Honorary college diplomas awarded to interned Japanese Americans

Lawson Sakai modestly recounts his life’s accomplishments: He was awarded a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars during World War II. He helped run a vegetable farm and worked in the food-processing business. Then he launched a successful travel agency.

But the one thing that eluded Sakai for almost 70 years was a college diploma.

“I have four children and seven grandchildren, and I am the only one without a degree,” said Sakai, 87, a resident of Morgan Hill, southeast of San Jose. “I would like to join them.”

Sakai finally got that wish Saturday when he was awarded an honorary associate in arts degree for his studies at the former Compton Junior College. His education was suspended there in 1942 after the U.S. government forcibly relocated about 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry to internment camps.

According to officials with the Compton Community College District, 78 second-generation Japanese Americans, commonly known as Nisei, were identified as qualifying for honorary degrees.

On Saturday, 46 of them were slated to claim their diplomas in person while the relatives of five others were expected to accept on behalf of their kin. The remaining awards were mailed to those who were unable to attend, community college district officials said.

The ceremony was part of the California Nisei College Diploma Project, which aims to award honorary college degrees to all Japanese Americans — living or deceased — whose postsecondary studies were derailed during World War II.

Assemblyman Warren T. Furutani (D-Gardena) sponsored a bill that helped launch the California Nisei Diploma Project last year. He said the legislation was “an attempt to finish unfinished business, tie together loose ends, and fulfill dreams that were deferred.”

Most of Saturday’s diploma recipients were in their 80s. Some had travelled from across the country to attend the event.

Margaret Yoshida flew in from New Jersey. She completed her junior high school studies, and her diploma was mailed to her at the Manzanar internment camp in California’s Owens Valley. But she never got the chance to finish junior college.

“I really did look forward to graduating in a cap and gown,” said Yoshida, 86.

Instead, after internment, she was part of a group of some 2,500 Japanese Americans who went to work at Seabrook Farm near Bridgeton, N.J.

“Now I’m going to be a great-grandma graduate,” Yoshida said, laughing.

Sakai, the World War II veteran, was equally eager to attend Saturday’s celebration.

Today, Sakai is president of the Friends of Family of Nisei Veterans, a group that honors the history and contributions of former soldiers of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a highly decorated unit composed of mostly Japanese Americans.

Altadena resident Robert Sugasawara, 88, said he was pleased that Japanese Americans, once viewed as foes, were now being vindicated.

Many former students said they were proud they were able to excel in their professions despite the disruption to their early education and prejudice toward Japanese Americans.

Tomomi “Tom” Murakami, 88, was able to forge a distinguished career in electrical engineering, having obtained bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in the discipline.

During his career at the former RCA Corp., he earned 11 patents for his work, and helped develop the radar design for the Aegis missile defense system, according to information provided by the Compton Junior College Nisei Diploma Project.

Murakami was not well enough to attend Saturday’s ceremony. In an e-mail, he credited his years at Compton Junior College for helping lay the foundation for his success in later years.

“It’s an honor to receive this degree from Compton Junior College, even at this late date,” Murakami said.

ann.simmons@latimes.com