Saburo Sasaki

SABURO SASAKI
Family # 3831
Camp: Manzanar, CA
Address: 36-7-1

My father came to Hawaii as a labor hand at the age of 17 in 1896. Later he moved to the mainland in 1904. My father returned to Japan to marry my mother and returned to the United States in 1923. They lived in Venice, CA and found work as farm hands for a friend. My two older brothers were born in 1924 and 1926. And I was born in 1934. By now my father was on his own working as a tenant farmer since he could not legally own any land.

After December 7, 1941, things changed drasti­cally. I could not attend school and my parents prepared to evacuate as directed by the United States Government by disposing of all materials considered illegal such as photographs, letters, and firearms. The Christmas of 1941 was probably the worst holiday that I ever had in my life. We were afraid to go out to buy a Christmas tree or gifts for our family. Our New Year’s celebration was especially sad for my parents. Traditionally, it would have been a big celebration with a lot of traditional food, wine, and friends. New Year’s of 1942 was somber and bare. Our very good neighbor, a retired police detective from the Los Angeles Police, offered to store our belongings since we could only take what we could carry with us.

April 28, 1942, we were escorted by military police to board Los Angeles City Transit Buses to a place called Manzanar. At Man­zanar, we shared a 20 foot by 20 foot room with an another family till more rooms were available. The build­ings were bare with tarpaper on the out­side and knotholes in the floor that fell out to let the snakes and other varmint into the room. The winters were very cold and during storms we strung clotheslines to guide us to the bathrooms and the mess halls. The summers were hot and we had to use the same clothes lines system during dust storms. Our dear friend, the retired police detective, shipped to us our stored items and visited us in camp to make sure that we had received our ship­ment. He was the only outside visitor that we ever had during our internment.

October 15, 1945, we traveled by bus to the Los Angeles Union Terminal to catch a Southern Pacific train for Cleveland via Chicago. My dad and I stood for the entire trip from Los Angeles to Chicago. My older brother met us at Chicago and traveled with us to Cleveland in seats that were available. Cleveland was very good to me. I graduated from high school and with the help of a counselor, I was able to attend and graduate from a cooperative engineering school. I met my wife in Cleveland and our best man was a friend that I first met in elementary school in the early days of adjusting to the life after Manaznar. I have volunteered with the local Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) chapter to tell the story of Manzanar in our locale. This enlight­enment will help to prevent such harsh treatment ever again.

My wife Ann and I have volunteered for the National Park Service at Manzanar National Historic Site for several weeks each year. I lead school programs and talk to visitors. In 2007, I participated in a special electronic field trip called MANZANAR: Desert Diamonds Behind Barbed Wire. It was a great opportunity to share my childhood memories at Manzanar with stu­dents today.

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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