When the Japanese first arrived at Camp Poston Arizona, it was an Indian reservation- basically a dust bowl. We built irrigation systems from the nearby Colorado river and turned the reservation into a thriving fertile farmland area. The Japanese are gifted gardeners and where ever they were detained they transformed the land into something more beautiful than it was before. We have close friends. two brothers who met two sisters at Camp Poston. They fell in love, got married and they would never have met if they were not detained at Camp Poston.
Jack Skelly, Alyce Kurihara, Charlotte Takahashi, Lloyd Takahashi
Personal interviews
For this project I interviewed 3 former detainees.:
Alyce Kurihara-- , 88 years old. Nisei.
Charlotte Takahashi--68 years old. Sansei.
Lloyd Takahashi--72 years old. Nisei
Where were you born?
Alyce- Clovus CA 1923
Lloyd- Bakersfield CA 1939
Charlotte- Jerome Arkansas Camp Jerome 1943
Were did you live?
Alyce- Lindsey CA 1942
How many days did u get to pack up?
Alyce-1 week
How did you find out you had to leave?
Alyce-Government knocked on our door and said we had a week.
What camp did you go to?
Alyce-Camp Jerome. Were you lived determined were we went.
What of your belongings did you take?
Alyce-They said whatever I can carry:under clothes and outer clothes.
What did you sadly leave behind?
Alyce-Our house our dog and our furniture that we had just bought. other than that we had no many stuff.
How were you transported there?
Alyce-On a train in cattle car with no windows. It smelled like dirty cows. It smelled like they got the cows out and immediately stuck us in there without cleaning it first. there was a guy holding a gun on us the whole way.
When you first got to the camp what did you think of it?
Alyce- We arrived in early summer (july) it was hotter than the devil and i remember seeing a man up in a watch tower with a gun pointed in on us. Then we were assigned a barracks for four families with dividers. Smaller families got the small space larger families got the larger space. We had to put ropes across the room and hang blankets on them for privacy. They gave us a sack and we had to stuff it with straw and that was our mattress. There would be dust storms and the sand would just fill up our barrack and make a mess.
What was the worst thing about the camp?
Alyce-The fact that there was no privacy, especially at the latrines there were just rows of toilets with like little dividers. The showers two having to strip down and take a shower in front of people you do not know.
Was there anything you liked about the camp?
Alyce-The good thing was making friends I made good Japanese friends. Before the war broke out I was hiking with my friends then they learned pearl harbor happened and the wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. They never even talked to me.
For this project I interviewed 3 former detainees.:
Alyce Kurihara-- , 88 years old. Nisei.
Charlotte Takahashi--68 years old. Sansei.
Lloyd Takahashi--72 years old. Nisei
Where were you born?
Alyce- Clovus CA 1923
Lloyd- Bakersfield CA 1939
Charlotte- Jerome Arkansas Camp Jerome 1943
Were did you live?
Alyce- Lindsey CA 1942
How many days did u get to pack up?
Alyce-1 week
How did you find out you had to leave?
Alyce-Government knocked on our door and said we had a week.
What camp did you go to?
Alyce-Camp Jerome. Were you lived determined were we went.
What of your belongings did you take?
Alyce-They said whatever I can carry:under clothes and outer clothes.
What did you sadly leave behind?
Alyce-Our house our dog and our furniture that we had just bought. other than that we had no many stuff.
How were you transported there?
Alyce-On a train in cattle car with no windows. It smelled like dirty cows. It smelled like they got the cows out and immediately stuck us in there without cleaning it first. there was a guy holding a gun on us the whole way.
When you first got to the camp what did you think of it?
Alyce- We arrived in early summer (july) it was hotter than the devil and i remember seeing a man up in a watch tower with a gun pointed in on us. Then we were assigned a barracks for four families with dividers. Smaller families got the small space larger families got the larger space. We had to put ropes across the room and hang blankets on them for privacy. They gave us a sack and we had to stuff it with straw and that was our mattress. There would be dust storms and the sand would just fill up our barrack and make a mess.
What was the worst thing about the camp?
Alyce-The fact that there was no privacy, especially at the latrines there were just rows of toilets with like little dividers. The showers two having to strip down and take a shower in front of people you do not know.
Was there anything you liked about the camp?
Alyce-The good thing was making friends I made good Japanese friends. Before the war broke out I was hiking with my friends then they learned pearl harbor happened and the wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. They never even talked to me.
