<Begin Segment 12>

TI: But going back to that day when you walked down the Eagledale dock and you had friends there, how would you describe the mood of that day? What were people, like your friends, did you talk to any of your friends?

YS: Yeah. Well, you couldn't... just whatever you could on the way down, but then that's about it. You see 'em, but then you could... of course, there's school on that day, too. Yeah, it was quite a deal.

TI: Was there a lot of sadness?

YS: Yeah, it was.

TI: And how about the soldiers? What were they like?

YS: Well, see, that's one, too, soldier says, he says, "We're from Brooklyn," and he said, "First Jap we see, we're gonna kill him."

TI: So he said that to, you heard him say that?

YS: Yeah, they were talking about that. They said after they took us down to Manzanar, they took donations, subscribed to the paper for us for a month.

TI: Oh, so they became kind of friends?

YS: They said, "You guys are not bad."

TI: So they took a donation amongst the soldiers?

YS: Yeah, amongst the soldiers.

TI: So they could buy you guys a newspaper subscription?

YS: For one month, yeah. Yeah, that was quite a deal.

TI: And any other stories like that, with the soldiers being nice to people? Do you have any other stories like that?

YS: You mean...

TI: Yeah, I mean, like, whether or not maybe for food or anything else that you...

YS: Yeah, just like, too, they go in, they ate, and they said, "Hey, that food ain't fit for a hog," you know. [Laughs] And it wasn't, them days. I mean, there was nothing there. But that's first thing they said, they come out and they say, "Hey, that food ain't fit for a..."

TI: And so you go down the Eagledale dock, and then you go on the ferry. Was the ferry just the Japanese and soldiers, or were there other passengers?

YS: No, just the Japanese and the soldiers.

TI: And then you go across the Sound and then you go to Seattle. And then what was it like when you landed in Seattle?

YS: Oh, heck, there were thousands of people there. I guess they wanted to know what was going on. I mean, they must have heard about it but they wanted to see, I guess. So that overpass thing, that was just solid full of people. Then down below, too, on the dock, thousands of people.

TI: And so what were you thinking when all this happened? I mean, all these people were watching you, you're from this little island, and you come to the city and thousands of people are watching.

YS: Yeah, then there are trains right there on the Railroad Avenue, see. So they put us on that train.

TI: Do you know if there were any Japanese from Seattle there watching?

YS: Oh, yeah, probably was. There were so many people there, you couldn't tell any of them. Yeah, just as we were coming off, you could see some. But then, like I say, all above, all those people and stuff, man.

TI: And what was the... the people watching, were they saying anything or did you hear them say anything?

YS: No they didn't say... I didn't think they'd say anything.

TI: So it was just kind of quiet, and they're just kind of watching?

YS: Watching to see what it was like, what it was doing, I guess.

TI: Interesting. And so then you boarded a bus, or, I'm sorry, trains.

YS: Train, yeah.

TI: And then...

YS: That's the one he said stopped in Portland, so we told 'em, "Well, we might jump off. What would you do?" He said, "I wouldn't do anything." [Laughs]

TI: The soldier said that to you?

YS: Yeah.

TI: So you were kind of, like, joking with the...

YS: Yeah, we just thought, "What would you do if we jumped off?" He said, "I don't know what I'd do."

TI: So by then, you were talking, and so he got to know you a little bit.

YS: Yeah, they were pretty good, you know. They were talking to everybody, too. No, they were, after a while they were pretty good.

TI: But that's a long train ride.

YS: Yeah, it was two days, I think.

TI: All the way down to Manzanar.

YS: Of course, we, they were bypassed for everything, too. And just like they tell, they leave the curtains all shut, too, when you go, 'cause we crossed some of these high bridges, if they see you they might bomb it or something. So they tell us to keep the curtains shut and stuff. Yeah, it was quite a deal. Just like when we got down there, just like they said, they put us on buses. Then the bus stopped so we says, "What are you doing?" He said, "This is where you get off," right in the middle of the desert. See, we're not used to that.

TI: And so they stopped, I'm trying to think where the train... did they stop like in Lone Pine or Independence? I'm trying to think where, what town the train would stop.

YS: Yeah, when we got off? Was it Lone Pine? Yeah, I guess it was Lone Pine, yeah.

TI: Because there was that little town there, Lone Pine.

YS: Yeah, there was a little town, that's where we got off and got on a bus. Was it Lone Pine? I was thinking about that, too.

TI: But when you got there, what kind of... was it a nice day when you got down there?

YS: Yeah, it was pretty good, I think.

TI: Because when you go down there that time of year, I mean, it's pretty beautiful. I mean the mountains are there. It's so different than Bainbridge Island and the Northwest.

YS: Of course, it wasn't really hot then because that was March.

TI: Yeah, so the weather's probably not too bad. Might be a little chilly.

YS: Yeah, yeah. Well, then the camp, of course, it was all dug out and everything, ditches all over and sand on the floor, cracks in the floor like that.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.