Saturday, Oct. 28, 2006


Photos by Bacon Sakatani
Participants in a tour of Santa Anita Park pose in front of a plaque that notes the park’s use
during World War II as an assembly center for Japanese Americans. The tour was organized
by the Japanese American Korean War veterans.

With a light drizzle and rain threatening, 80 persons joined the Japanese American Korean War Veterans’ tour of the Santa Anita Race Track stables on Oct. 15, where during World War II, 19,000 Japanese Americans were temporarily detained before being shipped to more-permanent detention camps in the inland U.S.

As the tour went into the stables area, special permission was given to Tom Sugamura to have his photo taken at stable 38 where he, as a 13-year-old boy, was housed during his stay there.

After the stables, the guide took the group to the horse-receiving barn, a large circular building which was used as the shower room for the center. The guide explained that a wooden partition separated the males and females, but former internees in attendance mentioned that there were knot-holes to see the other side of the partition.

Other interesting stops on the tour were the George Woolf statue, one of the most famous of U.S. jockeys; the jockey room with all of the silk shirts, showing of the lightweight boots and saddles; and the Seabiscuit statue.

Then the group went to the Santa Anita Assembly Center monument where group photos were taken. In attendance was Rafu Shimpo columnist George Yoshinaga, the former Santa Anita internee who was responsible for the erection of the monument. Among the former internees was 94-year-old Setsuko Mukai.

A security guard escorted Masako Hirose, 92 years of age, and her son, Yoshio, to the former hospital in the stables area to show where Yoshio was born.

A buffet lunch was enjoyed by all. No loud expressions of longshot winners nor showing off of winning tickets were evident this year as was in previous outings. Even Yoshinaga left early complaining of an aching back, as he must have lost his daily allowance from his wife Susie.

But the weather turned for the better so it was a nice day of fun and fellowship for all of the 80 in attendance, with some betting in between.

—Reporting by Bacon Sakatani.