by Yoneo Kawakita, as told to Ruth Sasaki
“…an act of kindness in dark times…still remembered.”
In early May 1942 Yoneo Kawakita and his family, along with other Japanese Americans in San Mateo County, were transported to Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno. Yon was a senior at San Mateo High School. He played alto sax for the school’s marching band and was scheduled to graduate the following month. For the straight-A student, losing his freedom, leaving his classmates, and not knowing what the future held for him and his family were an unthinkable and devastating turn of events.
Unlike many Bay Area high schools, which mailed diplomas to the horse stalls and barracks their Japanese American graduates were being housed in, San Mateo High required their students to continue their studies and pass final exams. A number of teachers would visit Tanforan and hand out assignments in the racetrack grandstand, where visitors were allowed, and a contingent visited to administer final exams.
Yon was taking college prep courses and had elected to study Spanish as his required language. His Spanish teacher gave him a small book in Spanish and said that the final exam would be based on the book. Demoralized by all that was happening, Yon never looked at the book and failed the exam. However, based on his previous work throughout the year, he got a “C” as a final grade.
When June came around, some high schools sent a representative out to Tanforan to hand out diplomas in the grandstand. There was no ceremony, no speeches—just a distribution of documents.
San Mateo High School was the exception. Perhaps because Yon was a member of the school’s marching band, the band teacher, Eugene Brose, came with some band members to play “Pomp and Circumstance.” Also attending, according to an article in the Tanforan Totalizer (the camp newsletter published by internees), were the school principal, W. T. Van Voris; the athletic teacher, Arthur Smith; and a PTA committee, headed by Mrs. H. Kaplan, that provided not only cupcakes, but white gardenias for the women and red carnations for the men.
Their act of kindness in dark times is still remembered.
“It was quite a surprise and a great honor for us graduating seniors,” Yon recalls. ”“It was pretty nice.”
Sources:
Interview with Yoneo Kawakita, December 16, 2018
Tanforan Totalizer, June 20, 1942
Yamada, Gayle K., and Fukami, Dianne. Building a Community: The Story of Japanese Americans in San Mateo County. AACP. 2003.
About the contributor: Yoneo Kawakita grew up in San Mateo, CA, where his father worked for the Leslie Salt Company. He was a senior at San Mateo High School when the internment order came through, and missed his graduation. He was incarcerated in Tanforan and Topaz before joining the military. He and his wife Yoriko settled in San Mateo after the War. Yon passed away in 2021.
Copyright 2018, Yoneo Kawakita. All rights reserved.