Letters Jan. 19

Time to look back

Today we have Donald Trump, who wants to round-up all the Muslims and put them in a camp. Talk about timing. About a week ago, when I received the January-February 2017 edition of the Smithsonian, I turned to page 88, and up pops an article, entitled American-Incarceration, that hit home.

The article contained personal stories about the 120,000 Japanese-Americans during WWII that were rounded-up and put into “detention” camps. Some of these camps were located on the east side of Washington state and even Idaho.

It hit home because one of my late husband, Jim Nebel’s, very best friends and his wife were Japanese-Americans. Both of them and their family members were very affected by this country’s WWII reactions towards Japanese-Americans. Jim’s best friend, who was also his co-worker, Shiro Okazaki, worked with him at the Whitman County Health Department. Shiro’s wife Rose worked for Washington State University as a research technician for 30 years.

After reading the article, I sent a letter and the Smithsonian magazine to their son Bill and asked him how his parents and family were affected during WWII. In response, about a week later, I received not only the Smithsonian magazine back, but Bill enclosed a letter explaining what happened to them.

Here’s what he wrote:

“As I understand it, any persons of Japanese ancestry living east of the Columbia River in Washington at the time of the relocation did not have to be interned. Because Shiro was attending WSU (the State College of Washington as it was then known), he did not have to go into the camps, but was allowed to continue his final senior year. He volunteered for the U.S. Army’s Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team that served in Europe, but was not accepted due to his poor eyesight.”

But, also enclosed was a book published in 2005 entitled “Nisei Cadet Nurse of World War II - Patriotism in Spite of Prejudice” by Thelma Robinson. In that book, page 128 was tagged by Bill.

It was the personal story of Rose’s sister Sharon Tanagi and their mother who were first deterred at the Puyallup Assembly Center in Washington. The second move was four months later to the Minidoka Relocation Center (Camp) in Idaho. Sharon dearly wanted to go into nursing but no one knew how long they would remain in detention. Finally, a Catholic priest at the center gave Sharon information about the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corp. The book continues with the long tough road ahead, especially when all the Japanese-Americans were stripped of all monetary resources, including their homes and property.

But, Sharon finally got her nursing degree from University of Washington and worked as a public health nurse, then returned to U of W to obtain a degree in education and finally a master’s degree in nursing science.

This was one of several stories in the book that Shiro’s son Bill asked me to donate to the public library. Now, here’s another local story that was not told in either the magazine or the book, which was the Shiro and Rose Okazaki story.

As mentioned, Shiro and Rose became our friends while working at the Whitman County Health Department. Shiro ran the laboratory and Jim worked in environmental health. Through many visits with them, we learned that the land located off SR195 and the turn off junction to Pullman was freely given to the Okazakis by a kind local farmer, because of the fact that Japanese-Americans could not own land. The location was perfect as it was close to where Rose worked at WSU and Shiro worked in Colfax at the health department. I can’t count the number of times that Jim and Shiro not only helped each other, but helped many others in Whitman County.

One thing to point out is that in Bill’s note to me, he mentioned that way back when Japanese-Americans were being rounded-up following WWII, Rose was in her final year of college at the University of Washington, she was “allowed” to move to Pullman, where she graduated from WSU in 1943.

It was at WSU were Shiro graduated in bacteriology and public health and met and married Rose (Tanagi) Okazaki.

As for Rose’s time at WSU – all you have to do is Google her name and up popped several science articles she co-authored while working at Washington State University in the Soils Section of the Agronomy Dept for 30 years. Especially noted was her work on an abstract called “electron microprobe analysis of glass shards” regarding effects from the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

It was truly sad when Rose passed in January, 2010. Not long after, Shiro passed in January, 2013.

Both memorial services were held at the same church, Greystone Presbyterian Church in Pullman, where they were married in 1942.

But, before Shiro died, his mission was to tear down their home and out-buildings completely and return the land back to the farmer who gave it to them with the kindness of his heart.

America! Where is the kindness of our hearts - Treat all with Preciousness not Prejudice-ness!

As for the book “Nisei Cadet Nurse of World War II - Patriotism in Spite of Prejudice” by Thelma Robinson – it now has a home at the Whitman County Library in Colfax and I discovered that a copy is available at the WSU Library.

Diane Nebel,

Rosalia

Drivers at fault

I am 68 years old and have lived in the Palouse all my life. I commuted to Spokane every work day on 195 for ten years. I have encountered lots of inattentive drivers who had to be somewhere else faster than me. I drive to conditions of weather and stay focused to changing conditions. They can happen fast, and it only takes a second of screwing with the radio, checking the heat, looking at GPS, texting or talking on a cell. All of which can be fatal to them and to other drivers sharing the same road. I drive the speed limit and maybe a little more when roads will warrant it. But I cannot drive anywhere any more without being passed by someone.

These include 95, 27, 195 or 26. My observation is younger people driving ten or more mph over the posted limit. I submit it is not the university, it is not the police, it is not the roads. It is people that are distracted and driving too fast for conditions.

Paul Peringer,

Garfield

Disgusted

On Wednesday night, Jan. 11, an amendment to a bill, urging the Federal Government to allow Americans to purchase pharmaceutical drugs from Canada was voted down with the help of our “liberal” Senators Murray and Cantwell. (It is clear that pharmaceutical drugs in Canada can be up to five times less expensive than those on the market in the United States.) I am so disgusted with our senators’ votes because they ignored the welfare and health of the American people, who overwhelmingly support this amendment.

I think citizens of Washington state should demand an explanation, as I believe our senators didn’t listen to us. The vote was 46-52, with 13 Democrats voting against it. Are Senators Murray and Cantwell more concerned about their donors than the people they represent? Maybe Democrats should run people who are more progressive against Cantwell and Murray in future primaries. We don’t want to continue to make the mistakes of 2016 of not listening to the people.

Nancy Street,

Cheney