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https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1183/

World War II Incarceration

We went, at the beginning of the war we went to Santa Anita racetrack. And we stayed there for the nine - nine months, and as Catholics probably we would have gone with the Catholics community to Manzanar, but because my father was a doctor, he had to go wherever they sent him. We were very lucky, my godmother is Polish and her husband is Japanese so we were able to store some things at her house, we were able to store some things at the Mary Knoll Sanitarium, and then my mother or sister told me it’s someplace else, so no, nobody, no doctors took anything with them. It was just all provided by the government. When we did go to Santa Anita, because our last meal was at Monrovia, and then the sisters drove us to Santa Anita so we were fortunate not to have just one suitcase, just like many of the doctors that came from every other place. We were sent to Jerome, Arkansas and we stayed there and then when Jerome closed we went to Rohwer, Arkansas. We were in camp three and a half years and perhaps we could have left earlier but my father did not want to leave until it was okay to come back to the west coast.


Arkansas California concentration camps Santa Anita temporary detention center temporary detention centers United States World War II World War II camps

Date: February 3, 2010

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Eiko Masuyama, Carole Fujita, Yoko Nishimura

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Margaret Kuroiwa is the third daughter of Dr. Daishiro Kuroiwa from Saga-ken, Japan and Agnes Haruyo Ogawa Kuroiwa. Her father was a prominent Issei physician who worked at the Turner Street Southern California Japanese Hospital, and was one of the five doctors, along with Dr. Tashiro, to file the lawsuit against the State of California. His practice was in Boyle Heights and in the Taul Building in Little Tokyo. He also treated tuberculosis patients at the Monrovia Sanitarium. She and her 4 sisters were born at the new Japanese Hospital on First and Fickett. (April 11, 2010)

Young O. Kim
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Kim,Young O.

Horrible pictures of war

(1919 - 2006) World War II and Korean War veteran

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Young O. Kim
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Kim,Young O.

Near-death experience

(1919 - 2006) World War II and Korean War veteran

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Young O. Kim
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Kim,Young O.

General Ryder’s faith in the 100th infantry battalion

(1919 - 2006) World War II and Korean War veteran

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Young O. Kim
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Kim,Young O.

Comfortable in combat

(1919 - 2006) World War II and Korean War veteran

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Sakaye Shigekawa
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

Lost respect for the flag after incarceration

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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Sakaye Shigekawa
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

Traumatic experiences before camp

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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Sakaye Shigekawa
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

Joining the hospital unit in Santa Anita Race Track

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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Sakaye Shigekawa
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Shigekawa, Sakaye

“Everybody went in like sheep”

(1913-2013) Doctor specializing in obstetrics in Southern California

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Henry Suto
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Suto,Henry

The horror of Hiroshima after the atomic bombing (Japanese)

(1928 - 2008) Drafted into both the Japanese Imperial Army and the U.S. Army.

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Cedrick Shimo
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Shimo,Cedrick

Finding out Roosevelt wanted Japan to attack

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Cedrick Shimo
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Shimo,Cedrick

Parents expected to be taken by the FBI

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Cedrick Shimo
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Shimo,Cedrick

525 Quartermaster Corps

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Cedrick Shimo
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Shimo,Cedrick

Fort McClellan soldiers

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

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Jimmy Murakami
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Murakami,Jimmy

Losing his sister in camp

(1933 – 2014) Japanese American animator

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William Hohri
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Hohri,William

Going to camp with the Terminal Island people

(1927-2010) Political Activist

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