Digital History>eXplorations>Japanese American Internment>The Internment Experience>Grace Nakamura

On May 16, 1942, at 9:30 a.m. we departed…for an unknown destination. To this day I can remember vividly the plight of the elderly, some on stretchers, orphans herded on the train by caretakers, and especially a young couple with four preschool children. The mother had two frightened toddlers hanging on to her coat. In her arms, she carried two crying babies. The father had diapers and other baby paraphernalia strapped to his back. In his hands he struggled with dufflebags and suitcases. The Shades were drawn on the train for our entire trip. Military police patrolled the aisles.

Grace Nakamura, who testified in 1981 before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. Quoted in Werner, Through the Eyes of Innocents, p. 81

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