Located on the traditional land of the Southern Paiute, Goshute, and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) people.
1943 Ramblings
1944 Ramblings
1945 Ramblings
On April 11, 1943 at the Topaz incarceration camp a guard shot and killed James Hatsuaki Wakasa, a 63-year-old bachelor with no known family. Wakasa was accused of not heeding a guard’s request to stay away from the fence. Several weeks later some of the issei inmates erected a monument on the spot where Wakasa was killed. When the camp administrators found out about the monument they forced the issei to tear it down. Instead of destroying the monument, they buried it as an act of defiance.
78 years later, it was found.
For more information:
The Wakasa Incident | WRA file
The Demolished Monument | 50 Objects
A Story Meant to Be Found | Discover Nikkei
Shot and Killed in 1943 | Discover Nikkei
Reclaiming History | Discover Nikkei
Memories on the Landscape in 2020 | Discover Nikkei
Epilogue—The Persistance of Memory | Discover Nikkei