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George Abe talks about how his parents immigrated to the United States from Japan and settled in Del Rey and bought a farm. He talks about how they grew strawberries and raisins, and where he was when the Pearl Harbor attack happened. He discusses his family's reaction to the war and experiences in the Rohwer War Relocation Center, before returning to their farm after the war. He talks about his siblings and their education and his own school experiences. They both talk about how they met and married and Jean talks a little about her upbringing in Norwalk. George talks about becoming involved with the JACL before the war, being sent to the Fresno Assembly Center and then Rohwer. He talks about the loyalty questionnaire and pro-Japan and pro-America factions within the camp. He discusses almost being drafted before the war ended and returning to farming post-war and the contributions of the Nisei.
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Talks about growing up in Livingston on the Yamato Colony in a large family, working on his family's farm, talks about discrimination before the war, attending Japanese School, church and other social activities in the Japanese American community in Livingston. He talks about his early education, learning both Japanese and English, his service and injuries during the war and meeting his wife. He talks about how all of his brothers and he served in the Army, how he was sent to the Gila River War Relocation Center. He then discusses his service, how he was in the 442nd regiment, and how he was wounded in Italy. He discusses how he and his brothers divided their ranch when the war ended and how they faced discrimination after the war and how he ended up selling the farm when his kids chose other professions. He also talks about redress and reparations and the impact on the Japanese American community of the evacuation and incarceration.
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Fred Hirasuna talks about how his father and mother immigrated to the United States, moved around a lot before settling in Lodi. He talks about how his father owned a bike shop as well as farmed in Lodi before moving to Fowler in 1922 and buying an automotive repair shop. He talks about graduating from Fowler High School, attending Fresno State briefly before moving to Los Angeles and working in trucking and farming before finishing his degree in 1932, but being unable to find work in his field. He discusses getting work as an accountant and meeting and marrying Setsu before getting into the chick sexing business with his brother-in-law. Fred relates the story of how they were able to avoid going to camp by voluntarily relocating to Minnesota and the journey there. He also relates how his parents asked to be taken to a camp, due to not having any of their peers around, so he arranged to take them to the Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas. He talks about coming back to Fresno after the war and starting a packing company. They both talk about Fred's involvement with the Fresno JACL and their membership in other agriculture and business organizations. Lastly, he discusses the changes in agriculture post-war.
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Talks about life before the war and her family's history, Pearl Harbor and being incarcerated during World War II and life after the war.
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Discusses being born in Livingston, Montana, and being sent to Japan to live with his grandparents at age five for a Kibei education. He returned to the United States at age 18 and worked in the vineyards in Sanger, California. He speaks of the difficulty of transitioning back-and-forth between Japanese and English speaking environments. Talks about being drafted into the U.S. Army in February, 1941. He was stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington when war broke out between Japan and the U.S. Recounts how his fellow soldiers stepped in to defend him from racial prejudice, treating him no differently than anyone else. After becoming an x-ray technician in Fort Bliss, Texas, he had further training in Oklahoma and Camp Berkeley, Texas, before hipping out to Cannes, France to help set up the 180th General Hospital following the Utah Beach invasion. He imparts his experience taking over a Luftwaffe hospital in Frankfurt, Germany following the defeat of Germany. Following the war, he talks about how he married his fiance, whom he had met before the war and had been in the Poston Relocation Center. He talks about their raising a family in Parlier, California, and being active in the Parlier Buddhist Church and Japanese American Citizens League. Also discusses a vacation to Beijing, China in 1983.
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Talks about growing up before World War II and his family history, his incarceration in the Poston War Relocation Center and subsequent military service in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and life after the war. Video only exists for the second part of the interview.
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Born in Fresno in 1922, where he spent most of his life. His father, from Hiroshima, opened the Aki Company General Merchandise Store with his brother. Satoshi is the oldest of three, and has a brother and a sister. He attended Fresno High School, then Fresno State for a year and a half when World War Two started. He eventually completed a Geological Engineering degree at the University of Missouri, Rolla. He discusses his time in the Boy Scouts and the Japanese Congregational Church. In 1951 he married and had three children, but was widowed. Later, he met an old friend they got married. He discusses the businesses and churches in downtown Fresno and Japan Town/China Town. During the war he was sent to the Fresno Assembly Center, then to the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona. He talks about joining the Japanese American Citizens League and the Rotary Club.
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Talks about her life and family history before the war, her family's incarceration during World War II, the importance of units like the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in changing perceptions of Japanese Americans and her life after the war ended.
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Discusses his family history and life before World War II, his military service and life after the war.
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Talks about life before World War II and his family history, his wartime experiences with incarceration at the Gila River War Relocation Center, his military service with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and his life after the war, including the effect of redress and reparations. Continues discussing his family and life after World War II, his participation in the Japanese American Citizens League and lessons to be learned from Japanese American incarceration.
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Talks about his family life and growing up in Livingston, California, farming, where his father and mother came from in Japan and their immigration to the United States. He discusses attending elementary and high school, briefly attending Japanese school and playing baseball and tennis in high school. He discusses the evacuation, finding someone to manage the family farm, being sent to the Merced Assembly Center and Granada War Relocation Center, his father dying during the evacuation and the events surrounding his father's funeral. He talks about working in Amache driving a truck and hauling coal, harvesting sugar beets, going to work in Chicago and going to school in New York. He discusses being drafted and getting married, serving as a mechanic in Germany at the end of the war, returning to the farm and then moving to Chicago and then returning again to Livingston when his brother was drafted. He discusses farming and trucking after the war and having children and grandchildren.
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Talks about his parents and how they immigrated to the United States, growing up in the Depression, farming dairy cattle and grapes, the values emphasized by his parents, especially education. He discusses learning Japanese as a child and Japanese customs and foods, but also the importance of American culture in his upbringing as well. He talks about attending Livingston High School and relations between Japanese and Caucasian students. He discusses wanting to become an aeronautical engineer and attending Modesto City College and later Stanford. He talks about Pearl Harbor and the resulting paranoia about attacks and discrimination against Japanese Americans, his thoughts on the evacuation and being sent to the Merced Assembly Center and later Amache. He discusses the loyalty questionnaire and getting permission to leave camp to work in Cincinnati before being drafted and serving in the 442nd infantry regiment. Afterward, he talks about returning to Stanford and finishing his education and returning to farming. He discusses his children and the changes in society that have occurred in regards to Japanese Americans.
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Talks about her life before World War II, her experiences with incarceration during World War II, her life after the war, marriage to Saburo Masada and her children and the impact Japanese American soldiers made during World War II.
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Talks about his parents origins in Japan, their immigration to the United States and settling in Delano and Ducor. He talks about his family being interned, first at the Fresno Assembly Center and then later the Jerome War Relocation Center. He discusses how his father was able to keep their farm by leasing it out to a neighbor, his siblings and their careers, his early education, attending Japanese school in Delano and church in Ducor before the war. He talks about attending dental college, getting drafted and serving in the Army Air Force. He discusses getting married and moving to Detroit, returning to Delano and practicing dentistry for fifty years before retiring and relocating to San Diego. He discusses his children, losing his younger son to cancer, and his grandchildren. He reminisces about how he heard about the Pearl Harbor attack while he was at the University of California Dental School and talks about the loyalty questionnaire and his being fortunate in getting to leave the camp early to continue dental school. He discusses getting involved with the JACL in Delano, serving on the city council and participating in the Lions Club. He talks about the contributions of Nisei Americans and the importance of education for the next generation.
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Talks about his parents immigrating to California from Japan, having two sisters in Japan and discusses his family's incarceration in the Fresno Assembly Center and later the Jerome War Relocation Center. He talks about his father's death during the war, his father's participation in Japanese organizations and running a laundry business in Fresno before the war. He discusses his early education at Lincoln Elementary, learning English, attending Fresno High School, Fresno State and having to suspend his education due to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the evacuation. He describes how he was drafted during the war and was sent by the Army to language school and later Japan and Korea. He talks about his experiences in Japan town and reminiscences about it growing up. He discusses attending college post-war, the impact of incarceration and changing careers. Lastly, he talks about his involvement in the JACL and his children and grandchildren.
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Sam Maeda is the oldest of three children. His family moved to Livingston, California when he was three months old. Growing up he was in the Boy Scouts and attended Livingston's Methodist Church. In 1938 he married Yuri Fuji, who was from Berkeley. When war broke out they were sent to the Merced Assembly Center, and later to Granada War Relocation Center (Amache). They resettled in Livingston after the war, where he was an active member of the Rotary Club.
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Talks about his life before World War II, his experiences with incarceration during the war in the Fresno Assembly Center and Jerome War Relocation Center, his ministry and experiences after the war. Continues discussing his life after the war, marriage to Marion Masada, his children, the redress movement and working to ensure that what happened to the Japanese Americans never happens again to another group.
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Talks about his life and family history prior to World War II, his experiences with incarceration and serving in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during the war and life after the war.
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Talks about life before World War II, living in Fresno's Japantown, experiences with incarceration during World War II and life after the war.
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Talks about growing up and farming in Brentwood, California, attending grammar school, the impact of the Great Depression and his father being labeled a "subversive" by the FBI after Pearl Harbor and arrested. He discusses Executive Order 9066, dropping out of school to help his family prepare for evacuation, his father's arrest and being sent to the Silver Avenue Detention Center in San Francisco, and then his family being sent to the Turlock Assembly Center and Gila River War Relocation Center. He recalls playing basketball and baseball in the camp, and his family deciding to join his father at the Crystal City Internment Camp. He discusses the loyalty questionnaire and ironically being treated better in a camp for enemy aliens than one for U.S. citizens. He talks about how his brother was eventually able to get him out of the Crystal City camp and attending college in Detroit. He discusses his parents being released from camp after the war, and his father scouting out possible farms in the Rio Grande Valley. He talks about deciding to join the army after the war to get the GI Bill to pay for college, helping his parents move to Texas and being sent to Japan as an interpreter. He discusses attending the University of Houston and changing his focus from engineering to economics and earning a masters degree and then later his Ph.D. He discusses getting married in 1960, and moving to Fresno and teaching at Fresno State. He discusses traveling to Japan on sabbatical in 1975 with his father and getting to meet the Crown Prince. He discusses the death of his parents and becoming involved in the JACL, including his stance on the UFW and becoming the Vice-President of National JACL. He talks about the campaign for redress, his academic career and serving on the Fresno grand jury.
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Talks about growing up and farming in Suisun, California and education at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, hearing about the Pearl Harbor and getting sent to the Merced Assembly Center and later Granada War Relocation Center. He discusses working on the center farm, the loyalty questionnaire and thinking about volunteering for the army but ultimately deciding against it. He talks about his decision to attend the University of Wyoming, meeting his wife and farming in Colorado before returning to California in early 1945. He also discusses redress and reparations and enjoying retirement.
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Talks about his family history and experiences with incarceration during World War II.
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Discusses his father coming to the United States from Japan, to be adopted by an uncle. He recounts the story of a man on horseback with a shotgun who whipped his father's cousin's face with a rope. Talks about his father opening a fish market in Hanford that catered largely to Portuguese customers. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he and his family were sent to the Poston War Relocation Center. He explains the materials the buildings at Poston were constructed from, as well as life in the camp, and cousin volunteering for military service. After the war his family moved to Selma, California. States that his father, who worked as a ranch foreman for 30 years, did not take a vacation between 1945 and 1985.
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Talks about growing up in Livingston, her family history, attending school and what she did for fun as a child. She talks about going to college at San Jose State, Pearl Harbor and getting the evacuation notice. She discusses being sent to the Merced Assembly Center and applying to Eastern colleges to get back to her education. She discusses how she was accepted at Colorado State and talks about getting married while finishing her education and her husband being sent off in the Army to fight in the Aleutians. She talks about working for the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the latter part of the war in San Francisco, having children and the loss of her daughter in childhood and discusses her grandchildren.
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Talks about his parents immigrating from Japan and eventually settling in Fresno County, his siblings, attending Parlier Grammar School and Parlier High School and doing farm labor. He discusses how Japanese cultural values were instilled in him as a child, and his decision not to attend college. He talks about Pearl Harbor and the aftermath and evacuation. He discusses being sent to the Gila River War Relocation Center and refusing to answer the loyalty questionnaire after being refused entry into the Army. He talks about being sent to Tule Lake as a result of this, working at the camp newspaper and getting fired over printing a controversial article. He discusses later being sent to the Fort Lincoln Internment Camp in Bismark, North Dakota with other "renunciants" and participating in a class action law suit against the renunciation and later winning in court. He talks about getting married post-war and buying a farm, having children, enjoying travel and gives advice for Sansei and Yonsei generations.
