Monday, March 24, 2008

Manzanar

Mom was cleaning..and found this Manzanar project I did in 4th Grade! Well, it was really dusty, and although we took photos a long time ago, when I did this, it was on film, not digital..so we dusted it off and then I took photos (actually, i threw it away, and then we thought of taking photos...so after glueing it together...I took photos).....










My Grandpa was sent to Manzanar when he was 5 years old. His mom and dad were both sent there, after Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7th 1941. He was first sent to Santa Anita, for sorting, and then his family was taken to the desert near Mount Whitney to Manzanar. It was a very sad chapter in the history of the United States. Over 30,000 Japanese AMERICANS were shipped off without due process to camps to be isolated from America. They told the Americans that this was for their safety. But they suspected these thousands of Americans of being spies for the Japanese Armies. My grandpa had never been to Japan, and his mother was an American citizen. She was born in Long Beach, CA, in 1914. My great Grandpa was from Hiroshima, but came to the US in 1921, during the depression. He worked hard, growing flowers (carnations) and wasn't military or a spy for anyone.
My Grandma was sent to Gila. She was almost sent back to Japan, but they ended up staying in Ca...