This Veterans’ Day weekend we pay tribute to all Nisei soldiers who served their country despite gross injustices inflicted on them and their families during WWII. We recently featured a story about John Harano (“Go For Broke“). A few others appear in our Topaz stories:
(Left to right): Kazuo Takahashi, Douglas Izu, Eugene Takei, Harry Shiono, Ben Takeshita, Harry Oda, Shigeru Sasaki, Tadao Takayanagi, Yukio Hibino. Photos courtesy of their families.
Kazuo Takahashi (“Exit from Tanforan”) was a teenager in the Tanforan detention center, graduated from high school in a concentration camp (Topaz), and joined the Military Intelligence Service.
Douglas Izu (“Fathers’ Day”) served in Europe and brought a beloved Weltini camera back from Italy, which he gave to his son, David–but he didn’t talk about his past.
Eugene Takei (“Test Case”) enlisted shortly after Pearl Harbor and was the first Nisei soldier to try to visit his parents in Topaz in 1942. He was turned away at the gate.
Henry Shiono (“The Honeymoon”) was on a warship heading for the European theater when the War ended. The ship was ordered back to the U.S.
Ben Takeshita (“A Star is Born”) survived Topaz and Tule Lake, where his older brother was tortured with a “mock execution.” Ben served in the Korean War.
Harry Oda (“The Oda Boys”) was an orphan from Suisun, CA. He served in the 442, Co. L, and survived–but his brother Ed died in the Topaz Hospital.
Shigeru Sasaki, my father, was drafted before Pearl Harbor and ended up in the 1800th Battalion, where he, along with other Kibei soldiers, was harassed and treated like a prisoner of war for his reluctance to declare willingness to fight the Japanese (his mother and sisters were in Japan). In “Life Goes On” he’s the costar in my mother’s story; but I haven’t really told his yet.
Tadao (Toddy) Takayanagi (“Toddy’s Story”) went from a Berkeley flower farm to Topaz to serving in the OSS (the precursor to the CIA) in India. Crazy, right? That’s probably where he got his philosophical approach to life, which he shared with his daughter, Tracy.
Yukio Hibino (“Letter to a Nisei Son”) served in the 442nd regiment, 522nd Field Artillery. His father, incarcerated in Topaz, wrote a letter to “Yuk”‘s brother, who was in college in Texas, shortly after the killing of Hatsuaki Wakasa by a Topaz guard and the beating of artist Chiura Obata by pro-Japan incarcerees. His description of Topaz: “This place hell.”
The Topaz Stories Team
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Media Coverage:
Read Internee’s story told with ‘Topaz Collages’ (Wheel of Dharma, Vol. 5, Issue 3, March 2023).
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)