May Saito Takashima (Topaz Was My Home)
May was born in 1932 in San Francisco’s Japantown to a Kibei mother (Kikue) and Issei father (Takeo Saito), who was a pharmacist in Tokyo before immigrating to the U.S. The Saito family was incarcerated in Tanforan and Topaz in 1942. After the War, they resettled in government housing in San Francisco’s Hunters Point, then Richmond. May graduated from Oakland Technical High School, where she was the President of the Japanese Club. She worked as an accountant for the Naval Supply Center in Oakland for 39 years. She married Masashi Takashima, Sr. in 1951 and had one son, Masashi. May resides in Oakland and enjoys going to church and attending various recitals of her great grandchildren, Lily Belle Aiko and Takeo Gabriel.
Gene Takei (Test case)
Gene was born Mamoru Sasaki in 1921 in Colusa, CA. He was adopted by the Takei family in 1925. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 22, 1941, and spent the war years with the OSS in Burma, monitoring Japanese ships for General Frank Merrill. After the War, he graduated from Macalester College in Minnesota and had a long career in the marketing and sales of art materials. He raised a family in Richmond, CA and passed away in 2005. His story was contributed by his daughter, Dawn Ishisaki, , with an assist from her siblings, Kevin Takei, Dina Kanaya, and Tonia Kramp.
Ben Takeshita (A Star is Born)
Ben was born in Alameda, CA, but grew up in San Mateo, where his father ran the family landscape gardening business. The family was sent to Topaz, but was later transferred to Tule Lake. After the War, Ben graduated from San Mateo High School, then served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. With a degree from UC Berkeley, he worked for the State Department of Employment until retirement. He lives in Richmond, CA with his wife Fumiko.
Grace Mori Saito Tom (December 7, Oakland to Tanforan, On to Topaz, “Romance”, Homesick, Winter Sports, Resettlement)
Grace grew up in Chinatown in Oakland, CA. She was 11 and attending Lincoln Elementary School when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The family was sent to Tanforan and later, Topaz. After the War, Grace’s family was among the last to leave Topaz, having nowhere to go. They returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, where the family lived in one room at a church hostel. Grace wrote her memoir in 1999 and passed away the same year.