The meeting was called to order by stand-in Sergeant-At-Arms Nick Oatway who, with much bell-ringing and mallet-swinging, got our attention.
 
 He called on Pat McPherson to lead us in the flag salute and pledge, and then called on Cliff Norton to lead us in an invocation.

Thank-You's were made for:

Guest Introductions 

Ruby Theobald Our departing exchange student
Bill Buchanan Owner of the Ojai Valley News
Nathan Kaehler  The Friday Club
Shig Yabu Our featured speaker
Cliff Norton, Prodigal Member (If he keeps it up, we'll make him a Perennial Member.)
John Limousin Guest of member Tom Farmer
Cheney Calwell Organizer of Ventura Rotoract

  

      Rick Turner and Sid Cohn are in Guatemala on the Water project.  See the article from the Ojai Valley News as well as as a VC Star article about the Ojai Band concerts by Anne Kallas.

     Our next Board Meeting will be on Thursday, July 29th,  7AM  at Eggs ‘n Things.

Phil Adams reminded everyone that he keeps the distribution list for this weekly journal The Ojai-West Express.       If your email address isn’t current with him, please let him know.       If your spouse or partner should be included on the list, he will be happy to oblige.       Remember, having it sent directly to your “significant other” as well as yourself can relieve you of some pressure to communicate effectively.       Luann Fay agreed, saying that when the club was first established, the President urged members to send the bulletin home to the wives as well.

Waypoints

Fine$

Left:  John Phillip Sousa, The March King Right:  John Phillips, The Mammas and Pappas

Featured Speaker

Shigeru Yabu      Our speaker today caught President Stephanie’s eye in an interview segment in the STAR.        She told us "Shigeru Yabu, author of The boy of Heart Mountain, was detained in a Japanese internment camp by his own government during World War II.  His perspective and life-long philanthropic activism balances this experience with wisdom and humor."       "This man has had over 28 years as Director of the Boys Club of Camarillo.  At 66, Shig won an award that many of our members would envy--A gold medal at the Silicon Valley Senior Olympic Games, for sinking 22 of 25 free throws."

     His presentation was about his experience growing up, both before and during his internment.  Among the inspiring points he made that impressed your scribe were:

     Shig’s grandfather immigrated from Japan in 1892 to Washington State.  He married a Picture Bride in 1903 and in 1907 they had a daughter, Shig’s mother.  Shig was born in 1932.  His father abandoned his mother, who then worked as a maid for wealthy employers in San Francisco.  He spent weekdays with several baby-sitters, and Sundays with his mother. 

     Shig walked on the Golden Gate bridge on opening day in 1937.  He saw the Pan Am China Clipper land in S.F. Bay in 1939 while at the World’s Fair on Treasure Island.

     "My stepfather said that this was the ultimate...  Aviation would never advance from here on."

     He noticed that Germany was notably absent from the World's Fair. He knew about the war in Europe from newsreels.  Everyone suspected that America would be drawn in, but "nobody talked about it." 

     Their worries proved true on December 7th, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  His stepfather was an illegal alien, so their family was certain that he would be arrested.  But Shig continued to go to school, even as he collected used pots and pans, and peeled off tinfoil from used cigarette packs, all for the war effort. 

     "We had air-raid drills.  It was a frightening moment.  But after the lights came back on, customers would come to our cleaners and ask, pardon the expression, Chink or Jap?  My mother would answer Japanese American.  And they would walk out.  There was a lot of fear, a lot of hatred, a lot of prejudice, and unfortunately, the Japanese people got blamed for a lot of things that they didn't do."   

     When a power failure put a nearby town in darkness, the Japanese were accused of sabotage, he said.  Another rumor accused Japanese Americans of waving flashlights to signal Japanese submarines where to fire torpedoes at coastal towns.  It was nonsense.  Shig brought a book with him published by the National Park Service.  It states that there was never any incident of espionage by United States citizens of Japanese ancestry.  

     Shig and his family were interred in May of 1942. They were put on a train in San Francisco, thinking they only were going a few miles, but ended up at a relocation center in Pomona (where the fair grounds are now). Later they were moved to Heart Mountain, Wyoming to live behind “towers and barbed wire.”

     "Not all the Japanese Americans went to camp," Shig said.  "Just the ones from Washington, Oregon, California, and southern Arizona.  Thirty percent of the population of Hawaii was Japanese, and General John Dewitt wanted to send them to camp.  But it was the U.S. Army that rejected that idea. And the reason was very simple.  Not enough manpower, not enough ships, and who is going to work on the plantations, who is going to work at Pearl Harbor, or any other businesses?"

     At first, the people of nearby Cody, Wyoming were suspicious.  "They had people watching every night, because Cody had 2-thousand and we had 11-thousand in Heart Mountain.  They were afraid we were going to attack Cody.  Well, what on earth would we want Cody for?" 

     By 1943 and 1944 they were allowed day passes. They visited Yellowstone National Park.  Shig told stories of how the interred and local populations got to know, appreciate and like each other through music, boy scouts, sports and visits. When one boy drowned while swimming in the Shoshone river, local farmers dug a swimming hole for them to use instead.

        "One of things I really enjoyed was the Friday night talent shows.  I didn't like the Japanese music, but I did like the hit parade songs.  One I didn't care for was Don't Fence Me In."

     Shig made us understand the patriotism and support for the American war effort that was prevalent not only in the "camps" but in the entire Japanese-American population of the time. Over 33,000 Nisei soldiers served in the armed forces in combat against the axis. They distinguished themselves with unparalleled bravery.  The 442nd / 100th Regimental Combat Team, for example,  suffered the highest casualty rate of any American fighting unit in the second world war. 

     Highway 23, in nearby Thousand Oaks, is dedicated to the Military Intelligence Service.  This group of Americans spoke and read Japanese.  They served as translators and interrogated prisoners during the war in the Pacific.  

     Even so, Shig discovered that years later, Japanese-American detainees were very reluctant to dictate oral histories of their experiences. 

     Shig was asked what lesson he learned from his war experiences.

     "The lesson I have learned is, I am glad I am American.  I'm glad I live here in the United States.  I'm glad that I served in the U.S. Navy."

At the conclusion of his remarks, Shig Yabu was presented with a Rotary Ojai-West coffee mug as a personal memento of his visit with us.

Rotarian Jack McClenahan writes:  "You can actually visit one the WWII internment camps that was located in California."

     "There are also extensive exhibits about all the internment camps at the Japanese-American National Museum in Los Angeles."  

Out and About

Reggie Wood took pictures of  Councilperson Paul Blatz presenting the 20th Anniversary proclamation to Stephanie Midgett, Joe Boccali and Sara Beeby.
At right,  young Addyson Crawford  prepares to boogie. 

The Band Concert Committee.

Bill Shouse is so proud of his grandkids that he posted
pictures of them on the sign-in table. 

Correspondence

     Thank you notes were received by Rotary Ojai-West.  Among them was one from Andréa Mendoza, one of the former co-presidents of the Nordhoff Interact Club, who wrote:  

     “Thank you so much for supporting my college education with several scholarships; both the Student-of-the-Month and the end-of-Year Scholarships.  I am so incredibly thankful!"

And from Joe and Stacey Boccali: 

    "We love the flag…it was a perfect gift. We are flag people. Every patriotic holiday we fly smaller flags on our fence out front. We plan to install a flagpole somewhere now so we can fly this special one. 

     We also plan to plant our special Ojai Band tree in our backyard when we move up to Ojai sometime next year-- a symbol of firmly planting our roots."

Billboard

Parting Thought

"Please ponder this question, as many have before us… 

If at first you don’t succeed, shouldn’t you try it like your wife told you to?”

 Next week our speaker will be Dr. Arnold Bresky speaking on Brain Health.

Your Scribe today was Phil Adams

The Lineup

 Membership and Extension Month (August)
 New Generations Month (September)
 Vocational Service Month (October)
The Rotary Foundation Month (November)  

 Parting Shot...