From behind the barbed wire of a Japanese internment camp, Sam Ozaki knew his only way out was to join the United States Army and fight for the country that was holding him captive.
Ozaki, an Asian-American World War II veteran, was placed in an Arcadia, Calif., internment camp following the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. Known today for his active role in Chicago’s Asian-American community and his reputation as a minority activist, Ozaki was chosen by the Asian American Advisory Board to kick off Asian American Month on Monday night.
Ozaki was a high school senior when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and 60 years later, he still remembers that day very clearly, he told an audience of 20 students and faculty members at the Multicultural Center.
“I remember running into the house screaming, ‘Japan attacked Pearl Harbor,'” Ozaki said. “I knew from that moment on that it was not good news for (Asian Americans).”
Days after the attack, three FBI agents came to Ozaki’s door to search his home and took his father away. For weeks, Ozaki and his family had no idea where he had been taken.
Two months later, all people of Japanese descent from California, Washington and Oregon were placed into internment camps. Conditions at his family’s Arcadia camp, which previously was used as a horse racetrack, were extremely poor, Ozaki said.
“They moved the horses out (of the racetrack) and moved us in,” Ozaki said. “They treated the animals better than they treated us. To them, the horses were valuable. We were not worth two cents to them.”
Ozaki wanted out of the camps, he said, and one of his only options was to join a segregated Army infantry unit that was made up only of Japanese Americans.
“People called me crazy,” Ozaki said. “We just wanted to prove our loyalty to this great democracy.”
Ozaki was assigned to the Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Infantry Battalion. The infantry unit went on to become the Army’s most highly decorated, based on size and length of service. One of its greatest achievements was rescuing 211 members of the “Lost Battalion,” a unit of American soldiers that was cut off from supplies by the Germans.
When Ozaki returned to the United States after the war, he still was not legally able to return to California. He was discharged to Chicago to be near his sister and enrolled in education classes at Roosevelt University. He began his 36-year career as a teacher and eventually became the first Asian-American principal in the Chicago public school system.
Though he has retired, he remains active by giving speeches about his experiences at high schools throughout Chicago. Recently Ozaki spoke together with an Arab American about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He said there is a strong connection between Asian Americans during World War II and Arab Americans today.
“When I first heard about the World Trade Center attack, my first thought was that Arabs and Muslims are going to be targeted,” Ozaki said. “Arab Americans should not be treated differently than other Americans. They are good, loyal American citizens.”
Ozaki’s messages were well received by the audience. “It was extremely eye-opening and insightful,” said Joseph Graciosa, a Weinberg sophomore.
