by Jerry Baba
Yes, I remember a lot as a kid in Topaz
I remember the sand storms
I remember the cold winters
I remember all the mud after a rain storm
I remember a pot belly stove warming up 2 rooms
(My grandparents, my mother’s parents, lived in the other room)
I remember older guys making an ice rink
and pulling us younger guys on garbage can lids around that ice rink
Mickey Kitagawa was one of the older guys
Maybe you were one of them too
I remember the guard towers
I remember those barbed wire fences
I remember chasing jackrabbits and catching toads
I remember the mess halls and eating MUSH! Yuk!
I remember my grandfather growing veggies in the front of our barrack
I remember the “orange crate” night stands
I remember the bunk beds
I remember the “curtain” room dividers
I remember there were six of us living in one room
until one of my grandfathers passed away
About the contributor: Gerald “Jerry” Baba was almost five years old when he arrived in Topaz with his family in September 1942. Jerry’s father, Tsuneichiro, left Topaz for Ann Arbor, Michigan in May 1943, and the rest of the family followed in February 1944. They returned to California in 1947.
© 2026, Jerry Baba. All rights reserved.