Seiji Aizawa (A Family Torn Apart)
Seiji Aizawa was born in 1926 in San Francisco, CA and was interned in Tanforan and Topaz. He graduated from Topaz High School and attended Elmhurst College in Illinois. Seiji was drafted in 1951 and served in the Army’s Military Intelligence Service in Korea and continued working in military intelligence in Japan as a civilian. Seiji returned to California after retirement and taught Japanese at a local state college. He passed away in 2020.
Michio Aoyagi (Ant Hills)
Mich was almost two when his extended family was imprisoned at Tanforan Assembly Center in 1942, and later at Topaz. His dislike of hot summers, windy days, sandstorms, and canned red beets likely results from his formative years at Topaz. After graduating from the University of California, he was an engineer and researcher at NASA, developing telemetry control systems. For this work, he was awarded the NASA Medal for Exceptional Service and NASA Medal for Exceptional Engineering.