Densho Digital Archive - Isao Kikuchi Interview (denshovh-kisao-01-0011)

<Begin Segment 11>

RP: When did you, do you remember when you found out that you would have to... because the evacuation orders were being established and Executive Order 9066 was...

IK: Well my mother told me all of that. She says, she was telling me all the rules you had, curfew and all of that sort of stuff, which I paid no attention to, so I was thinking lightly about when she was talking that we're going to camp and all of that. And so one evening she sat me down and told me all the facts, that war started and all that. And that they were watching us, and told me all of those things, which I still didn't believe, but when she brought up the point that we're gonna go to camp... so she knew about the volunteering and offering a job. And the word "job" got me the most, 'cause I was at that age where it's, pretty soon it's school, job or it's get on with life. So when they said they would pay union wages as carpenters if you volunteered for this, then I said, "Hey, I'll go." So I scooted down to the place to register. That was it. So they told us where to meet. We met, drove on up.

RP: Tell us, if you can recall, can you describe the scene at the Rose Bowl? I think it was very early in the morning.

IK: Well, it was all in front of the... there was a, in front of the Rose Bowl, and we just all parked in a line. And it was cold, quite chilly that morning, and it was quite early also. So we just started following the line, and I ended up kind of in the, buddy of mine and friend, he started in front of me and I pulled in behind him, and off we went. Very slowly, took us quite some time just to get out of time, out of town from Pasadena. And off we went.

RP: Did you, so you traveled in your own vehicle alone?

IK: No, I had a friend that I had met at the registering place, so he and my dog.

RP: And your dog?

IK: Yes.

RP: Your dog. And your friend's name was...

IK: I can't remember just now.

RP: Is it the same person in the story? Kei, Kei...

IK: The one in the car, yeah. What...

RP: Kei was the name.

IK: Kei. Yes, a simple name. Kei... it's a very short name. We sort of parted company in... because we were, as the camp started to settle down, we were playing ping pong and a group came in wanting to play and we got into a hassle, and he ran and I was there with about ten guys. And they jumped me, which started other things going.

RP: We're gonna get to that.

IK: But he took off, and that's... you don't do that East L.A. style, or my time anyway. If you were going down you'd go down together. That's all there was to it.