<Begin Segment 15>

SG: So when did you, do you remember when you first heard about or received a notice that you were to evacuate?

GA: Yes. When was that?

SG: Oh, do you remember receiving that first, the notice to evacuate?

GA: Well, you know, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt gave out this edict that we would evacuated, but he didn't tell us when at that time. But in May or late April, bulletins were put on the telephone posts and everywhere that Japanese were being evacuated, had to leave this area by a certain day. That was late April and our date was May 2. We had to leave the community by May 2. We had to be in this assembly center in North Portland by May the 2.

SG: So you didn't, did you ever receive a direct notice?

GA: No. It was just announced on these bulletin boards.

SG: So you had about a week to --

GA: Yeah, something like that. We knew we had to go sometime, but no exact date was given us until about a week ahead, maybe two weeks, something like that.

SG: Do you remember the conversations that you and, you had with your mom and sister at this time?

GA: Well, I'm sure the conversations of what to take and things like that. We were allowed to only take what we can carry.

SG: Do you remember what items you decided to take as a family?

GA: I remember one item was a radio. I had purchased a radio, battery operated radio. I know that was one of the things I wanted to take. But other than that, just necessary clothing, and I can't remember any books that I wanted. But that's all I had, just the things that I could carry, two hands.

SG: What happened, what did you do with the rest of the items?

GA: We left, you mean the household things, we left in the basement of the home that we were renting. The people who owned the house said we can leave our stuff in the basement, so we did, all our furniture and things we couldn't take, we did that. But when we came home, most of it was gone.

SG: What happened to it?

GA: Somebody stole them.

SG: What did the family say to you?

GA: Pardon me?

SG: What did the owners of the house say to you?

GA: Well, they were, it had been sold to other people, so there's no way I can trace what happened.

SG: Were the owners Japanese?

GA: No, no.

SG: So basically everything was stolen?

GA: Basically.

SG: And what happened to the store at this time?

GA: We had sold it. When we evacuated, we had sold it to some Chinese people, but we only got ten cents on the dollar.

SG: So the Chinese family got a very good deal. So you sold it for one-tenth of what it was worth?

GA: Yes.

SG: When this was happening, how did you feel personally toward the U.S. government?

GA: Well, I must have felt very downhearted the way the government was treating us because we were, my mother was not a citizen, my father was not a citizen, but my sister and I were, and we didn't think that they could do that to citizens, but they did.

SG: Did your mom ever say anything to you about --

GA: No, no. She felt very badly, but she didn't say anything.

SG: It seems like it would be such a tough position to be in. How did you reconcile the fact that the U.S. government was doing this to your family and at the same time, you wanted to be patriotic you had mentioned earlier, how were you able to reconcile those two feelings?

GA: Very difficult, very difficult to do that. I just felt that the government had let us down and later, you know, all this evacuation business was unconstitutional. Later, the government admitted that; therefore, they gave us each person who were evacuated $20,000 as you know.

SG: You mentioned that you had wanted to serve at a patriotic duty. There must have been something inside of you that you felt it was worth or made you patriotic about the United States even though the government had been doing this to your family.

GA: You mean the fact that I had gone into the army, is that what you're saying?

SG: Yeah, and you said you still wanted to volunteer --

GA: Oh, later, yeah.

SG: Even though this was happening to your family, there must have been inside of you that, something that you believed in about the United States.

GA: Well, yes. I'm sure, I'm sure I felt that way. The fact that my friends were going in wanted, I wanted to go with them and that's why I wrote to the government, but the government response was no, you cannot go in. That's what I, that's what I interpreted it as because they're just giving me a discharge paper. But I felt very badly about that, the fact that they gave me these without any explanation.

SG: So the fact that even though the U.S. government was taking your family and it bothered you, you still had a sense of duty and responsibility to volunteer?

GA: Oh, I think I did. I think I did. Otherwise, I don't think I would have felt that way. I'm sure I felt a duty to my country.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.