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
|