Bunro Sakaino Concentration Camp Diary

207

Report on Transfer Orders April 6 (Monday)

Our new clerk Mr. Mihara came over to our barracks around 8:30 p.m. He started with “I have some bad news,” and reported that orders to transfer a part of the detainees to another location have been issued and read the names of those who are scheduled to be moved. It was literally like a sudden and loud lightning strike. The names are as follows:

Yasui, Fukuda, Ito, Ishibashi, Matsuura, Inoue, Miiyako, Sato, Tachioka [Tateoka], Harada, Nakamichi, Moringa, Ono, Sakimura, Hirayama, Shinome, Kondo, Haragami, Takeoka, Higashi [Azuma], Higashino [Azumano], Ikegami, Koyama (Kei), Tsuboi, Sakaino, Kobayashi, Tomihiro, Inuzuka, Okazaki, Okamoto, Toyama [1], Nishino, Tanaka and Kato.

Therefore, all of us in the barracks except for Gen Koyama, Matsushima brothers, Kadota [Sumida], Nakajo and Yamamoto are to be transferred, and the destination was not announced. We were simply told that the travel distance would take three days and nights to cover to the south, and a telegram to the families is specified to uniformly be “Being moved don’t write until hear from me”.

Shock and astonishment of everyone is hard to describe, and I am having a difficult time finding an adjective for it. Splashing with cold water is understatement to describe the shock I am experiencing. We were not able to utter a word for a while. However, as time went by, our desperate fury ended up exploding. Could it be North Dakota or New Mexico? We were told south, so it is probably Nex Mexico.

208

My speculation for the unknown future is beyond what words can express. We have not only been building tables and shelves and making this place somewhat livable but have been adjusting ourselves to live with the water and the climate. We have been furnishing the barracks with all types of facilities and gradually building friendship by visiting each other among the different barracks and getting to know each other. We all believed that this camp would be the facility throughout the wartime, and moving to another location is hard to believe. Therefore, this report turned out to be the most shocking for us.

We are expected to put all our belongings together, have them inspected and hand them over to the administration by noon on Thursday, and they will transport them to the destination. Carry on is limited to small personal items such as toothpaste and towels, and inspectors will check if we have government supplies or not. We are to return all the government supplies, and knives should be packed in luggage to be transported and are not allowed on the train. All cash should be brought to the barrack representative Mr. Horagami, and the complete list should be submitted to the administration.

We spent a night of uncertainty.

[1] This could be a different name