SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When people want to reflect on their life and family history, they usually turn to photo albums. For Les Ouchida, he only needs to look at the walls of the California Museum.
It’s where he walks the halls as a museum docent and every turn reminds him of a memory.
“That’s my dentist, a picture of his family returning to Sacramento,” said Ouchida.
The photo shows them returning from being imprisoned at an internment camp.
“This crate here... interesting they still kept this. That’s the box for the company my dad owned, I have one in my house, it’s the same thing,” said Ouchida.
His family was forced to give up its business when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066 taking away the rights of those of Japanese descent and imprisoning them in camps across the United States.
“I was five-years-old when I went into the camp and eight-and-half-years-old when I got out,” said Ouchida. "From Sacramento, we went to the assembly center for a few months, then we went by train to Jerome, Arkansas."
They moved again to a camp in Gila, Arizona, before returning home to Sacramento.
Ouchida often refers to a family photo taken right before they were forced into the camps. He was only four, wearing an Army uniform to honor his uncle who was serving in the U.S. Army’s segregated Japanese American Unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team fighting in France and Italy.
“Does that look like a family that is a danger to our country? My uncle, he’s fighting for our country and his wife is behind barbed wire,” said Ouchida.
Ouchida grew up in Northern California after three and a half years of imprisonment. He attended the University of California, Berkeley before joining the U.S. Air Force. He then worked for the state of California for 38 years in the Finance Department.
During retirement, Ouchida got involved in a program focusing on the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. His aunt started the program at the Elk Grove School District.
“It’s been at least 15 years or more I’ve been helping here,” said Ouchida.
The exhibit was moved to the California Museum. He’s sharing with future generations by speaking to elementary school students during field trips.
“I like to tell the story of camp life, the violation of our rights as U.S. citizens, but I like to end my story with the civics lesson of what it is to be a good citizen even if maybe you are faced with adversity,” said Ouchida.
Ouchida stayed true to his mission of sharing his story even during the COVID-19 pandemic when everything closed by writing his own memoirs titled, 'Memoirs of a Japanese American Guy.'
“I hear so often, 'I wish I had talked to my grandparents or parents more,' I thought having something written down for my kids would be a nice thing to have,” said Ouchida.
Whether they read, watch or listen to his story, he hopes people take something away.
“I think about what Japanese Americans lose as a result of being interned or incarcerated for that long of a time. I think about the financial loss, the loss of our freedom and privacy, and thirdly I think there was some loss of self-esteem and self-respect among a lot of Japanese people because you’ve been put behind barbed wire for that length of time with all the racism. There was a feeling among some Japanese we are as good as other Americans, so I think there was that physiological impact, but Japanese people are pretty darn resilient,” said Ouchida.
You can visit the exhibit at the California Museum Tuesday through Sunday.
