Kazuo Yakura—First Japanese American to Serve in the U.S. Secret Service

March 1, 2024 • Teri Lim

Born in 1936 in Los Angeles, California, Kazuo Yakura always dreamed of serving in law enforcement. As a child, he loved playing games of cat and mouse, cops and robbers, hide and seek, or catch me if you can during his family’s incarceration in the Gila River concentration camp in Arizona from 1942 to 1945. The Yakura family returned to Los Angeles, where Kazuo’s Issei father passed away from colon cancer in 1946. His mother and elder sister worked hard …