<Begin Segment 15>

RP: So what was life like after the war broke out 'til the time that you were forced off the island by the navy? That was about...

MS: We went, so we went to Anaheim, so we were okay. Course at the time, people treated us okay then, because they were friends. 'Cause my husband's family, he was, they were born and raised in Anaheim, so he had friends so they didn't... and then we left from there on a train, freight train station, Anaheim. And I know that, I think that church, Presbyterian church people came, served -- we left about five o'clock in the morning, so they came, served coffee and donuts and I heard the town, some of the people in Anaheim criticized the church people for doing that. And then, oh, it's terrible, people that were friends of my husband's parents, knew all these people 'cause they lived in Anaheim for years, and after the war, came back and some of 'em wouldn't even talk to them.

RP: Where did you meet? You said the train station?

MS: Yeah, we gathered at, they had the train all lined up and they, we were only allowed one big suitcase per person and we, they loaded us up, and all the curtains were drawn all the way to... they take those side tracks, I don't know how they get to Poston. I don't know. And then when we got there, we got out and the bus was there to take us. It was about twenty miles south of Parker. We got off at Parker, and they told us that there're schools there and hospitals. Baloney. It was all army barracks. They didn't have anything. And later on they had schools and things, but they said there were schools there, but it was all dirt. When they have, we have sandstorms, we'd have to, you know, and then those barracks, so thin and the cracks, so all that came into the barracks and we'd put wet towels on our faces to keep from inhaling all that dust. I remember that. And we didn't have air conditioning, so we'd pour buckets of water, and then crack, big wide cracks in the floor that the water just ran through, so we'd just dump water to keep cool. And the, one time, I think it... hundred and thirty-five degrees. I wouldn't go outside. We had to go to the mess, what they call mess hall, to eat -- I had to walk, we had to walk about half, every, they had groups in mess hall. We'd have to walk down there to eat, and sometimes I didn't go. My husband would bring me the food, 'cause I was pregnant with my son at the time.

RP: So go back to the time that you were at the train station, you're waiting to leave to go to Poston. Did you know you were going to Poston?

MS: Oh, yeah, we knew we were goin' to Arizona.

RP: What were, what kind of emotions were you experiencing at that particular time?

MS: Well, we didn't know where we were going, and they told us that they'd have schools and hospital -- baloney. It was just army barracks, but that's what they told us when they, when they applied to go. They gave us numbers. We had to register, they gave us -- so like prisoners, we had a family number.

RP: Do you remember what it was?

MS: Oh, I can't remember. It was a five number and that was our family number. Everything referred to that number.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.