Jun Okimoto: The Manzaknights, a Firebreak Graduation and a Model of the Camp

Manzanar National Historic Site publishes short "ID booklets" on Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. This is Jun Okimoto's first-person account, retold in hubnx's own words.

Family No. 3690 · Manzanar, California · Address 31-1-4

Glendale

The Okimotos lived in Glendale, California. Jun's father was a gardener, and his mother ran a boarding house for men who worked at fruit stands and as gardeners. Jun went to Hoover High School and ran track and played football.

Each person could take only two suitcases or bundles they could carry, so the family abandoned their icebox, stove, furniture and more. Jun handed his .22 rifle in to the Glendale police. They rode to Manzanar in brand-new school buses from the Glendale train station, one military policeman per bus — Jun made friends with theirs, and they ate their sack lunches together. As they pulled in, people lined up to watch; they looked grimy and worn, in a place of wind and dust with no greenery at all.

School

Jun's class of 1943 was the first to graduate from Manzanar High School, outdoors in a firebreak, since no building was big enough. He calls himself a terrible student: locked up, he saw no future and skipped classes — until Mr. Murakami, the truant officer, caught him. Without him, Jun says, he probably wouldn't have graduated. His favourite teacher, Mrs. Pusey, taught social studies; she came from where the Kentucky Derby is run, talked about horses and even bet on them, which kept him listening.

The Manzaknights

The best thing that happened to him was the boys' club, the Manzaknights — more than 50 boys, with three advisers: Shiro (Shi) Nomura, Joe ("Mexican") Okabe and Yo Ishida. Sport mattered enormously in camp: a hardball team coached by Min Watanabe, softball teams, and basketball for nearly everyone, Jun included, with uniforms mostly ordered from the Sears Roebuck catalogue, the "wish book". He learned to date, and the kids taught each other to jitterbug. The club staged a talent show in a mess hall at 25 cents a head, a big success, and used the money to sponsor a movie night in the firebreak: Higher and Higher, with Frank Sinatra, whose singing made all the girls swoon.

Leaving

In summer 1944 Jun left to work as a gardener at Medinah Country Club, 20 miles west of Chicago. Passing through Chicago — the tall buildings, the bustle — changed how he saw things; without the evacuation, he says, he might never have left Glendale. He returned to camp when the contract ended, then moved for good to Kenosha, Wisconsin, making army cots in a furniture factory. When the war ended so did the job. Back in California he worked as a gardener and eventually founded Unique Plant Rentals, renting live plants to offices, restaurants and banks.

Growing up, Jun says, he hated being Japanese — the dancing, martial arts, Japanese school and customs — and even resented his parents for it, because of the prejudice all around. He wished he had been born white.

A model citizen

In spring 2004, Jun and a dozen friends from Manzanar High's classes of 1943, 1944 and 1945 built a detailed scale model of the camp, volunteering more than a thousand hours. It is on permanent display at Manzanar National Historic Site.

Sources

• National Park Service, Manzanar National Historic Site, "Jun Okimoto," an ID booklet. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/jun-okimoto.htm
• More: Manzanar ID booklets.
• Words on this page from people and organisations outside the federal government are paraphrased; rewritten in hubnx's own words.