<Begin Segment 7>

JK: So you were, you were on the farm, you're in Gresham when Pearl Harbor happened.

SI: Yes.

JK: How did the family hear about Pearl Harbor?

SI: That night we were at a Japanese movie, I think it was, which is scarce, you know, that kind of occasion where people get together, because we had no theater. So, but most of the Nihonjin were there watching this movie, and then all of a sudden they stopped the movie, and I think it was Mr. Tamiyasu from Brooks, he was kind of a leader, he made the announcement that... they turned on the lights and said that the war had started between the United States and Japan, and we're gonna all have to move inland. So that's when we found out.

JK: How were you and your husband feeling about this? Did you have any fears or uncertainty?

SI: Well, yeah. We didn't feel good about it, you know.

JK: Uh-huh. And I know the Murahashis were your neighbors, but were there other neighbors? How did they react to the war starting if they weren't Japanese? How were they...

SI: I think we all felt the same.

JK: And then when you heard that you would have to move inland, or to an assembly center, and you talked about this family promising to take care of the land, but how else did you prepare with your personal belongings that you couldn't take with you?

SI: Well, you know, we had just bought a new refrigerator, and I recall that it cost a hundred and fifty dollars, which was pretty big money in those days. But we needed a new one, so, oh, put that refrigerator in, there was an empty building behind us, and there's a small place, but we thought we would put that in there. And there was a hakujin family that lived close by, and they said, "Well, why don't you let us use it?" you know. "And when you come back, we'll give it back to you." Well, you have no choice, you know. And let's see...

JK: Did you get that refrigerator back when you came back?

SI: No. It wasn't even there anymore.

JK: Oh, wow. All your other personal things that you couldn't take with you...

SI: We had put in storage. The government told us that we could all put our stuff in this big warehouse downtown someplace, and so we put most of the stuff in there, had a sewing machine and washing machine and put it in there. And they said later on, after you get settled in camp, you can send for it.

JK: Was that true?

SI: It was. We were able to send for my sewing machine, which I really wanted, and I could make clothes in camp. And the washing machine, I was washing it in the tub, you know, at the camp, and I was thrilled to get that washing machine.

JK: They sent it to camp?

SI: Yeah. But the thing is, as soon as I got that, Mrs. Matsunaga, I don't know if you know her, she and I were about the same age, and she had several children, and she was washing on the washboard. And she came over and asked, "Since you have the washing machine and it's sitting in the laundry room, do you suppose we could use it?" And I didn't want to loan it to anybody, you know, but I couldn't say no, I thought that would be cruel. So I said, "Sure. When I'm not using it, you go ahead and use it." Well, it turned out she didn't use it, she was letting her daughter use that. And it had a wringer on it, you know you wash here and put it through the wringer. And the daughter was doing the laundry and she put a blanket through there, and it got all twisted up, and that machine stopped right now. So we hardly used it, and it was no good anymore.

JK: Damaged from that blanket. What other things did you have sent to you when you were in camp?

SI: Sewing machine, washing machine... I can't recall, but those were the two important things that I wanted.

JK: That's an interesting... I didn't know that you could have things sent that were in storage.

SI: Yes, they made an announcement that you could send for these things.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.