Interviews

1. Memories of railroad workers who stayed at family's prewar hotel in Spokane, Washington

2. Working as a night clerk at family's Spokane, Washington, hotel, throwing out the drunk residents

3. Family's hotel clientele, transients traveling by rail

4. Japanese American railroad workers are fired following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

5. Losing job with railroad because of being Japanese American

6. A racist encounter at a movie theater following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

7. Encountering a train full of Japanese Americans being transported to a concentration camp

8. Description of the process of chick sexing

9. The rigorous work schedule of a chick-sexer in upstate New York

10. The importance of speed and accuracy in the chick-sexing industry

11. The enormous demand for chick sexers in the chicken hatchery industry

George Yamada

(b. 1923) Chick sexer

Encountering a train full of Japanese Americans being transported to a concentration camp

And then one time—this was very hush-hush—but a train stopped late one afternoon. I presume it came from the coast somewhere, and I serviced it with water, ice, and there was a guard on each end with the shades all drawn. I had to go inside to service the water. When I went in, that's all I saw: Japanese. All Isseis and Niseis, and I don't know about Sanseis, but all Japanese. I thought, “Holy crow! Holy mackerel!” Then it dawned on me, I inquired. They weren't supposed to talk, they weren't supposed to show their face, I wasn't supposed to do anything, but they were headed for Heart Mountain. And I says, “Oh.” I serviced them, and that was the last I saw of them. They went to Heart Mountain, Wyoming. And at a different time, another train came through during my shift that had nothing but evacuees on it, going to Heart Mountain.

imprisonment incarceration railroads World War II World War II camps

Date: Mar 15, 2006

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Megan Asaka

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Nisei male. Born 1923 in Spokane, Washington. Spent childhood in downtown Spokane where parents ran the World Hotel. Father also worked as a mail handler for the Great Northern Railroad. Attended Lewis and Clark High School and Washington State University. During the war remembers seeing train cars pass through Spokane with Japanese Americans headed to Heart Mountain incarceration camp, Wyoming. Drafted into the army in 1944 and served at the Military Intelligence Service Language School in Fort Snelling, Minnesota and Presidio, California. After World War II, worked as a chick sexer in upstate New York and surrounding region for thirty years. Returned to Spokane in the mid-1970s and pursued a career in real estate. Currently lives with wife, Susie, in Spokane and is an active fly fisherman. (March 16, 2006 )

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James Hirabayashi

Life in camp as teenager

(1926 - 2012) Scholar and professor of anthropology. Leader in the establishment of ethnic studies as an academic discipline