Executive Order 9066

After Pearl Harbor was bombed during WWII, all Japanese were taken to internment camps. My grandfather was 16 years old when he, his mother, his brothers, and his sister were sent to the internment camp at the San Anita race track in Arcadia, CA. His father was sent to a concentration camp somewhere else. His family was put into the horse stables there. The government had black topped the floor of the stable and painted the walls, but you could still smell horses and horse manure. The camp was surrounded by a perimeter fence that had barbed wire on the top. There were towers along the fence to watch for escapees.

Before they went to San Anita, they had to sell all that they had. Most white people took advantage of all the Japanese that were selling their property. The house and all that was in it sold for $25. At the camp, they had to buy their own clothes and shoes. That wasn't very easy considering they hardly got any money for the property that they sold. Since most people didn't have much money, they could be hired in the grandstands to make camo nets for the army. In order to be hired you had to be 18 years old.

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