Daily Log: September 27-28, 1942

(Dust, new arrivals)

–Excerpts from the Daily Log of the WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY Central Utah Relocation Project, Project Reports Division, Historical Section. Topaz, Utah

SEPTEMBER 27

DUST ALLEVIATION — A personal dust alleviation campaign was started in Block 12 with “buckets of water swinging into action. The streets were soaked with water through the efforts of the residents, providing a pleasant contrast to the general ankle-deep dust.

SEPTEMBER 28

ACCIDENT — Akiyoshi Akita, 7-8-A, received two stitches in the right temple for laceration at the Topaz hospital. The injury took place at an accident at 7:30 p.m. Working overtime, Akita drove his truck into a deep pipe ditch near the northeast corner of Block 11. His task was to deliver resident freight Boxes and cases.

525 ARRIVE — 525 persons entered the City this morning to make their new homes.

DUST STORM — One of the worst dust storms since the City came into existence occurred and enveloped the Project area.”

Aerial view of part of Topaz (rows of barracks), surrounded by desert, with mountains in background.
A partial view of “the city” — which incarcerees sarcastically named, “the jewel of the desert.”
Japanese American family with three children sit on a single cot in a bare barrack room, having just arrived in camp.
Family settles into their “new home.” WRA, NARA 536987.

The Topaz Stories Team

Plan to visit the Topaz Stories Exhibit in Salt Lake City.

Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.

Follow us on Instagram @topazstories

 Media Coverage:
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)


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