A day of shame in our history. "Stubborn Twig" , which was the Oregon Librarians Association's choice read for last year, is a story of the Yasui family in this valley. They still have copies down at the library. I almost cannot fathom what it takes to 'forgive' one's persecutors and come back to this valley after what they suffered. Some did not, and stayed in California and Idaho.

nels on 11th May 2012 @ 10:11am

The River sure looks different.

l.e. on 11th May 2012 @ 10:34am

I don't see any Japanese in the crowd, so they must be on the train?
Gosh, I just can't imagine the turmoil that some people are going through.

Many, with good reason at the time, are feeling it is the right thing to do.

l.e. on 11th May 2012 @ 10:47am

This was the first image in the series, before the trains were loaded. I am guessing people are in the train station doing whatever paperwork was required before the journey. The 9:30 image shows the line waiting to board the train.

Those in this photo are bystanders milling around. As Charlott mentioned, some, like her mother, were there to see off friends and neighbors. We have an image of two men shaking hands before one boarded the train.

A careful examination of the crowd shows many people had cameras with them, so I suspect there are many "undiscovered" images of this day in family albums around the country.

Arthur on 11th May 2012 @ 11:54am

May would probably be spring flood time, but it seems like there is a big difference in the river between this photo and # 49 which would have been 6 months later.

l.e. on 12th May 2012 @ 9:24am

This day in the photo was May 13, 1942. On June 7, 1942 a Japanese submarine torpedoed and sank the freighter SS Coast Trader off the coast of Washington. On June 20th, another freighter was shelled. It didn't sink, but the crew had to be rescued.
And on June 21 Fort Stevens, at the mouth of the Columbia River was shelled.

L.E. on 4th June 2015 @ 3:52pm