Bo T. Sakaguchi

BO T. SAKAGUCHI
Family # 3751
Camp: Manzanar, CA
Address: 11-7-3

Mother and father came to the United States in 1913. We were vegetable farmers. I had three older brothers and three older sisters who were medical and dental students and attending universities. The children were all born in California.

I was attending North Hollywood High School. I was past president of the scholarship society and just voted in as a service club member.

We had a forced “sale” of our planted crops and farm equipment at great loss. We had about one month to sell. We stored personal things in our farm shed. It was later broken into.

We were told to take whatever fit in one suitcase and also warned to take warm clothes. The most difficult things to leave behind were childhood school friends and freedom.

The family became separated – one brother was in Gila, AZ; one in Je­rome, AR, and one at Marquette Uni­versity in Wisconsin. Mother, father, my three sisters, and I want to camp at Manzanar.

The day we were boarding buses to go to Manzanar, it started to rain. The lady standing near us said even the sky was crying.

We had a long quiet bus ride. Very quiet. We didn’t know what to anticipate or ex­pect. We lived in 11-7­-3. The room was dusty, cramped, and shared with another couple. We had a hay stuffed mattress and army cot for a bed. There was no privacy in bathing or toilet facilities. There was a common mess hall and you waited in line. School was poor compared to my former school. The teachers were not qualified and facilities were poor. I was quiet and an above average student, but was not enthused.

I enjoyed hanging out with fellow students and “block friends.” I learned to knit three sweaters while listening to the radio at night.

Our senior class advisor always tried to lift our spirits and told us not give up or “lose our fght.” She was a great young lady – Janet Olincy Goldberg.

I left camp to accompany my father to Salt Lake City for his cancer treatments. As an evacuee in Salt Lake City, I was yelled at by young kids, “Go home Japs.”

We had a feeling of being second-class citizens. I was even classified an enemy alien – 4C for the draft at 18 years old, even though I was a citizen of the US.

Later, I joined my brother in Chicago, IL. I passed a physical in 1944 for the military. I funked it at Fort Douglas, UT. I was 4F until redrafted into the army one week after VJ Day.

My parents encouraged education and advanced degrees. I was accepted into UCLA for summer term 1945. We – all Asians – could not join any dental school fraternities on the West Coast.

We tried to forget that experience of camp until the redress movement awakened us. I always felt like second-class citizens and inferior even after graduating University of Southern California School of Dentistry and a successful career of 42 years. I finally felt like an equal citizen when we received our letter of apology signed by President Reagan. Our great regret was that too many passed away without receiving this apology for our shabby treatment during WWII by the US Federal Government even though our rights are guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

My advice to students is that life is full of adversi­ties and challenges and to aim for a higher goal for your future. Study and work hard, always giving your best effort and you should succeed.

Wind and Dust
This wind and dust I have to bear
How hard it blows I do not care.
But when the wind begins to blow –­
My morale is pretty low.
I know that I can see it through
Because others have to bear it too.
So I will bear it with the rest
And hope the outcome is the best.
– George Nishimura, age 16 (Manzanar, 1943)

Read this to learn more about the demographics of each of the ten facilities administered by the War Relocation Authority.

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