Interviews
Experiences during World War II
I*: And then, and then did you, did you go to, were you evacuated to go into Hastings Park? When they --
I was not in Hastings Park.
I: You didn't go into Hastings Park?
Never went to Hastings Park.
I: Oh, and where did you go then?
From the home right to ghost town. To... where was that? To Slocan. From Slocan I went to... no, because we had a home in Vancouver. Lot of people came out to Vancouver without a home. They were shipped out to, like, where was it? Hastings Park. But we had no second home to go to, so they kept us where we stayed. Not a good place, but...
I: So you stayed at the home, and then from there, you went directly to Slocan?
Yes. Where we were, we got a room on Powell Street, rooming house. I: And then, and when you were in Slocan, what, what did you do in Slocan? Another job. Another sales job, 'cause they have to have stores.
I: So you were working in a store?
Store, yeah.
I: And how, how did you find the internment camp?
Huh?
I: How did you find the internment camp, the housing and the food?
Oh, they, they sent you there. You were allotted to one place, you know.
I: And did your family go with you?
Yes.
I: Your father and mother?
Mother, uh-huh.
I: The father went, too, with you?
Uh-huh, at that time, 'cause all the younger fathers were shipped away. It was our old... well, in fact, I had no father. It was my, my brother-in-law, which was, who was my brother-in-law?
Female voice: You were with your brother.
Huh?
Female voice: Weren't you with your brother?
I: Was your brother, was your brother --
No, my brother was old, I mean, he was, he was not allowed to go to a house. It was these old men over sixty or young kids. Yeah.
*"I" indicates an interviewer (Peter Wakayama).
Date: December 2004
Location: Canada
Interviewer: Peter Wakayama
Contributed by: Sedai, the Japanese Canadian Legacy Project, Japanese Canadian Cultural Center
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