Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1442/

Joining WRA Photographic Section

First I worked in the community hospital, worked a little bit as an orderly there. And then there was a opening in the x-ray department and so they were asking groups around the hospital if they were interested in working in the x-ray department. And I figured this has a little bit of photographic possibilities there. So they hired me and I started to learn how to x-ray, you know, people. I worked there for oh, maybe half a year or so.

And during that time I became friends with the Heart Mountain Sentinel, the newspaper group, and one of them was Bill Hosokawa, and a fellow named Von Maaco, he was the director of the newspaper. And I was hanging around there a little bit.

And then one day a WRA photographer. Actually, there were two: Tom Parker and Charlie Mace, were up in Heart Mountain, in order to photograph different situations. And also, they told Von Maaco they were looking for someone to work in the photographic lab in Denver developing film. So they hired me and I moved from Heart Mountain to Denver. Where the WRA had their laboratory. And it was the only laboratory for WRA in the country. Not Washington DC, but in Denver. So I was hired as a darkroom technician.


Heart Mountain Heart Mountain concentration camp photography United States World War II World War II camps Wyoming

Date: December 3, 2009

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki

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

Interviewee Bio

Hikaru Carl Iwasaki (b. 1923) grew up in San Jose, California, developing his interest in photography while working on his high school newspaper and yearbook. With Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, the Iwasaki Family was sent to the Santa Anita Assembly Center and then to a concentration camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming—where he was forbidden to have a camera. He was given a job as an X-ray technician in the hospital where the head of the camp newspaper took notice of his abilities and recommended him for work as a photographic darkroom technician with the War Relocation Authority photo unit in Denver, Colorado. Within a year, Iwasaki had become a WRA photographer, traveling freely around the country, assigned to document hundreds of Japanese Americans who had left camp and begun resettlement in various regions of the U.S. After the War, Carl began a long career as a photographer for Life, Time, Sports Illustrated, People, and many other national publications. 

He passed away on September 2016 at age 93. (September 2016)

 

Frank Emi
en
ja
es
pt
Emi,Frank

Loyalty questionnaire

(1916-2010) draft resister, helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee

en
ja
es
pt
Frank Emi
en
ja
es
pt
Emi,Frank

Speaking out in camp

(1916-2010) draft resister, helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee

en
ja
es
pt
Young O. Kim
en
ja
es
pt
Kim,Young O.

Resisting transfer from Jerome

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

en
ja
es
pt
Frank Emi
en
ja
es
pt
Emi,Frank

Draft resisters sent to jail

(1916-2010) draft resister, helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee

en
ja
es
pt
Young O. Kim
en
ja
es
pt
Kim,Young O.

Appearance vs. Combat Effectiveness

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

en
ja
es
pt
Frank Emi
en
ja
es
pt
Emi,Frank

Would do the same again

(1916-2010) draft resister, helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee

en
ja
es
pt
Young O. Kim
en
ja
es
pt
Kim,Young O.

Basic Training

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

en
ja
es
pt
Young O. Kim
en
ja
es
pt
Kim,Young O.

A visit to Jerome after OCS

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

en
ja
es
pt
Young O. Kim
en
ja
es
pt
Kim,Young O.

Do it for all Asians

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

en
ja
es
pt
Young O. Kim
en
ja
es
pt
Kim,Young O.

Horrible pictures of war

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

en
ja
es
pt
Young O. Kim
en
ja
es
pt
Kim,Young O.

Near-death experience

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

en
ja
es
pt
Young O. Kim
en
ja
es
pt
Kim,Young O.

General Ryder’s faith in the 100th infantry battalion

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

en
ja
es
pt
Young O. Kim
en
ja
es
pt
Kim,Young O.

Comfortable in combat

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

en
ja
es
pt
Sakaye Shigekawa
en
ja
es
pt
Shigekawa, Sakaye

Lost respect for the flag after incarceration

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

en
ja
es
pt
Sakaye Shigekawa
en
ja
es
pt
Shigekawa, Sakaye

Traumatic experiences before camp

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

en
ja
es
pt