Commemorating a Historic Tragedy

It was 50 years ago that most of the Japanese-American congregation of the First Presbyterian Church in Altadena was loaded into buses and trains and taken to remote internment camps in Wyoming, Arkansas and the deserts of Arizona.

At the time, most lived in the Pasadena area and worshiped at what was then called the Japanese Union Church. Practically overnight, they were dispersed from their homes by the U.S. government’s forced internment of people of Japanese ancestry.

To commemorate that tragic event, the church is holding a special exhibit called “1942 Remembered” from 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday. It will feature photographs, camp documents, craft items, school yearbooks, camp-produced newspapers, certificates of marriages performed during internment and military paraphernalia from Japanese-Americans who were drafted from the camps into the U.S. Army.

Tosh Kawahara, a retired pharmacist, was a high school student when he was interned. He left the camp to join the Army.

“It was a sad time, but it was also a happy time when you think of some of the things that happened,” Kawahara recalled this week. “A lot of us made new friends. Some of us got married.”

Half a century later, Kawahara is organizing the exhibit, asking congregation members to dig up mementos of those times. “1942 Remembered” is part of the church’s Fall Festival, which also includes food booths, games, a boutique and a chow mein dinner in the Social Hall.

The church is at 2775 Lincoln Ave. in Altadena, and the public is invited to the festival, which is free. Information: Ted Tajima at (818) 797-6382.