Assorted Letters and Accounts of Internment
Isao Fujimoto
"Right after Pearl Harbor, the FBI came to our home, and my father just disappeared. I remember the last words he was saying was, “Oh, let me put my pants on.” That was it. He was put in the Yakima County [Washington] jail. Then he was sent to a Detention Center in Missoula, Montana…. I didn’t see him until about a year-and-a-half later. My mother asked me to write a letter to President Roosevelt. I wrote him about our situation. All of us were still farming, and though my father disappeared in December, come Spring we put in the crops. The question is what do we do next? So I wrote to Roosevelt saying that it would be very good if my father came back because we really needed help here. My mother was only twenty-five years old at the time, and there were five kids. We were farming using horses. It was very hard if you’re small, and you can’t really hook up a plow. So I told the President that it would help a lot if my father could return to his family. Of course, I never got a reply…. I was eight years old at the time."
Isao Fujimoto, quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 79, 81
"Once we got to Heart Mountain, I remember how traumatic it was because we got separated again. My youngest sister Keiko had measles, so she was quarantined. My mother had to be with her. When we got taken to the barracks, I didn’t know where my mother was. I wandered all over the camp looking for her. I found her. I don’t know how…. I discovered her in an empty barrack sitting all day by herself with my sister."
Isao Fujimoto, quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 84
Isao Fujimoto, quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 79, 81
"Once we got to Heart Mountain, I remember how traumatic it was because we got separated again. My youngest sister Keiko had measles, so she was quarantined. My mother had to be with her. When we got taken to the barracks, I didn’t know where my mother was. I wandered all over the camp looking for her. I found her. I don’t know how…. I discovered her in an empty barrack sitting all day by herself with my sister."
Isao Fujimoto, quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 84
Through the Eyes of Innnocents
"I was thirteen-years-old when we were at Tule Lake…. The most upsetting experience happened to me when martial law was declared throughout the camp because of a food riot. We were told that the military police would come to search each one of our families in the barracks. The two MP’s looked formidable as they walked in with guns at their side and asked roughly if we had any weapons, liquor or cameras. To be forced to let the MP’s in our small humble quarters seemed like such an invasion of personal privacy that the emotional effect of the search still haunts me."
Quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 96
Quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 96
Emiko Kamiya
"Have you ever lain awake on Christmas Eve with everything about you strange, quiet and still as death?… As Christmas drew nearer, we older children knew that this year there wouldn’t be gifts and much fun for the little children, for out here in a concentration camp we thought no one would think of us. So we tried extra hard to make Christmas as happy as possible for the tots. Christmas was ushered in with cold, howling winds…. Refusing to be discouraged, we panned for a party for which everyone gladly donated some money. We decorated the Mess Hall with red and green crepe papers and wreaths made of desert holly…. As if with the waving of a magic wand the bare cold mess hall was changed into an enchanting place."
Emiko Kamiya, who was interned at the Poston Relocation Center, quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 94
Emiko Kamiya, who was interned at the Poston Relocation Center, quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 94
Kinya Noguchi
"Life began each day with a siren blast at 7:00 a.m., with breakfast served cafeteria style. Work began at 8:00 a.m. for the adults, school at 8:30 or 9:00 for the children. Camp life was highly regimented and it was rushing to the wash basin to beat the other groups, rushing to the mess hall for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When a human being is placed in captivity, survival is the key. We spent countless hours to defy or beat the system."
Kinya Noguchi, quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 87-88
Kinya Noguchi, quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, 87-88