Joe Nagano

JOE NAGANO
Family # 5075
Camp: Manzanar, CA
Address: 14-12-4

Father, Sanezumi Nagano, arrived in the U.S. from Kochi, Japan in 1906. In 1918 Sanezumi returned to Japan and in the following year, 1919, he mar­ried Umeko Terauchi. Upon returning to the U.S. he worked for the Japanese Christian Church as the church secretary. He then turned to a new endeavor as a flower grower. I was born in an apartment in the church via a midwife. Also in the family were another son, Towru, and a daughter, Masako.

I attended high school with budding movie celebrities. Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, and Werner Klemperer attended University High School. I played tennis with Peter Viertel who married Deborah Kerr. I graduated from high school in 1938. Tennis was my pastime.I was attending UCLA as a chemistry major when Pearl Harbor was bombed. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor we were very apprehensive and stayed close to home. Some people became unfriendly and hos­tile, particularly on busses. Close friends were unchanged.

We had four to six weeks before reporting for relocation. The fur­niture was stored in our home and rent­ed out. Our Model A Ford was sold. Longtime friends cared for home and collected rent. I took primarily clothing, albums, and valuable books. The most difficult things to leave behind were the radio, sword collection, knives, and friends. Later I was not able to retrieve the things left behind. We did not know what the future held. There was a tearful separation from our friends in the neighborhood.

We, mother, father, sister, brother, and myself were bussed to Manzanar. It was my first trip beyond 50 miles from Los Angeles. It was a six hour bus ride. There was a flat tire on the bus in the desert. We arrived at 3 pm. April 26, 1942.

We lived in Block 14, Barrack 12, Apartment 4. The first impression was that it was a cold, stark, barren site. Our baggage was placed on sandy ground. Our cous­ins met us and helped us to our room. Our friends were scattered around several blocks.

I was working in public works, water supply and waste treatment. I enjoyed dancing, baseball, and playing cards. I had my first date ever in camp. It was my first date, my first job, and first telephone.

I remember the teachers who helped me relocate to college. I left Manzanar in January 1943 to go to college at Illinois Institute of Technology as a chemistry major in Chicago, after being accepted and then turned down at Juniata College in Penn­sylvania.

I was a normal, outgoing, happy, and quiet. Going to church services lifted my spirits.

My horizons were greatly broadened. I worked at my first job, I saw the High Sierra, and I went to Chicago, earned a living, and graduated from college, and got my first job as a chemist in Chicago. It was difficult to earn your way through college.

I was drafted in January 1945 and trained at Camp Robinson in Arkansas. I went to Military Intelli­gence Language School in Minneapolis and served one year in occupation in Japan.

I returned to Los Angeles in 1947 after service and there was some adverse reaction about getting a job in civil service. My goal was one step at a time, by a career in civil service for the city of Los Angeles. I worked for 33 years in sanitation, as a chemist, as chief chemist, and as laboratory director at the Hyperion Treatment Plant.

I just tried to do the best I could, day by day, come what may and it worked out very well for me. My advice to a young student would be to work hard and honestly, continue your education, and promotional opportunities will come naturally.

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.

Back to ID booklet main page.