Wwii Internment Camp Reunion Draws Hundreds

A reunion of Japanese-Americans who were held at World War II internment camps brought hundreds of people - and memories - to Portland over the weekend.

Hiroto Zakoji, 69, who lives in Aloha, Ore., remembers attending Boy Scout meetings at the Portland assembly center - a temporary relocation center where thousands stayed before being shipped off to internment camps.

“One of us would play taps and two others would raise and lower the flag,” Zakoji said. “It was kind of ironic at the time to be doing this.”

Hazel Kusachi, 65, who was born and raised in Hood River, Ore., was sent with her family to Minidoka internment camp near Hunt, Idaho.

“We really did have a sad awakening,” Kusachi said. “It takes you back to when you were a little younger and more carefree, but we grew up very fast.”

The reunion attracted Japanese-Americans from across the nation and six participants from Tokyo.

Most had been interned for three years in any of 10 camps opened in 1942.

For many, it was difficult to remember faces from so long ago.

“I had to look at her name tag before I knew who she was,” said Matsuye Koto, 70, Twin Falls, Idaho, of her 82-year-old friend, Martha Osaki.

They hadn’t seen each other since 1942 when they were interned at a camp in Tulelake, Calif.

But for 90-year-old Kisayo Tamiyasu, the oldest participant, it was easy to find people she knew from her days at Tulelake.

“I remember your parents. I’m the only one of us alive,” Tamiyasu said as two women hugged her.