PAULINE SAKAHARA

Pauline Sakahara was born in Seattle, Washington in 1913. She lived with her family on Bashon Island, a small island in Washington. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese residents of Bashon Island were marched to Seattle, where they boarded trains to Pine Dale Assembly Center, and then on to Tule Lake Camp in California. After two years in camp, she moved to Saint Louis.

The following is an excerpt taken from her oral history, recorded on March 8, 1988. This audio oral history is stored in the UMSL Western Historical Manuscript Collection.

“We were still marching in fours. These people would look above the bridge at us, you know. At us as if we were a criminal. And gee, you would feel like a criminal, and you think you were born in America. You just can’t understand it. Ever since you were in the first grade, you were saying, “I pledge allegiance to the flag… and justice for all.” And here, we’re going under this bridge and were getting on these trains. So for awhile, I thought to myself, I was bitter, and I didn’t want anything to do with Japanese.”

Another excerpt taken from the oral history of Pauline Sakahara:

“That what made it hard because you’re so innocent. If you did something wrong, it’d be a different thing. But you’re so loyal to America and then being mistreated like that.”

Pauline Sakahara 1957

Ikebana Japanese Flower Arranging