Grace Shinoda Nakamura

GRACE SHINODA NAKAMURA
Family # 2083
Camp: Manzanar, CA
Address: 29-7-4

My father, Kiyoshi, came to the USA when he was 12. My father graduated form UC Berkeley as an electrical engineer.

My mother Hide Watanabe came with her mother and father, who was a librarian, when she was one. My mother graduated from Woodbury College. My father and mother were members of the Union Church of Los Angeles. They met and were married there. My brother Lawrence and I were baptized there. My dad died when I was six and Larry three.

We heard of Pearl Harbor on the car radio as we were re­turning home from church on December 7, 1941.

We were American citizens and were shocked with disbe­lief when President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Or­der 9066 ordering all persons of Japanese ancestry to evacuate from the West Coast. (Not a single person of Japanese ances­try in the USA or its territories was ever convicted of a disloyal act to this day.)

My brother was 12 and I was 15. We had one week to take care of all our belongings – our home, car, pet, etc. because we could only take what we could carry. Our destination and how long we would be gone was unknown.

What would you take?

We each crammed a duffel bag with personal necessities, clothes, blankets, towels. I took my Bible, watercolor paint box and brush, and a small sketch pad.

Early on the morning of May 16, 1942 our neighbor drove us to the LA Union Station. Among the hundreds of evacuees, I will never forget the young father and mother, dressed in their Sunday best, with two toddlers hanging on their mother’s coat and baby twins cradled, one on each arm. All four were crying! The young father had diapers and blankets strapped to his back and two oversized suitcases, one in each hand with belongings for all six of them.

The shades were drawn on the train windows, and we were surrounded by soldiers with guns. No food or drinks were provided for the journey.

We arrived at Manzanar at dusk. We were issued a muslin bag and instructed to stuff it with straw for our mattress. Larry said, “I feel like the baby Jesus ’asleep in the hay.” We only had beds and no other fur­niture. There were seven of us: our mater­nal grandmother, my mom’s brother Dr. Tom Watanabe, M.D., one of the camp doctors, her two sisters, and us.

The wind and dust came through the cracks in the tarpaper, knot holes, and the wide cracks in the floor. Later we moved to Block 29, Barrack 7, Apartment 4 next to the hospital, but far from our school at the opposite corner of the camp.

At school we sat on the floors with dust coming up from the cracks so thick we couldn’t see each other. Many months later we got camp-made wooden benches.

Larry designed for Mom and Grandma two reclin­ing back chairs with arm rests made from recycled wooden creates used to box toilets. They became a camp “sensation” with many admiring spectators who came to see. Larry became a world-renowned transportation designer whose designs, like the Corvette, are still admired.

In December 1942 a huge protest took place in camp because government employees were stealing food designated for the internees. I ran and became one of the curious spectators. The MP fired shots into the defenseless crowd. A classmate, Jimmy Ito, was shot and killed. It was a terrifying experience.

Spring 1944 Mom, Larry, and I left Manzanar on a bus to Reno, NV where we boarded a train for Grand Junction, CO. Mom went to help our paternal grandfather who had a stroke. Some of the family had escaped incarceration by leaving California. They had a sugar beet and dairy farm. Larry and I went to the local school. We had a pond on the farm which froze over and what fun we had on borrowed ice skates until the bull “charged us” and we escaped by climbing into the corn crib.

I will be forever grateful to the Quakers American Friends Service Japanese American Student Re­location Project. It gave me a scholarship to the University of Redlands, CA. I was the first Japanese American college student to return to California. I graduated with honors, and the next day started a teaching career in the Pasadena School Dis­trict. I was the first Japanese American hired.

I received two master’s degrees and continued a rewarding career in education and fine arts. I married Yosh Nakamura, a college professor of art, and we have three children; Linda, an immigration lawyer, Daniel, an electrical engineer/computer scientist, and Joel, an internationally recognized artist.

We have had seven “A Family Creates” Art Exhibitions. The seventh was at the University of Redlands Peppers Art Gallery, with all eight of us: all five Nakamuras, kids’ spouses and Larry. I remain a teacher, learner, and helper to others. I hope my ID Card helped you understand my Man­zanar experience.

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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