Linda Yee: Remembering the Japanese American Internment of WWII

Said Linda, "Before the war we lived in Los Angeles.  I don't have many pictures from that time because our cameras were taken away because people thought the Japanese in America might be spies.  After the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, many American lives changed forever, including our own.  America and Japan were at war.  The Japanese in America were looked upon with suspicion and fear.  People thought they could be spies or the enemy even though they did nothing wrong."

On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 instructing "all persons of Japanese ancestry" to report to specific locations where they were ultimately relocated to camps throughout the country. The Executive Order declared that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast, including all of California and most of Oregon and Washington, except for those in internment camps.

Somewhere between 110,000 - 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were sent to relocation camps. However, the internment was not equally applied throughout the United States.  Japanese living on the West Coast (presumably closest in proximity to Japan) were subject to internment whereas Japanese living in other areas of the country, such as the Midwest, were not.

A map of the United States showing the 10 Japanese-American Relocation Centers, or internment camps.

Linda's grandfather Takeshi Ban (on her father's side) was a minister in Los Angeles, and her grandfather (on her mother's side) was a farmer in Nampa, Idaho.

After the bombs dropped, Linda and her mother Mary fled to Idaho to live with her mother's family.

"It must have been around this time all those years ago that we escaped to Idaho," said Linda. "The rest of my family stayed in Los Angeles and were taken to places and they weren't able to take most of their belongings, not even their pets.  Each family was given a number and no one knew where they were going.  Unlike the Jewish concentration camps, the numbers weren't put on their arm but they were put on tags that hung around their neck."

When Linda asked here mother recently how she felt about the Japanese internment, her mother said, "Well, it wasn't right, but there was nothing I could do."

Linda spoke about the camps and how those interned tried to live normal lives in captivity.  Linda said that despite their confinement, they remained strongly patriotic.

"People do crazy things during times of war.  I hope people, especially young people, can learn from this not to let it happen again."