World War II Veteran Shares Her Story Of Service After Time In Internment Camp
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Kiyo Sata was one of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans rounded up and sent to internment camps on the West Coast.
"We were not wanted here when Japan dropped that bomb on Pearl Harbor," she said.
She had just finished her first year in college.
"I was 19 when we were sent away so I remember all of these things," she said.
Now 92 years young, she remembers when her family was forced from their Rancho Cordova farm like it was yesterday.
"In 10 days you've got to get out of here. Ten days. With only you can carry," she said.
It was the summer of 1942 when they were trucked to the Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona.
"Anybody with more than 1/16 Japanese blood was taken away, even orphans. 60 orphans down the state," she said.
After months in the camp, her family was finally released. Despite the internment injustice, Sata loved her country and hoped to serve in the military. She tried to join the Navy, but was rejected because of her race.
"That's how crazy the whole thing was," she said.
Determined to help the war effort, she later enlisted in the Air Force, reaching the rank of captain.
Now she's sharing her story with hundreds of veterans from every generation and war campaign since World War II. She's written a book about it called Kiyo's Story.
She hopes future generations will embrace an important lesson.
"We hope that they learn from our experience and won't let it happen again," she said.
