Nakamura, Richard: my Air Force recollections (June 6, 2008)

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Interviewer: Pratt, Will

An interview/narrative of Richard Nakamura's experiences during World War II. Interview took place on June 6, 2008.

ABSTRACT: Richard Nakamura Nakamura_R_0594_01.mp3 0:40 Father came in 1907, became a citizen in 1915, fished for a living, then logging 1:00 Father a foreman Fanny bay logging company 2:15 after stocks crash of 1929, started market garden in Surrey, strawberries, fruit etc. 3:20 Dynamiting stumps in Surrey 4:00 Land sold after confiscation in 1941, a few hundred dollars paid. 5:00 Distributed fruit through growers organization 5:20 force removal changed his whole way of thinking 6:15 Japanese Canadian community in Surrey 7:00 Ping pong, Japanese language school, Buddhist minister taught 8:20 Wished he would have paid more attention to Japanese language to help his country during war 8:40 Tried to join the army when he was 17 for 0 language school. 9:25 Mountie comes to sugar beet field. 10:50 Questions why the Japanese lived in their own communities. 11:45 Nissei and Isei tension. Father thinks war is inevitable force. Japanese Canadians must endure. 13:00 RCMP knew Japanese language. Registration process. 15:00 Tom Shoyama editor of New Canadian, positive relations, knew him from the Strawberry business. 15:45 Stump clearing with his father. 16:10 Learning of the war [pearl harbour?]starting. 17:20 Explosives use in clearing land. 19:05 Goes to school the day after the battle of pearl harbour. Reactions at high school. 21:40 Remembered his high school friends dying in the war. 23:30 Police allowed a going away party after curfew for Japanese-Canadian kids. 24:00 Never had any racist comments said to him personally. 24:20 Packing for removal from Surrey. 25:10 The train takes them to Calgary. People wouldn't feed them in Calgary. 26:00 Didn't' realize it was a cafeteria. Humour in the hard times. 26:30 Chinese restaurant. 27:25 Raymond Alberta. The labour market. Farmer Peterson, the Finn takes them on. 28:10 Had to build their own lodging. Originally in a tool shed. 29:00 No insulation. Frost on the walls. Coal burning stove. 29:40 Motivation for volunteering for sugar beet camps. 31:50 Property left behind. Some material goods auctioned off. 32:30 Their house torched while they were away. 33:40 Families on the way to Lethbridge. 35:30 Japanese Canadian cultural centre in Raymond. Families from the 1920s in the area of Japanese descent. Buddhist church becomes community centre. 37:15 Kendo. Baseball team in Magrath. 39:30 Signed contract for number of acres of sugar beets to tend to. 40:30 Mothers heavy burden of domestic work. Patriarchal culture. 42:50 Five years on the farm. Peterson family. 45:00 Seeding in the middle of the night. Falling asleep on the tractor. 48:20 Finished high school in Magrath. His schooling disrupted. 52:10 Wanted to be an air gunner during the war. Too late for S20. 52:45 Couldn't cross the border to join the 442nd. 53:40 Joined the RCAF, 1948. 54:00 Interest in photography buds before the forced relocation. 55:00 Washing film in the irrigation ditch. Film coated with a fine sand. 56:30 First Canadian of Japanese ancestry in the RCAF postwar. 57:10 Air photo examination. Mapping. 1:00:00 Favouritism in new position. 1:02:00 Photographed Air Lift from Japan for Korea. January 1951. 1:05:15 Times rough in Japan during the era. Line-ups. Military Police. 1:08:50 Left Air Force in 1953. 1:09:50 Burning buildings in Korea. 1:14:45 Memorable Photos. Igloos. Chief of Air Staff Curtis. Alexander of Tunis. 1:18:40 First involvement in Japanese Canadian associations, 1943. 1:20:00 Organizing for Redress. 1:23:20 Hearing the Redress announcement on the radio. 1:29:50 Joined the Regina Rifles. Qualified as infantry officer. 1:32:30 Worked for Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Association 1:36:20 Brigade group exercises in Wainright. 1:40:00 Regina's lead at night concentration at Dundurn. 1:43:10 Resigns as Major when Ordnance officer brought in to command regiment. 1:44:10 When moved to Victoria he is called up to liaise with Japanese ships. 1:45:50 Back in Korea, visits his family. 1:49:00 Hiroshima visit. 1:51:30 Family shoe business in Japan. 1:52:30 Sister City committees. 1:54:40 Expo 86 and Commonwealth Games 2:00:20 Reflections on discrimination. 2:03:10 Derogatory comments in Lethbridge streets. 2:05:20 Initial racist attitudes towards Japanese-Canadians mellow in Lethbridge. 2:06:30 Regrets not getting a university degree. Recalls taking great number of courses through military.

Interviewee: Nakamura, Richard, b. 1924

In Collection:
Contributor Subject Language Keyword Date created Relation
  • Part of the Will Pratt collection of interviews.
Resource type Rights statement Extent
  • 1 sound recording (MP3)
Geographic coverage Coordinates
  • 60.10867, -113.64258
  • 40, 127
  • 36.5, 127.75
Additional physical characteristics
  • Original sound recording (MP3) also available.
Physical repository Collection
  • Canadian Military Oral History Collection
Provider Genre Archival item identifier
  • NR_594
Fonds title Fonds identifier Is referenced by Date digitized
  • September 24, 2009
Technical note
  • Digital sound recording in .mp3 format at 56 kbps and 24 kHz. Digitized by JF, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview recorded in digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2009. Migration metadata by KD and MT.
Rights
  • This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca
DOI

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