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RP: Do you recall the time before evacuation? Did you have a sense that something like that would occur?

FY: No, it was a complete surprise. And we were given one week to pack up. Well, my brother-in-law was a dentist, and so physicians and dentists had to, first to go to camp. And my mother didn't want us to be separated from my brother-in-law and my sister, and so requested that we go with my older sister and her husband.

RP: And where were, they were living in Sacramento?

FY: Yes, they were living in Sacramento at that time.

RP: So you joined together and went...

FY: Yes, uh-huh.

RP: ...you went with them to Tule Lake?

FY: Uh-huh. First Arboga.

RP: To Marysville?

FY: That's right.

RP: And that was about a month?

FY: Yes, uh-huh.

RP: Where did you, where did you assemble to go to Marysville?

FY: Let me see now. It was... let's see. Did I write it down? Well, we had to take a train to go to all those camps.

RP: And what, what provisions were made for...

FY: What to take?

RP: What to take, did you have evacuation sales, did you store items, personal belongings?

FY: Yes. Our church became a storage place, and some of the things we threw away, some of the, a few things we had, we gave to friends, Caucasian friends. That was terrible time, when you have to get rid of all of your household... and since we did give up all those utensils and things, we survived on sandwiches. And the last night, we slept on the floor. But we were able to take one suitcase and your bedding, so that's what we prepared to take with us. And not knowing what kind of place we would be, it was very frustrating.

RP: Was there any very special item that you also took along with the necessities?

FY: Oh, well, I loved to read, so few paperbacks.

RP: How about your father's restaurant? Was he able to...

FY: He was able to sell it.

RP: At a... did he get...

FY: I think he sold it for a thousand dollars or something like that.

RP: Much less than it would have been worth?

FY: Probably.

RP: Did any Caucasian friends, you mentioned a couple, come to you and offer support?

FY: Churches did, Christian churches.

RP: What did they, what did they do to help you?

FY: Well, like we had a piano, and they said they will take that, and then they used it for USA... no, what did they call it?

RP: USO?

FY: USO, yes. And when it was returned to us later on, it was in a terrible condition. Because the people in the USO, the soldiers would put the drinks on the piano and all that. So they returned it to us, but we got rid of it right away.

RP: Were there other expressions of support, too, besides storage at the church? Did people come by and offer their support?

FY: Yes, uh-huh. The Caucasians in our neighborhood, they were very good, and then the church people were just wonderful.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.