Marion Masada and Charlene Kiyuna

M.M. begins by sharing memories from her childhood.

"Of all the eight children, I'm the last one... it's a mystery how younger ones die before. I'm trying to do the best with the years I have remaining," M.M. reflects.

"In your childhood, you have warm memories, after WWII things changed for you and your family..." C.Y. says to M.M.

M.M. was 9 years old when soldiers detained her and her family. She describes the change in temperature from Salinas, CA to Poston, Az.

"We were living in this hot desert area, it was unpleasant. My mother and father worked in the kitchen, they had to make money... Because they worked in the kitchen, we didn't eat as a family for those 3 years. It did something to our family dynamic," M.M. explains.

M.M. remembers sleeping over at a friend's barrack and being assaulted by that friend's father. She couldn't tell anyone, and it was a trauma that she lived with for a long time.

"When we got out of the camps it was a very hard time. We couldn't go back to Salinas, it was very discriminatory," M.M. says. Her family moved to another farming community, Watsonville, Ca.

M.M. remembers a friend that she made during her high school years. This friend was Italian and her family welcomed her to stay with them and showed her a level of generosity she hadn't yet experienced. It is with them that she learned that were good people in this world.

"He was kind, he was patient," M.M. describes her husband, who she met while doing work as a secretary for her local church. "When we got married he told me, 'Marion, we're going to be together for life, I'm in no rush.' Sab uput me at ease," she says.