Welcome to the Curator's Corner Museum
Monday on the fourth week of the Virtual
Pilgrimage. I am Sarah Bone a park ranger
at Manzanar National Historic Site. I am
also a collateral duty museum assistant.
In the National Park Service one of the
ways we preserve America's stories is to
preserve the items that represent them.
We are grateful that many people have
chosen to donate their family items to
the NPS to preserve the past and educate
present and future generations. This
week's theme is A Question of Loyalty.
We'll be exploring items donated by
Riichi Fuwa in 2017. Riichi and his family
endured a lot during their lifetimes.
They saw happiness and pain. They saw
loyalty and betrayal. But while the US
government betrayed its citizens the
Fuwa Family did not betray the US
government. Riichi Fuwa was born on
December 10, 1918 in Bellevue,
Washington.
His parents Rikizo and Kan had
emigrated from Fukui-ken. The Fuwa
Family had a small tract of land where
they grew strawberries and other items
for the Seattle Market. They used a horse
and their own labor to work the land.
Their neighbors were fellow immigrants
who together purchased the land with the
help of a lawyer. When Riichi was nearly
10 years old, his parents sent him to
Japan to live with his uncle. He would
attend school there for five years.
Riichi remembers enjoying school, but not
the military exercises that became more
frequent as he got older. In 1933 his
father had an operation and was no
longer able to work at their Bellevue
farm. Riichi needed to return to
Washington to help his mother. Rikizo
died three years later.
Riichi's parents had registered his birth
with the Japanese government when he was
born. In 1936 Riichi renounced his
Japanese citizenship and gave his
family's land in Japan to his cousins. In
1940 Riichi and his mother visited Japan
to bury his father's ashes. While he was
there
Riichi remembers being watched by the
Japanese military. He felt that he was
not trusted in Japan. On October 16,
1940, Riichi Fuwa registered for the US
draft. He says he was called up soon
after. After appearing, and passing his
physical, the board deferred him because
he was a farmer -- a critical occupation
during wartime. When he found out about
the Pearl Harbor attack, Riichi felt
that the Japanese government had been
foolish. In the spring of 1942, Kan and
Riichi were sent to Pinedale Assembly
Center. That summer they arrived at Tule
Lake. Riichi worked in construction and
dishwashing, but eventually found a job
farming the camp's fields. He learned how
to use the big agricultural equipment.
Riichi was a young man in Tule Lake it
was a difficult time for everyone, but he
found pleasant distractions. He climbed
Castle Rock, while it was permitted.
He says he went to every dance there was.
He built furniture and his mother made
shell jewelry. Riichi remembers a day in
October 1942 when the Military
Intelligence Service approached him at
Tule Lake. His time in Japan was seen as
beneficial to the US military. He had a
head start on the language knowledge
they would need for the war effort. Riichi
told them he was already deferred,
but would be happy to show up if drafted.
The MIS wanted him to volunteer. He made
an example of his so-called freedom when
he pointed up to the guard towers and
barbed wire fences. He would fight if
drafted, but he would not volunteer from
a prison.
In February 1943, the government
delivered the infamous loyalty
questionnaire to all those incarcerated
at Tule Lake 17 years old and
older. Riichi and his mother filled out
their forms without discussion. Kan was
not fluent in English.
She kept copies of the blank forms in
both English and Japanese that she was
required to fill out in the Block 68
Manager's Office.
Riichi Fuwa answered Question 27, which
read: Are you willing to serve in the
armed forces of the United States on
combat duty, wherever ordered? Riichi
had once again to tell the US military
that he would fight if drafted. He
answered Yes. As for Question 28, it
stated: Will you swear unqualified
allegiance to the United States of
America and faithfully defend the United
States from any or all attack by foreign
or domestic forces, and forswear any
form of allegiance or obedience to the
Japanese Emperor or any other foreign
government, power, or organization? He said
his answer would be wrong either way. He
left it blank. The majority of those
living in Tule Lake who answered Yes to
those questions were sent to other camps.
Those who answered No in other camps
were sent to Tule Lake. In the fall of
1943, Riichi had his friends and neighbors
fill out a memories book as they
departed. With segregation, they were
leaving and he was staying. No one knew
what their futures held. Some of the
messages are reminiscing about dances.
This message reads: I'll remember you as
a man who helped to make the dances at
the "68" Mess Hall
a good one. I hope to see you in the
future. Just one of the cooks at good ole
"68" Mess. Tad Matsumoto. Sme are positive
wishes for the unknown paths each would
take. This message reads: Somehow I feel
this isn't a parting, it just proves we
have made a choice to suit our different
ideas. In the many
years of our friendship we have never
faced the possibility of never seeing
each other yet. How can such a precedent
be broken. So till we meet again. So long.
Tio Kiyokawa.
Finally came the ultimate betrayal by
the United States government to Riichi
Fuwa. They had put him behind barbed wire.
They had forced him to prove his loyalty.
Now Riichi Fuwa would lose his US
citizenship. While he did not talk about
renouncing, he did talk about finding out
when his name was on a list of
renunciants handed out by lawyer Wayne
Collins in 1945. Riichi would not be
allowed to leave Tule Lake until just
before it closed in March 1946. He left
for Sacramento where his mother had
found a job doing housework. He became a
farm laborer. Riichi Fuwa is a loyal man.
He is loyal to his family, having quit
school to keep the family farm running.
He is loyal to his country--he showed up
when his number was called in 1940 and
he showed up again when his number was
called for the Korean War.
Riichi Fuwa proudly said he never
missed an opportunity to vote.
The US government betrayed his US
citizenship. The US government questioned
his loyalty.
Riici Fuwa never questioned his loyalty.
Thank you for joining us for this week's
Curator's Corner. You can learn more about
Manzanar National Historic Site
through our website, our Facebook and
Instagram accounts, and our YouTube
channel. If you have any questions, please
contact me, Sarah Bone, via email.
