Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: John Kats Marumoto Interview
Narrator: John Kats Marumoto
Interviewer: Martha Nakagawa
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: February 28, 2011
Densho ID: denshovh-mjohn-01-0012

MN: So your father was already taken away that day. Did they catch him out in the ocean, or how did they take him away?

JM: He was, they were notified to come in by twelve. They were coming in, but one of the boats were having problems, so he stopped to help 'em out. By the time they came in it was about three o'clock, so they didn't even have chance to call home or come home.

MN: So did you know what had happened to your father?

JM: We got notice that they're gonna take him to a camp someplace, so all the bus, they're gonna pass by the house.

MN: But initially they didn't take him to camp, they took him to the Terminal Island prison, right?

JM: Yes, from the prison they transferred him to another place. And I remember we were all waiting by the street, then we saw our dad in the window. My daughter was --

MN: Sister.

JM: [Laughs] Sister, she must've been about three or four. She went running to the bus and hollered, "Papa, Papa, don't go. You're not gonna be able to come back." And we don't know where she got all this information. Then all the ladies started crying.

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