Paul Kusuda’s column
DAY TO REMEMBER FOR MANY NISEI
DAY TO REMEMBER FOR MANY NISEI
PART 2 OF 2
By Paul H. Kusuda
Last month, my article noted that President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order
9066 on February 19, 1942, authorizing Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson to establish
specific areas “…from which any and all persons may be excluded.” Though at war with
Germany, Italy, and Japan, only persons of Japanese ancestry were treated as a group and
forcibly evacuated from the West Coast states. Selected persons of Japanese ancestry were
also forcibly evacuated from the then-Territory of Hawaii and sent to the Mainland.
In May 1942, our family of five was forced to move from our downtown Los Angeles
apartment to the Manzanar Relocation Center near Death Valley, California. Even though we
had more time than families who had been living in Terminal Island, California, preparation
By Paul H. Kusuda
Last month, my article noted that President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order
9066 on February 19, 1942, authorizing Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson to establish
specific areas “…from which any and all persons may be excluded.” Though at war with
Germany, Italy, and Japan, only persons of Japanese ancestry were treated as a group and
forcibly evacuated from the West Coast states. Selected persons of Japanese ancestry were
also forcibly evacuated from the then-Territory of Hawaii and sent to the Mainland.
In May 1942, our family of five was forced to move from our downtown Los Angeles
apartment to the Manzanar Relocation Center near Death Valley, California. Even though we
had more time than families who had been living in Terminal Island, California, preparation
was more than difficult. According to the Civilian Exclusion Order describing the area in which we lived and posted on
telephone poles and elsewhere throughout the L.A. area, we had to “…be evacuated from the…designated area by 12:
00 o’clock noon…May 16, 1942.”
Instruction 2 was: “Evacuees must carry with them on departure to the Reception Center, the following property:
(a) Bedding and linens (no mattress) for each member of the family;
(b) Toilet articles for each member of the family;
(c) Extra clothing for each member of the family;
(d) Sufficient knives, forks, spoons, plates, bowls and cups for each member of the family;
(e) Essential person effects for each member of the family;
"All items carried will be securely packaged, tied and plainly marked with the name of the owner and numbered in
accordance with instructions received at the Civil Control Station.
"The size and number of packages is limited to that which can be carried by the individual or family group.”
That last sentence was not easy to accept, but we had no alternative. Even though many, other than Terminal
Islanders who had only 48 hours’ notice, knew that forced evacuation would take place, the answers to the questions
of “When?” and “Where?” were not known. Nevertheless, governmental requirements had to be met. All families
had difficulties. Where would we be sent? Will the climate be hot, cold, rainy? How long will it be before we would be
able to leave wherever we were sent? Those with infants, frail elderly, infirm or disabled persons, family members in
medical facilities, etc. faced additional worries.
Many families were housed for weeks in quickly thrown-together temporary facilities, such as race tracks (Santa
Anita and Tanforan) and county fairgrounds. Then, they were moved to more permanent locations called War
Relocation Centers. In a sense, our family was among the luckier ones. We were living in an apartment near Skidrow
L.A., our personal possessions were few; we had little to worry about disposing. My parents wanted to save some
sheets, towels, blankets, and a few other items so they put them in two trunks. Where to leave them for an indefinite
period of time was their problem. They called long-time friends Mr. and Mrs. Walter Judson for help. Mr. Judson and
his brother drove to our apartment, helped put the trunks in their car, and stored them in Mr. Judson’s garage. Years
later, after my parents returned to L.A., both trunks were returned in good condition. As former neighbors (Mr. Judson
had a hardware store near my father’s grocery store), they gave help when it was sorely needed.
Goods were not always returned. In one case, we left our vacuum cleaner, bicycles, and a few other things with our
then-landlords, named Warden. When my father went back to claim them, he was told they had to be tossed out
because they took up too much room. In another case, my father and I took, following public announcements, so-
called contraband items to the local police station. We got a receipt for what we turned in: brownie cameras belonging
to my brother and sister, kitchen knives, binoculars, and most precious of all — two Samurai sword sets my father
had ordered from Japan to be given to my older brother and me. Following return to L.A., my father turned over his
receipt to the police property keeper who informed him that all of the items were lost a couple of years previously. My
father did not complain.
Long afterwards, I figured out the answer to a problem that had bothered me. How were areas described so neatly
on the posters delineated to contain a known number of Japanese? They had to be Census tracts since the 1940
Decennial Census had been completed a year before. The Bureau of the Census could not reveal names, but it could
reveal the number of persons by ethnicity for each Census tract. Then, tracts could be combined to achieve the
desired number of Japanese per area. Problem solved!
In October 1990, more than 50 years after all persons of Japanese ancestry had been released from Relocation
Centers (some refer to them as Concentration Camps) and Internment Centers, President George Bush (the father)
wrote to then-living persons who had undergone the experiences: “A monetary sum and words alone cannot restore
lost years or erase painful memories; neither can they fully convey our Nation’s resolve to rectify injustice and to
uphold the rights of individuals. We can never fully right the wrongs of the past…In enacting a law calling for
restitution and offering a sincere apology, your fellow Americans have, in a very real sense, renewed their traditional
commitment to the ideals of freedom, equality, and justice…”
Most persons of Japanese ancestry who had been involuntarily incarcerated are now deceased. The average
age of persons placed in Relocation Centers was 19 at the time, so that means many are now about 90 years old.
The memories remain, and their essence continues with subsequent generations.
telephone poles and elsewhere throughout the L.A. area, we had to “…be evacuated from the…designated area by 12:
00 o’clock noon…May 16, 1942.”
Instruction 2 was: “Evacuees must carry with them on departure to the Reception Center, the following property:
(a) Bedding and linens (no mattress) for each member of the family;
(b) Toilet articles for each member of the family;
(c) Extra clothing for each member of the family;
(d) Sufficient knives, forks, spoons, plates, bowls and cups for each member of the family;
(e) Essential person effects for each member of the family;
"All items carried will be securely packaged, tied and plainly marked with the name of the owner and numbered in
accordance with instructions received at the Civil Control Station.
"The size and number of packages is limited to that which can be carried by the individual or family group.”
That last sentence was not easy to accept, but we had no alternative. Even though many, other than Terminal
Islanders who had only 48 hours’ notice, knew that forced evacuation would take place, the answers to the questions
of “When?” and “Where?” were not known. Nevertheless, governmental requirements had to be met. All families
had difficulties. Where would we be sent? Will the climate be hot, cold, rainy? How long will it be before we would be
able to leave wherever we were sent? Those with infants, frail elderly, infirm or disabled persons, family members in
medical facilities, etc. faced additional worries.
Many families were housed for weeks in quickly thrown-together temporary facilities, such as race tracks (Santa
Anita and Tanforan) and county fairgrounds. Then, they were moved to more permanent locations called War
Relocation Centers. In a sense, our family was among the luckier ones. We were living in an apartment near Skidrow
L.A., our personal possessions were few; we had little to worry about disposing. My parents wanted to save some
sheets, towels, blankets, and a few other items so they put them in two trunks. Where to leave them for an indefinite
period of time was their problem. They called long-time friends Mr. and Mrs. Walter Judson for help. Mr. Judson and
his brother drove to our apartment, helped put the trunks in their car, and stored them in Mr. Judson’s garage. Years
later, after my parents returned to L.A., both trunks were returned in good condition. As former neighbors (Mr. Judson
had a hardware store near my father’s grocery store), they gave help when it was sorely needed.
Goods were not always returned. In one case, we left our vacuum cleaner, bicycles, and a few other things with our
then-landlords, named Warden. When my father went back to claim them, he was told they had to be tossed out
because they took up too much room. In another case, my father and I took, following public announcements, so-
called contraband items to the local police station. We got a receipt for what we turned in: brownie cameras belonging
to my brother and sister, kitchen knives, binoculars, and most precious of all — two Samurai sword sets my father
had ordered from Japan to be given to my older brother and me. Following return to L.A., my father turned over his
receipt to the police property keeper who informed him that all of the items were lost a couple of years previously. My
father did not complain.
Long afterwards, I figured out the answer to a problem that had bothered me. How were areas described so neatly
on the posters delineated to contain a known number of Japanese? They had to be Census tracts since the 1940
Decennial Census had been completed a year before. The Bureau of the Census could not reveal names, but it could
reveal the number of persons by ethnicity for each Census tract. Then, tracts could be combined to achieve the
desired number of Japanese per area. Problem solved!
In October 1990, more than 50 years after all persons of Japanese ancestry had been released from Relocation
Centers (some refer to them as Concentration Camps) and Internment Centers, President George Bush (the father)
wrote to then-living persons who had undergone the experiences: “A monetary sum and words alone cannot restore
lost years or erase painful memories; neither can they fully convey our Nation’s resolve to rectify injustice and to
uphold the rights of individuals. We can never fully right the wrongs of the past…In enacting a law calling for
restitution and offering a sincere apology, your fellow Americans have, in a very real sense, renewed their traditional
commitment to the ideals of freedom, equality, and justice…”
Most persons of Japanese ancestry who had been involuntarily incarcerated are now deceased. The average
age of persons placed in Relocation Centers was 19 at the time, so that means many are now about 90 years old.
The memories remain, and their essence continues with subsequent generations.
The injustice must never be repeated
by our government no matter what our
concerns about security may be. Groups
must not be judged through fear, race
hatred, demagoguery, false claims of
security, suspension of constitutional
rights. Democratic ideals must not be
subordinated to terrorism or fear of terrorist
attacks. Our government must stand firm
in its resolve to continue its “…traditional
commitment to the ideals of freedom, ,
equality, and justice…”
by our government no matter what our
concerns about security may be. Groups
must not be judged through fear, race
hatred, demagoguery, false claims of
security, suspension of constitutional
rights. Democratic ideals must not be
subordinated to terrorism or fear of terrorist
attacks. Our government must stand firm
in its resolve to continue its “…traditional
commitment to the ideals of freedom, ,
equality, and justice…”
