Nisei male. Born July 7, 1925, near San Jose. Grew up in Salinas, California, until he went to Japan at the age of thirteen. Studied in Japan until about 1939. Incarcerated at the Salinas Assembly Center, California, and Poston concentration camp, Arizona. Volunteered out of camp to serve in the U.S. military. Fought in Europe as …

Nisei male. Born November 8, 1922, in Sacramento, California. Spent childhood and adolescence in Loomis, California, before spending senior year in high school in Los Angeles, California. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, removed to Marysville Assembly Center, California, and then to Tule Lake concentration camp, California. Resisted the draft and renounced U.S. citizenship, remaining with …

Nisei male. Born June 6, 1930, in Callao, Peru. Grew up in Peru, raised by both parents and grandparents. During World War II, taken with parents to the United States on a U.S. troop transport ship. Lived in the Crystal City internment camp, Texas, until family moved to work at Seabrook, New Jersey, a produce work …

Nisei male. Born December 16, 1916, in Cupertino, California. Attended San Jose State College, where he was an NCAA wrestling champion. Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, tried to enlist in the U.S. Air Corps, but was refused on account of his Japanese ancestry. Was one semester short of earning a business degree when he …

Nisei male. Born September 14, 1924, in Waikiki, Hawaii. Attended McKinley High School, where he was student body president, just prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Served as a language instructor for the U.S. Military Intelligence Service during World War II, and was stationed in Japan during the U.S. occupation. Earned PhD in …

Nisei male. Born June 7, 1929, in Merced, California. Grew up in Mount Eden, California, and was removed to the Tanforan Assembly Center, California, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Incarcerated at the Topaz concentration camp in Utah, then moved to Tule Lake concentration camp after family volunteered to move to Japan. While at Tule Lake, …

Nisei female. Born March 29, 1918, in Seattle, Washington, and spent childhood in Medina and Bellevue, Washington. While in high school was a member of the Bellevue Strawberry Festival's Queen's Court. In 1939 married Kenji Ito, a prominent Japanese American lawyer who practiced in Seattle. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, recounts her experiences as her …

Nisei female. Born August 18, 1925 in Tacoma, Washington. Raised in Seattle, Washington, where family operated a grocery store. Attended Washington Grammar School and Garfield High School in Seattle. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, father was arrested by the FBI and sent to Missoula internment camp, Montana. Family was removed to Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, …

Nisei male. Born April 20, 1926, in San Diego, California. Grew up in Terminal Island, California, where father was a fisherman. During World War II, removed with family to the Santa Anita Assembly Center, California, and the Heart Mountain concentration camp, Wyoming. Family was transferred to Tule Lake in response to father's answers on the so-called …

Nisei male. Born October 19, 1916, in Hood River, Oregon. Earned a law degree from the University of Oregon law school and was practicing law prior to World War II. In 1942, deliberately defied the curfew imposed upon Japanese Americans in Portland, Oregon, and was arrested. His case was tried, and he was sentenced to one …

Nisei male. Born February 23, 1933, in Tokyo, Japan. Moved with parents to Hawaii at a young age, and grew up in Honolulu, where family held a prominent position in the community. Just prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, parents received a phone call from Japan, which was tapped by the FBI. The U.S. government …

Nisei male, born June 21, 1920, in Compton, California. Raised on a farm in Lawndale, California. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, his father was picked up by FBI and detained at a Department of Justice (DOJ) internment camp in Lordsburg, New Mexico. His family voluntarily moved to Visalia, California, then was forcibly moved to Poston …

Nisei male. Born August 1, 1933, in Ookala, Hawaii. At a young age, sent to Japan to live with grandfather and begin ministry training, but returned to the U.S. just before the onset of World War II. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, father, a prominent Buddhist minister, was picked up and arrested by the FBI. …

Nisei male. Born March 1, 1915, in Los Angeles, California. Spent prewar childhood in Long Beach, California, but attended grade school and junior high in Japan. Returned to the United States to attend high school. In 1941, was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Camp Roberts, San Luis Obispo, California for basic training. Was …

Nisei male. Born May 9, 1922, in Portland, Oregon. Moved to Seattle with father after parents divorced. Grew up in Seattle's Nihonmachi where father ran a secondhand store. Disinterested in college after seeing a lack of employment opportunities for graduating Japanese Americans. Went to work for Great Northern Railway, laying and maintaining tracks on the West …

Nisei female born April 6, 1915, in Seattle, Washington's International District. At an early age became active in the Japanese Baptist Church. Parents owned and operated a dairy plant called White River Dairy. Was a student at the Baptist Missionary Training School in Chicago, Illinois. Took a group of young women on an eye-opening trip to …

Nisei-han male. Born January 2, 1936, in Portland, Oregon, where father worked for the railroad. During World War II, removed to the Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After leaving camp, family moved to a small community outside of Spokane, Washington, to farm. Went to UC Berkeley and Caltech, then taught at …

Elaine Kim and Bill Tashima interviewed Kathryn Bannai. Kathryn Bannai was the lead counsel in Gordon Hirabayashi's coram nobis case (1983 – February 1985). Among other critical work, she successfully defeated the government's effort to dismiss Hirabayashi's case, which led to overturning Hirabayashi's convictions for resisting the curfew and exclusion orders promulgated under E.O. 9066. Bannai …

Nisei male. Born May 1, 1913, in Laguna, California. Lived in Japan from childhood through teenage years, before returning to the United States during high school. Incarcerated in the Santa Anita Assembly Center, California, and the Jerome concentration camp, Arkansas. Volunteered for the U.S. army in 1942, and was inducted in the Military Intelligence Service. Selected …

Kibei-Nisei male. Born January 20, 1916, in Alameda, California. At the age of five, family returned to live in Japan. Attended school in Japan before returning to the U.S. in 1937. Drafted into the U.S. Army, and was in training when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Resisted military orders while in basic training, …

Nisei male. Born March 16, 1929, in Puyallup, Washington. Grew up in the Sumner, Washington, area, where parents had a produce business. During World War II, removed with family to the Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and the Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. After the war, attended the University of Washington and the University of Southern California. Established …

Nisei female. Born November 3, 1918, in San Francisco, California. As a young woman, entire family visited Japan for ten months, where she acquired the skill of Japanese typing at the Kumahira Typist Yoseisho in Hiroshima. Returned to the U.S. with most of her family (eldest brother remained in Japan) and was working at the Japanese …

Nisei male. Born April 28, 1929, in Seattle, Washington. Incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center and Minidoka concentration camp, Idaho. Had some key childhood experiences with discrimination that made him a self-described, "independent thinker," and later, an influential figure in the Japanese American community. While a teenager in camp, he wrote and defended an essay criticizing the …

Nisei female. November 25, 1909, in Seattle, Washington. Father established one of the largest oyster companies in the United States prior to World War II. Graduated from Garfield High School, the University of Washington, and then the Pacific School of Religion where she earned a master's degree in religious education. At the outbreak of WWII, assisted …

Nisei male. Born November 30, 1918, in Yakima, Washington. Spent two years of childhood in Japan. Returned to Seattle and became an active participant in Japanese American community life. Was attending the University of Washington when World War II started. Avoided incarceration with the help of the Friends (a Quaker organization), which hid him and helped …