by Roy Iwata
In our Topaz school there was a home economics class for boys, and I enrolled in it so I could eat desserts, which were not often served in the mess hall. However, much to my chagrin, the teacher said the first semester would cover table manners and table setting. I was devastated! But I decided to stay in class anyway so I could enroll the following semester.
In the following semester, despite sugar rationing, we made cupcakes and cakes, which I shared with my friends. My favorite was apple pie.
About the contributor: Roy Taichi Iwata was 12 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Roy’s family was sent to Walerga Assembly Center in Sacramento; then Tule Lake, CA; and finally, Topaz, UT in 1943. After the War, the Iwatas returned to Sacramento. Roy finished high school and joined the Army. While stationed in Japan, he married. The Iwatas settled in Sacramento and raised four children, celebrating almost 60 years of marriage. His memoir was shared with us by his daughter, Nancy Roskoff.
Copyright 2011, Roy Iwata. All rights reserved.