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DELTA, Millard County — Of all the fun adventures people like to have in Utah on the weekends, none may be as important as the one Mary Kawakami went on Saturday. The 102-year-old Highland resident said she wouldn't miss it for anything.
“It’s a miracle I’m still here,” Kawakami said.
She made the trip to Millard County not because she's looking for adventure anymore, but because she and Japanese Americans who came with her know how important this history is.
"I think everybody should remember certain places and certain incidents, what happened,” Kawakami said.
Kawakami's group visited the museum thanks to the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). They came to see art created by those who once lived at the World War II-era internment camp.
Topaz is where Japanese Americans were brought during WWII, either for their safety or — probably more accurately — to be kept track of. “Even some Japanese Americans don’t know the details about what happened,” said Raymond Uno, a visitor from Salt Lake City.
Uno's family didn't live at Topaz, but they were forced to live at another camp. “I was in a place called Heart Mountain, Wyoming,” he said.
There were several camps throughout the west during WWII. Uno feels it's a sad moment in United States history.
“It shouldn’t have taken place, but it did take place; and hopefully it’s an education for people that it should not happen again,” Uno said.
The most emotional part of the trip was the visit to the Topaz camp site, where roughly 9,000 people lived. The land is pretty much empty now — no buildings, just old foundations, tattered screens and rusty nails.
But even an empty field has a lot to say; it’s a reminder that this history should never be repeated, or forgotten.
“I think it’s important because they took American citizens, who were loyal to the United States, and questioned their loyalty because of their face and their race,” Uno said.
Saturday's event was organized for the Japanese community's annual Day of Remembrance. According to the JACL, the observance marks the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order granting the U.S. Army permission to "remove civilians from the military zones established in Washington, Oregon, and California during WWII," ultimately leading to the creation of the interment camps.
