<Begin Segment 12>

DF: Going back to camp, what was your understanding of why you were there?

SS: Well, we were told that we were there for our own protection, that this big white world out there was going to get us, I guess. I think we were there for political reasons, for economic reasons and because the war provided an opportunity for a few people who felt very strongly anti-Japanese to get the momentum going and to push for the incarceration of Japanese people. I think, you know, if it had been my son's generation, they would have fought it, we didn't. We just felt that we just didn't have a choice, and we packed up and meekly went to camp; and at that point, I think that was probably the best we could do. I would hope that that kind of decision making would never become necessary for any other group of people. I think we who experienced the camp episodes have an obligation to tell our story and to get it written in the history books so that future generations will know that this did happen. I've met people in the Midwest who can't believe that we actually were herded up and put into camps. So I think there's still opportunities to do education and to make a statement. I had great concerns when the Arab situation and the Mideast situation was becoming pretty chaotic that, you know, they could be rounded up and put away. During the Civil Rights Movement of the blacks, there were instances when it was mentioned that maybe some of the camps could be reactivated, and some of the real active ones could be incarcerated there. I think there's always a danger, and you know, eternal vigilance is necessary.

DF: What was it like for you to be at the assembly center and at camp to be surrounded with Japanese people?

SS: It was kind of startling, at first, to when, I remember coming into the Portland Expo Center when we got off the train, and I saw this mass of black heads and people that look like me, and I had never seen so many and been among so many, and it was almost scary whether it was because I just had never really associated with any. But, you know, I became, it just got a little, had to get used to just being among Japanese people.

DF: How many people were at Heart Mountain?

SS: I think there were over ten thousand. I don't know the exact number, but it was like a city, had all the so-called amenities of a city. Walt and I drove, we were on our way to Yellowstone, and so we decided we'd swing over. He had never been to Heart Mountain, and there wasn't anything there. I think there was one barracks there; and of course, they're trying to form a, I guess there is an organization to make that a national monument like with all the other ten places, but it really looked different because it was so lush and green. The agriculture had taken over where all the camps, the barracks had been. So the only familiar thing was the mountain in the background.

DF: What was your connection to the outside world while you were in camp?

SS: The connection to the... excuse me, I corresponded with some friends back in Granger, and then I had a former Sunday school teacher that I kept in touch with all through camp and the war years until she passed away, and she lived in Spokane.

DF: And how about when you left for Sterling, what kind of communications you had with your family?

SS: When I left Sterling?

DF: When you were at Sterling.

SS: Well, we, you know, wrote letters. That was about it. We didn't make any, in those days, phone calls weren't that, well, they wouldn't have gotten phone calls anyway in camp, so we just wrote letters.

DF: And what happened when they were released from camp?

SS: My family first went back to the valley, and then my father decided that he would like to go up to Seattle, so they all moved up to Seattle.

DF: So what was there when they returned back in the valley to the property?

SS: Well, that was part of the problem. The people that we had stored our things with, the man had died, and people had gone through this shed where he had allowed us to keep our things, and so we really didn't have much left.

DF: So what was life starting over for your father?

SS: Well, it was pretty difficult, you know. He was pretty elderly by that time, so he didn't try to do anything. He was retired by that time.

DF: And what was, what were holidays like at Heart Mountain?

SS: You know, I can't really remember any great holidays. Isn't that interesting? You know, I had never thought about that, but I don't remember, I don't remember even a Christmas tree in the mess hall. They surely must have had one, and they must have served turkey at Thanksgiving, but I don't remember, isn't that strange? You know, I had an interesting incident here a couple years ago. I was talking to a Nisei lady here in town, and she said to me, "Do you know that in all the years that I was in camp, I don't ever remember taking a shower or going to the bathroom." And I said, "What?" and she said, "That communal bathing and toileting was so traumatic for me," that she said, "I just, I don't ever remember taking a shower or ever going to the bathroom," so she just blocked it out completely. And so I guess for me, you know, holidays are always a great thing for me, and they must have been pretty dismal because I don't remember a thing until you just mentioned it. I just never thought about Christmas or anything.

DF: So what would your message be for future generations?

SS: What would my message be? Well, to live and laugh and love, and for everyone to have free choice of how he shall live and where he shall live and what he will do with his life. I don't know. I think every person has to follow his passion and live life to the fullest and always have respect for the other person and what his needs might be. I guess that's what I love for my children.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.