." The gasoline he had to put in the car, he wouldn't take any money. Real nice guy.

RP: Nice guy, wanted to see you out of camp.

TI: Yeah.

RP: Did your, did your parents also end up at Manzanar, too?

TI: Yes, they were up in the top, Block 18 (...).

RP: Oh, 18 or 19?

TI: Yeah. And later on, he said he wanted to go back to Japan, so they shipped him over to Tule Lake.

RP: And your mom went, too?

TI: Yeah. And my brother, too.

RP: John?

TI: Yeah, he went.

RP: John, you said John came back to the United States in 1937?

TI: No. While they were in camp up there, the war ended, and they heard all these stories about how things were happening in Japan where nobody had any money and no food, and starving to death. So they decided they better stay here in the U.S., so they came back here.

RP: Your parents?

TI: Yeah, and my brother.

RP: And your brother.

TI: And brother was, he was married by then, so they all came back here.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.