AUGUST 23, 2016 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
John Suzukida

President Chuck Whitaker brought the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. on a humid summer day in downtown Saint Paul. David Laird led the assembled Rotarians in singing accompanied by Doug Hartford on the piano. Nancy Brady provided today's Inspirational Minute. Nancy McKillips facilitated the introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests. Today's Greeters were Carla Hauge and John Chandler. 


President Chuck reminded Club 10 members that Thursday Fellowship Breakfasts are great opportunities to get to know our fellow members and that this week's speaker is Scott Van. He encouraged all to come and meet Scott. Chuck then asked Kristin Montpetit to preview the Holiday Party on Thursday, December 8th at the University Club. Start thinking of those Silent Auction items! Jay Pfaender highlighted items in the media especially driverless cars and used this as a preview for the September 27th speaker from the University of Minnesota. Nancy McKillips collected Happy Dollars.

Jay then introduced today's speaker, John Suzukida, Arden Hills/Shoreview Rotary club member and past-president of that Club. Mr. Suzukida came to provide a very personal perspective on the story of Japanese-Americans who were placed in internment camps without charges or trial during World War Two. Members of his family were placed in these camps being forced to move with no more than 48 hours advance notice. Mr. Suzukida has a mission to help avoid repeating mistakes of history by using a factual book compiled by his parents during and after the war. He does not purport to be a historian and is not an expert on this topic. The story he presented is more of a personal story from his family's first-hand witness perspective.

After the "Day of Infamy," December 7, 1941, the West Coast was declared a "Theater of War" on December 11. Executive Order 9066 issued by President Franklin Roosevelt allowed the military to "exclude" anyone from anywhere without trials or hearings. Mr. Suzukida's family lived on Terminal Island near Los Angeles Harbor. Residents were told they must leave the area within 48 hours and report to assembly centers around the West. From there, they would be taken to one of ten internment camps in the western United States. Posters ordering 120,000 "alien and non-alien residents of Japanese ancestry" appeared prominently on the West Coast. Mr. Suzukida explained that "Issei" (Eee-say) were first generation Japanese immigrants, all of whom were denied U.S. citizenship due to being Japanese. "Nisei" (Nee-say) were second generation, born in the United States. His grandparents were Issei and his parents were Nisei. Both Nisei and Issei were incarcerated even though Nisei held United States citizenship and all the rights of a citizen (these were the "non-aliens" referred to in the posted orders).

Mr. Suzukida's father owned a restaurant in Los Angeles. This was before he was married. Immediately after the exclusion orders were issued, a plate glass window of the restaurant was smashed. The words: "Open season on Japs. We are at war with Japan," were painted on the restaurant walls. Although many loyal restaurant customers tried to patronize the restaurant to show solidarity with the family, his father realized he needed to sell immediately for the best price he could receive (a marginal value) since the State revoked his licenses. The Federal government took steps to freeze bank accounts of those being sent to the camps. Families were assigned a number by the military. His family’s number was 18257. Each person could carry two assigned bags of belongings. Mr. Suzukida still has one of the bags that he displayed which had this number on it with his uncle's name printed on it.

On May 1, 1942, his family entered the Santa Anita racetrack facility. It was renamed the "Santa Anita Assembly Center" featuring armed guard towers. Quakers came to help those interned while other people came to be predators of property from those held. From an Assembly Center, his mother’s family was sent to Poston, AZ. After eight month's, his mother was accepted to the Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. On October 10, 1942, his mother was provided with a train ticket and $25 cash to travel to attend the seminary. She graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity degree, helped families in the camps during the war and later spent her life in church activities. After the war, his parents became reacquainted in Chicago and married. Regarding his parents' post-war experiences, Mr. Suzukida said that his father was an insurance agent for Lincoln National Life although he was discriminated against in application for many post-war positions.  His parents chose to live in a non-Japanese/American community, Skokie, Illinois. They sent five children through college.

Mr. Suzukida related experiences of others interned in the camps. Nisei from the internment camps were recruited to join the 442nd Combat Team and 100th Battalion which was an all Japanese-American combat group from territorial Hawaii. Twenty-three thousand Nisei volunteered to prove their loyalty to the United States. In October 1944, the 442nd Combat Team went to rescue the "Lost Battalion," a unit of the Texas 36th Infantry division in France's Vosges Mountains. In doing so the 442nd Combat Team became the most decorated unit in American history with eight Presidential Unit Citations and 300% casualties. One American general stated: "The Nisei shortened the war by two years." In Minnesota, at Camp Savage, a training program was a started to train Japanese-American soldiers to speak Japanese to help with the war effort. Camp Savage has a marker about those recruited to learn Japanese including many from the internment camps. It was felt that Camp Savage was a more amenable environment than other locations for Japanese language training.

Mr. Suzukida's father summarized the family's World War Two experience this way: "Our circumstances were a result of our own [country's] immaturity as a democracy.... I was enriched by the camp experiences and I am not bitter towards any person or the country of my birth." His father became a Rotarian and Paul Harris fellow. Upon leaving the internment camp, he was given $50 and a railroad ticket. Mr. Suzukida's mother was given $25 and a railroad ticket after eight months (then helped those released settle). He cites these as further examples of the "Greatest Generation" doing what it could to get through World War Two.

President Chuck thanked Mr. Suzukida for his presentation, presented a Club 10 banner for the Arden Hills/Shoreview Club and noted that a donation would be made in his name to the Saint Paul Public Library's "Reading Together" program. President Chuck rang the bell to close the meeting at 1:12 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Chuck Standfuss, Scribe