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LT: Sab, on May 15, 1942, you and your family were on a train headed from Hood River. You didn't know where you were going, and you ended up at Pinedale Assembly Center. Can you talk about what you saw and what you felt and what it was like to be in a new place?

SA: Well, first place was, first time I'd ever been on a train. And I remember the rhythm of the train every time they hit a joint in the track, it's pretty rhythmic. And I remember every time we went through any populated area, we had to pull the shades down. I don't understand that, but that's what it was. The MP came through the cars to make sure everybody had their shade down. But I remember going way up in the mountains somewhere, which was around Crater Lake, I think, along Klamath Falls, but I'd never been in that area before. Then we headed for Sacramento, oh, I forgot some other city there, but it finally ended up in Pinedale, and it was hot. It must have been 120 in the shade, and dusty. No vegetation of any kind, just barracks. And we were assigned, I forgot the name, number of the barrack, but it was just tarpaper outside. But it was dusty, and in the morning when you get up, there must have been eighth of an inch of dust all over our blanket. It was a small room, and it wasn't completed all the way to the top, to the ceiling, had no ceiling. And they had these rafters open, so if a baby is crying three rooms down, you could hear it. And it was all outdoor plumbing mainly. Like I said, it was hot. I had a job working in the kitchen, in Pinedale, Mess Hall D-2, and I think eight dollar a month or something. But it was something to do, and it was kind of fun. You meet different people.

I had this friend from, I think he said he was going to Stadium High in Tacoma, Hiro Tomita was his name, and he come about four o'clock in the morning singing this song about, "I've got spurs." And after the war, when Mom came home, she was singing that. [Laughs] Anyway, we used to go to work about four o'clock, he and I would go and peel potatoes or whatever, second cook, classified as a second cook. But we didn't stay there too long. I think we moved to Tule Lake around... oh, must have been late August, early September, in that area. Boy, Tule Lake was, oh, that was really five-star lodging. We had hot and cold running water, showers. Mom used to say being in Tule Lake was like a vacation for her. She met a lot of new friends and did a lot of craft work. That was it.

LT: It seemed like a vacation to your mom. Was it really?

SA: Yeah. She said she didn't have to worry about what to cook tonight, you know. Never had to worry about shower, hot water, starting the fire for the furo, you know, Japanese bath at home. She used to do a lot of that. But she had some little things made, like a jewelry box or some shells from Tule Lake. I don't know where it went. Yeah, she said she enjoyed it. Of course, we didn't have to stay too long.

LT: Well, you mentioned the, working in the kitchen, getting up at four o'clock. What kinds of meals do you recall at Tule Lake?

SA: I know some good meal I remember, like pork roast, the chef, I think he was from around Seattle, used to make some really good pork roasts. He put, sprinkled flour or something on the roast, and they get that nice crisp finish on it. But he was really temperamental. I remember one fellow complained about the food, and this guy grabbed a butcher knife and was going to take after it. But, you know, in that atmosphere sometimes, temperature ranging around 120, it was more than that in the kitchen. You can't get what you want to cook, but you do what, use what you get, and if people complain, that really bothers some people.

LT: Can you talk about some of the meals?

SA: No, I can't remember meals. It just... I know we used to get a lot of Vienna sausage, in the can, you know. We used to open cans.

LT: And how was that?

SA: Huh?

LT: How was that?

SA: Well, actually, food was never too good, but there's no use complaining. Can't do anything about it. At least it's food, you know.

LT: So you said there was nothing you could do about it, you didn't complain. What other things didn't you complain about?

SA: Well, like (Pinedale), the shower was outside. But like I said, there's no use complaining, at least it's a shower.

LT: Can you talk about the shower? Since I haven't seen it, what did it look like and what was it like taking a shower at (Pinedale)?

SA: Well, they had a, kind of a... well, the plywood up, I guess, like maybe that size, up about ten feet. You had a hot and cold shower, water, but you didn't have any big drainage system or anything, it was kind of a grill, you know, running down into a cesspool or something. But very basic. And like the food, I remember one fellow from Hood River, forgot his name, we had some leftover food from the kitchen, so on the way home, I dropped off and hit his barrack, dropped it off. And by gum, the next day, or a couple days later, he brought me a gift, it was a geta, you know, Japanese geta, which would really come in handy at that time because you had no concrete floor and that kept you that far off the ground. That was a rough camp.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.