Yae Wada was a young mother in Topaz in 1943. I met her in 2018, when we met for tea and she told me some of the stories from her amazing life.
One of those stories was about the high school seniors who missed their graduations in 1942 because they were in Tanforan. Diplomas were in many cases mailed to horse stalls; some high schools sent representatives to hand graduates their diplomas in the racetrack’s grandstand. A depressing affair it was–at least, until a contingent from San Mateo High school showed up to play “Pomp and Circumstance.” The band teacher, Eugene Brose, accompanied by the school principal and members of the PTA, brought music, flowers and cupcakes to the affair–an act of kindness that is still remembered 80 years later.
It was on Yae’s “bucket list” to thank someone for that gesture, so meaningful not only to the handful of Japanese American graduates of San Mateo High, but to all Tanforan teens who graduated that year. In 2019, Yae’s granddaughter Joy and I accompanied Yae to the SMHS “Day of Remembrance” event honoring the 1942 band. Yae had an opportunity to tell the story not only to the school’s Asian American principal, but to members of the current generation of SMHS students.
Read Yae’s story, “The Band’s Visit,” and the related story by Yon Kawakita, “Pomp and Circumstance.”
Plan to visit the Topaz Stories Exhibit in Salt Lake City.
Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
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The Topaz Stories Team
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)