<Begin Segment 14>

KP: So after your father was arrested and taken away, your mother continued to work for the cannery? Did she still work in the cannery at that time?

TM: Uh-huh.

KP: And you worked? Was your older brother there?

TM: Yeah. I went to work and then my sister, my oldest sister, she worked in San Pedro, too, see.

RP: Oh, what did she to?

TM: Worked in the produce market there.

RP: So you kinda picked up the slack a little bit for your dad not being there?

TM: Yeah, uh-huh.

RP: This, then the next shock was the forty-eight hour evacuation of the island.

TM: Oh, I'd left before that.

RP: How soon before?

TM: At least a month or a month and a half.

RP: What were the... why did you leave?

TM: Huh?

RP: Why did you leave the island?

TM: Oh, I figured they're gonna...

RP: Kick you out?

TM: Yeah. See I was, what, twenty years old. And I don't know, I just had a --

RP: A hunch?

TM: -- feeling like that. So, and there were five of us and then my mother. Then I had to take care of my auntie. She was by herself. And then there's other families that the father was gone and they had little kids. I took sixteen people with me and I moved to L.A. I moved to L.A., I found a home there, empty home, and we all lived there. Sixteen in a two-bedroom place. [Laughs] Yeah.

RP: Were you able to take most of your personal belongings with you or did you...

TM: No, not too much.

RP: Did you sell things or store items?

TM: No, we didn't sell anything. We just left it. We just left. Only thing I kept was my car. Yeah.

RP: Was that the '38?

TM: Yeah, '38 Chrysler, yeah. That's the only thing. They offered me $100 for the car. I mean, they allowed me $100.

RP: Who?

TM: The government.

RP: The government wanted to buy the car?

TM: Yeah, well, yeah, they allow you that... I don't know what the other guys got, but, they only allow you $100, so. And where I moved to, I met this Filipino guy, like I was telling you about that. And I told him, "We have to leave. We have to go to a camp. Can I leave my car here?" And I thought I'd take a chance with him rather than get rid of the car for $100.

RP: So, were there other people that were also leaving Terminal Island early?

TM: Early? I don't know whether they were or not.

RP: And what part of Los Angeles did you end up finding this house?

TM: Uptown. Do you know the uptown?

RP: Uptown?

TM: Uptown, uh-huh. Normandy, Normandy, and Olympic, that area.

RP: Just to the south of downtown?

TM: Uh-huh.

RP: So you weren't there very long before...

TM: Yeah. And then, so there's sixteen of us living there so I found another house. I moved my family and my aunt to another house and these other people were staying at the original place.

RP: That must have been a pretty hectic scene.

TM: Oh, yeah. [Laughs]

RP: Were people sleeping on the floors and...

TM: Yeah, things like that. Yeah. Uh-huh. And then when... I guess that, that area went to some other camp. I guess they went to Santa Anita or someplace. And when the notice came out that the Terminal Island was evacuating to Manzanar, I signed up to go to Manzanar. That's how we ended up in Manzanar, yeah.

RP: And did you, did you come up by train?

TM: Uh-huh, uh-huh. I think we, we came up on the train to Barstow. So, and then on the bus.

RP: Oh. Some people came into Lone Pine.

TM: Huh?

RP: Some people came were brought by train to Lone Pine?

TM: Lone Pine?

RP: Lone Pine. And then the bus went into camp.

TM: Oh, really?

RP: Yeah. So were twenty years old and you were aware of the fact that you were an American citizen and that all Japanese were being singled out and being sent to camp. Did you have any deep feelings, strong feelings about, "What about our rights?" What about...

TM: No. Like I say, I don't, I don't think about things like that too much. Only, the only problem I had while I was in camp was my father was released and came back to camp and then they started drafting the Niseis and, r volunteering, some of 'em volunteered. Well, that's when I had a problem. Like my father, he felt that there's three boys in the family and he figured if we're gonna split up, we might as well stay together and go to Tule, Tule Lake, sign "no-no." So my brother, Itsei, and myself were, we were of age, so we signed "no-no." And, and Mike was still in school so they didn't, they didn't sign up. They didn't sign that question. And then just about that time they start moving the people, transferring them to Tule Lake. And I told my father. I said, "We might split up anyway so there's no sense going to Tule Lake." So I changed my, what is it, to "no-yes," or "yes-no," one of 'em, that I would, I'm not gonna volunteer to the service but I will remain loyal to the country. So, I changed and so did my brother so we were able to go on seasonal leave and all that. Yeah. That was the only problem I had. Isseis had the idea about family staying together and...

<End Segment 14> - Copyright (c) 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.