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Community Directory - Articles |
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by
Gerald
Fecht
Almost
gone now
are the
fleeting
memories
of that
fateful
March
morning
in 1942,
when a
somber
and
mysterious
parade
of
vehicles
headed
northward
across
the San
Fernando
Valley.
The long
line of
farm
trucks
and
weathered
cars
left
Griffith
Park
exactly
at dawn,
accompanied
by
worried
young
military
policemen
in
American
Army
trucks.
Women in
veiled
hats and
their
best
cloth
coats
looked
fearfully
from the
windows
of the
vehicles,
while
children
still
confused
from
their
incomplete
sleep
stared
into the
first
light of
the day.
From
Tuna
Canyon
more
vehicles
would
join the
caravan
on its
way
toward
the
treacherous
Grape
Vine
pass
into
California's
Central
Valley.
Four
months
before,
the
forces
of
Imperial
Japan on
another
fateful
dawn,
had
attacked
the
American
naval
fleet in
Pearl
Harbor,
Hawaii.
And,
suddenly
generation
of
Japanese,
many of
who were
American
citizens,
found
themselves
unwelcome
in the
places
that
once
valued
those
workers
for
their
work
ethic
and
farming
skills.
On the
mainland,
especially
along
the West
Coast,
Japanese
families
found
themselves
aliens
in the
land
they had
come to
believe
was
their
own.
A
century
earlier
Spanish
colonists
and
missionaries
brought
fruit
trees
with
them to
California,
but it
wasn't
until
the
coming
of the
railroads
that
large
scale
farming
became a
reality.
Gradually,
the
owners
of the
San
Fernando
Valley's
large
wheat
farms
realized
that the
area's
mild
climate
and
natural
springs
could
sustain
great
orchards
to bring
fruits
to the
winter
wrapped
states
of the
American
Midwest
and
Eastern
seaboard.
All
then, it
would
take
workers
who knew
how to
plant
peaches,
plums,
apricots,
walnuts
and
table
grapes.
Youthful,
single
Japanese
workers
fit the
bill.
Out of
the
24,326
Japanese
workers
brought
to
California
in 1900,
only 410
were
women.
But, it
wasn't
long
before
farm
workers
began to
save
their
meager
earnings
to find
"picture
brides"
to share
their
lives in
America.
As the
1920s
"roared"
and the
1930s
recoiled
into the
Great
Depression,
small
family
vegetable
farms
emerged
in the
Eastern
parts of
the San
Fernando
Valley.
The
city's
central
produce
market's
demand
for
fresh
fruits
and
vegetables
grew
right
along
with the
population.
With a
heritage
of
farming
on
limited
spaces,
Japanese-American
and
emigrant
farmers
were
especially
suited
for
specialized
truck-farming.
Through
hard
work and
frugality,
Japanese
family
owned
farms
prospered.
Most of
those
truck-farmers
entered
into the
mainstream
American
culture,
but
others
tried to
hold on
to old
world
traditions
such as
the
martial
arts,
Japanese
dance
and the
Buddhist
and
Shino
faiths.
The
Japanese
Empire's
attack
on Pearl
Harbor
in
December
of 1941
changed
most of
these
farm
families'
lives
forever.
In
December
of 1941
ordinary
Valley
residents
had more
to worry
about
than the
holiday
presents
that
would
buy at
Rathburn's
Department
Store.
They now
spoke in
hushed
tones
about
Japan's
plans to
bomb the
air
plane
factories
in
Burbank
or their
homes.
Fear of
invasion
was very
real to
Californians.
By the
New
Year,
politicians
were
demanding
additional
protection
from the
Federal
Government.
What
would be
done
about
the
possible
sabotage
of
Japanese
living
in the
West?
The
answer -
on
February
19th,
1942,
President
Franklin
Roosevelt
signed
an order
resulting
in the
ultimate
internment
of over
120,000
adults
and
children
of
Japanese
ancestry.
Two
thirds
of those
interned
were
American
citizens.
Arrests
of
suspicious
Japanese
men came
quickly,
followed
by
notices
to
families
that
they
were to
pack
only
personal
necessities
and
report
to
specific
locations
within a
matter
of days.
For
Japanese
families
in the
San
Fernando
Valley,
that
location
was at
the west
end of
Griffith
Park, at
the Los
Angeles
County
drunk
farm
where
Travel
Town
stands
today.
From
that sad
"assembly
center"
the long
caravan
to
Manzanar
and
other
concentration
camps
emerged.
Only
54,127
of the
Japanese
who
experienced
the
internment
returned
to the
West
coast
after
the war.
Those
who once
lived in
the San
Fernando
Valley
lost
everything.
In the
Manzanar
camp,
Japanese-American
boys
from Los
Angeles
created
a
"Cracker
Jack"
baseball
team
called
the San
Fernando
Valley
Aces.
When the
opportunity
arose
many of
those
same
boys
joined
the
442nd
Regimental
Combat
Team to
fight in
Europe
for
their
country.
No one
can deny
the
loyalty
of
Japanese-American
soldiers
who won:
21
Medals
of Honor,
53
Distinguished
Service
Crosses.
580
Silver
Star,
4,000
Bronze
Stars
and 12
French
Croix de
Guerres.
With the
war
over,
and
little
recognition
of their
wartime
experiences
many
Japanese-Americans
returned
to the
San
Fernando
Valley.
With
their
family
farms
gone,
they
took
jobs as
laborers
and
gardeners.
As
soon as
they
were
able,
they and
their
kids
enrolled
in the
Valley's
new
"junior
colleges"
(LA
Valley
and
Pierce),
and
entered
upper
division
universities
such as
USC and
UCLA.
Today,
Japanese-Americans
are
among
the best
educated
and
financially
successful
people
in our
nation.
In 1951,
they
also
began to
attend
to their
unique
heritage.
They
opened
the San
Fernando
Valley
Japanese-American
Community
Center,
that now
serves
18
community
organizations
and over
1,000
Valley
families.
The
SFVJACC
is
located
at:
12953
Branford
Street
in
Pacoima.
*******************************************
Gerald
R. Fecht,
Ph.D.
President
Anchor
Education
Foundation
21031
Ventura
Blvd.,
Suite
419
Woodland
Hills,
CA 91364
818.347.9665
http://www.anchoreducationfoundation.org
*******************************************
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