Readers Remember

In the 1940s we lived at the corner of Holly and Duarte in Arcadia, a few blocks from the Santa Anita racetrack.

One morning in 1942 I walked to the Pacific Electric (the Big Red Car) station near the racetrack. I was astonished to see that the entire lot was surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.

A large number of Japanese Americans, belongings in hand, were being herded by the military police into the internment camp, heading toward the huts that had been erected.

At 12 years of age I didn’t understand what crime they had committed to warrant such treatment. I asked my father to explain. He said, “As far as I know, they haven’t committed any crime.”

DONALD J. HARRISON

Idyllwild

My first reaction at age 11, when I heard about Pearl Harbor, was, “Where’s Pearl Harbor? What’s that got to do with me?”

Plenty.

Though born in California, of a mother also born in California, I was of Japanese descent. Within a few months I was shipped off to a concentration camp along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans.

When I said the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America in my sixth grade class, I meant it. I was crushed that my country didn’t trust me simply for the color of my skin.

MARGARET (NAKAMURA) COOPER

Santa Maria

In 200 words or less, send us your memories, comments or eyewitness accounts of the 20th century. Write to Century, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or e-mail [email protected]. Letters may be edited for space.