Densho Digital Archive - Yukiko Miyahara Interview (denshovh-myukiko

<Begin Segment 9>

KP: So what do you remember about Santa Anita?

YM: I don't remember too much 'cause all I did was nurse Fred, watched him and we didn't do much of anything. Sat around.

KP: Most of your, before you came to camp, most of your friends were Japanese? Or did you have...

YM: Yeah, most of 'em were Japanese.

KP: So you didn't have any people who were still outside come to visit you?

YM: No, no. I had one friend. They worked for my brother, and they came to visit me at camp.

KP: How was that?

YM: It was fine. I mean, they were Mexicans and when he went to try to get my stuff out of the house, the people that owned the land wouldn't let him on the land. So I went to the office and I told, I told the person that was the head of, in the... and he said, "Well, he's a Mexican." I was so, you know, angry. I said, "I don't care what you say. He might be a Mexican, but he's better than other people that I know." And then he got an okay. They gave him okay and he went back and he was able to retrieve my things for me.

KP: What kind of storage were they put into?

YM: I don't know, it's like government storage. I don't know where it was. But anyway, Alex came and got our stuff and he took it for me, took it for us and then I told Alex that with the furnitures, like sofa and those, he can have it because I don't know when I'm gonna come back. So, according to my younger brother he said they had your furniture in my house. And I said I gave it to them so it's okay.

KP: So when... this was Alex who came to visit you in camp?

YM: Uh-huh.

KP: When Alex came to visit you in camp, did you, where did you meet with him? How did visiting work?

YM: Well, we went in the gate from one side and they came in another gate. So we're sitting at the table, but you couldn't even shake your hand, you know. 'Cause they might think you might give something, something so we, we couldn't even do that.

KP: [Coughs] Excuse me. So how long were you at Santa Anita?

YM: We were there 'til October, then we went to Arkansas. But my husband, I had to leave him in the hospital in L.A. So he joined me in, at end of November.

KP: Your husband, you had to leave him in the hospital?

YM: Uh-huh. He had a hemorrhoid operation and he was operated on Wednesday and I had to leave on Friday. No, he was operated on Monday and I went to see him on Wednesday. 'Cause they had Wednesday and Sunday or something for visiting, so, they let me go. But they said as long as... and he's operated already so all he has to do is heal. So they told me to take my son and leave with the crowd. And my husband came over a month after I went over.