Mass removal ("evacuation")

On March 2, 1942, Public Proclamation No. 1 began to appear on telephone poles and buildings. This was the first official notice Japanese Americans had of their immediate removal from the West Coast. The notices stated that they had six or seven days to prepare, and were to take only what they could carry. They were not told where they would be taken. People rushed to sell or store, in one week, property and belongings acquired over a lifetime. Some families tucked their valuables away in their attic or basement and locked the door, hoping to return soon. On the appointed "evacuation" day, thousands of Japanese Americans gathered at designated locations, with the numbered identification tags they had been issued tied to their coats. Watched by curious onlookers, they were met by armed soldiers and transported in buses, private cars, and trains to sixteen temporary "assembly centers" in California, Washington, Oregon and Arizona.

World War II (283)
Mass removal ("evacuation") (747)

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747 items

doc Letter from Massie to Brett Kuwada (ddr-densho-560-4)

Describing life in Assembly center and camp

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-560-4/

doc Asian American Community: The Internment Camps and My Family: Part 1: General overview (ddr-densho-560-8)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-560-8/

img Saying goodbye on train platform (ddr-densho-1007-213)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-213/

av Interview with Yukio Kawamoto, part 7 of 8 (ddr-densho-1007-1551)

Kawamoto discusses the evacuation order, his parents' time in camp, interrogating Japanese soldiers, and an encounter with an American soldier who mistook him for a Japanese national. Video starts at 0:54. Loni Ding can be heard asking questions behind the camera. Original title: 51, II NY #35, 6-85, Kawamoto. Interview continues at ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1552/

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1551/

av Interview with John Kaneko, part 3 of 3 (ddr-densho-1007-1761)

Kaneko discusses the reasons some Japanese Americans joined the military and his father's decision to bury or burn all their family's Japanese possessions. Audio only. Loni Ding can be heard asking questions. Seems to be the fourth part of the interview started in ddr-densho-1007-1759, but the third portion is missing. Original title: 407, John Kaneko IV, …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1761/

img Three older people gathered at bench (ddr-densho-1007-217)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-217/

img Loaded cars lined up (ddr-densho-1007-212)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-212/

av Interview with Kazuko Iijima, part 1 of 4 (ddr-densho-1007-1531)

Iijima discusses Hinamatsuri dolls, her childhood in Oakland, the Buddhist church, evacuation, internment at Topaz, and her mother. Video starts at 0:56. Loni Ding can be heard asking questions behind the camera. Original title: 36, II NY #15, 6-85, Kazuko Iijima. Interview continues at ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1532/

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1531/

av Interview with Yukio Kawamoto, part 2 of 8 (ddr-densho-1007-1546)

Kawamoto discusses working in the army's financial department, the internment of his parents, and joining the MIS. Video starts at 0:53. Loni Ding can be heard asking questions behind the camera. Original title: 48, II NY #30, 6-85, Kawamoto. Interview continues at ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1547/

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1546/

av Interview with Jim Ariyasu, part 2 of 5 (ddr-densho-1007-1597)

Ariyasu discusses his deployment, having to sell a camera of his, the secrecy required of him while serving, the censorship of letters he sent back home, and military language school. Video starts at 0:23. Loni Ding can be heard asking questions behind the camera. Original title: II LA #24, 7-24-85, Jim Ariyasu Interview III. Interview continues …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1597/

av Roger Daniels interviewed by Kent Hori, part 3 of 4 (ddr-densho-1007-1758)

Daniels discusses what may have happened if the Japanese American community resisted evacuation en masse, how Japanese Americans were placed under 4C (enemy alien, undraftable) status and the military's eventual interest in Japanese Americans (particularly Kibei) for intelligence work, the importance of the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the loyalty questionnaire, the persecution …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1758/

img Group with luggage (ddr-densho-1007-216)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-216/

av Interview with Barry Saiki, part 5 of 5 (ddr-densho-1007-1706)

Saiki discusses what he wants Sansei and Americans in general to know about internment and the importance of being "bicultural". Loni Ding can be heard asking questions behind the camera. Original title: 219, II JA #45, Barry Saiki, Sun. Feb. 2

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1706/

av Interview with Henry (Hank) Gosho, part 1 of 3 (ddr-densho-1007-1768)

Gosho discusses returning to Seattle from Japan before the war, his brothers being conscripted into the Japanese army, Pearl Harbor, his father's arrest by the FBI, assuming the Nisei wouldn't be evacuated, being relocated to Puyallup/Camp Harmony, realizing that he was a prisoner, his time at Minidoka, deciding early on to join the military, and the …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1768/

av Interview with Bill Dizer, part 1 of 3 (ddr-densho-1007-1676)

Dizer, who lives in Japan, discusses how he started to learn Japanese at the University of Michigan, his thoughts on evacuation and his deployment in Japan. Interview starts at 6:15. Loni Ding can be heard asking questions behind the camera. Original title: 193, II JA #10, Bill Dizer, Fri., Jan. 31. Interview continues at ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1677/

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1676/

av Interview with Gary and Grace Itano, part 2 of 6 (ddr-densho-1007-1806)

Grace discusses working with her husband-to-be before the war, her husband asking for a divorce (knowing that he would be imprisoned for refusing to serve), her husband Henry's reasons for refusing to serve, her husband's family preventing him from going to college, trying and failing to live outside of camp in Arizona, evacuation and closing her …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1806/

av Interview with Harry Fukuhara, part 6 of 6 (ddr-densho-1007-1637)

Fukuhara discusses the reasons why some Nisei did not join the military, why he volunteered, his feelings on incarceration, and discrimination he faced in the US. Loni Ding can be heard asking questions behind the camera. Video ends at 20:00. Original title: 123, II SJ #29, 8-17-85, Harry's House SJ

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1637/

av Interview with Sho Nomura, part 1 of 6 (ddr-densho-1007-1610)

Nomura discusses growing up in California, selling the family business and evacuation, and his thoughts on war with Japan. Video starts at 0:27. Loni Ding can be heard asking questions behind the camera. Original title: 93, II LA #40, 7-25-85, Sho Nomura Interview I. Interview continues at ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1611/

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1610/

doc An Act of Racism clipping (ddr-densho-1007-1023)

Part of a column titled "Santanalyzing"

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1023/

Interview with Paul Minerich, Tim Nomiyama, Masao Kataoka, and Kenjiro Hayakawa, part 8 of 8; interview with Gary and Grace Itano, part 1 of 6 (ddr-densho-1007-1805)

av Interview with Paul Minerich, Tim Nomiyama, Masao Kataoka, and Kenjiro Hayakawa, part 8 of 8; interview with Gary and Grace Itano, part 1 of 6 (ddr-densho-1007-1805)

From left to right: Minerich, Nomiyama, Kataoka, Hayakawa. Kataoka discusses his hopes for the future, his feelings on Abraham Lincoln, and sneaking a letter from Hugh Nozawa to President Roosevelt out of camp. Minerich discusses the hearings that had taken place shortly before this interview at the Pentagon. Nomiyama discusses how he felt after the hearings …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1805/

av Interview with John Kaneko (ddr-densho-1007-1651)

John Kaneko tells the story of his family burying many of their Japanese possessions before evacuation. Loni Ding can be heard asking questions behind the camera. Original title: 136, II SAC #7, 9-7-85, John tells the story

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1651/

img People entering camp (ddr-densho-1007-21)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-21/

doc Chronology of the Internment and Detention of George Kumemaro Uno (ddr-densho-1007-1029)

Xeroxed copy. Written by one of Uno's children.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1029/

doc Jim H. Akutsu narrative (ddr-densho-1007-1376)

Akutsu was interned at the Puyallup camp.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1376/

av Interview with Manny Goldberg, part 1 of 6 (ddr-densho-1007-1562)

Goldberg discusses his service on Iwo Jima and Saipan, his work with Nisei, his education at New York University and the University of Michigan, his time at the MISLS, his thoughts on evacuation/internment and the difference in treatment of white and Nisei students at the MISLS. Video starts at 0:36. Loni Ding can be heard asking …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1007-1562/