But most graduates, like my friend Emi Yamada Ota, who was graduating from an East-Bay high school, remembers that no one came from their school. They received their diplomas by mail. “I opened the stall door, and there it was, just dumped on the ground,” she remembers.
What people remember about the so-called graduation in the grandstand was how quiet it was. It was so depressing—that is, until the San Mateo High School band showed up with their principal, Mr. W. T. Van Voris. Suddenly, everyone was talking in excitement, laughing. Even kids whose high schools were not represented felt that, at last, their day was being celebrated.
That San Mateo High School band? Someone should thank them.
About the contributor: Yae Wada grew up in Berkeley and Oakland, CA and operated a beauty salon before the war. She was 23 when she was incarcerated in Tanforan. From Topaz, she and her husband resettled in Cleveland. Yae returned to the East Bay after the War. In March 2019, Yae attended San Mateo High School’s Day of Remembrance to express gratitude for an act of kindness by its war-time faculty and band members.
In 2019, Yae was interviewed as part of an article on the Topaz Stories Exhibit at J-Sei in Emeryville, CA. You can read the article here. Yae passed away in 2023 at the age of 103.
Copyright 2018, Yae Wada. All rights reserved.