The story of Japanese students ,who were unable to complete their education at Anaheim Union High School (AUHS) due to their forced relocation to WWII incarceration camps, was remembered by more than 800 attendees of an Aug. 24 event at Cook Auditorium.
“The Poston Experience – Paving the Way for the Next Generations” provided a rare opportunity to witness the testimony of Anaheim families who were incarcerated in the camps, including the mother and father of AUHS District Superintedent Mike Matsuda.
The program included remarks from special guest speaker Gania Demaree-Trotter, a 1944 graduate whose father, Dr. Paul H. Demaree, was principal of Anaheim Union High School from 1941 to 1954. Her speech garnered a standing ovation.
Attendees also viewed a documentary film presentation about the Shigekawa family, Anaheim pioneers who were represented by AHS Class of 1962 graduate Marlene Shigekawa. Marlene is president of the Poston Community Alliance and is active in preserving the legacy of the Poston, Arizona, camp where she was born.
Other panelists included Don Miyada, a WWII Congressional Gold Medal and Professor Emeritus of Clinical Chemistry at the University of California Irvine; Korean War veteran Robert M. Wada, a trailblazer in the Orange County Japanese American community; and Tom Leatherman, a representative of the National Park Service Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.
This unknown chapter of Anaheim High’s history had never been featured in a major educational event until now, according to Patti Hirahara, a Class of ’73 AHS grad who was the event coordinator and moderator. To heighten the learning experience, Patti included a musical backdrop for the event that featured recordings of songs from the Poston era performed by Anaheim Elementary School District children and popular tunes from the 1940s sang by the Anaheim High Las Sirenas Advanced Women’s Choir. The event also included a production by the AHS Dance Team entitled “Cherry Blossom.”
In addition, a new and original 10 minute documentary produced by the Anaheim Union High School District Summer Film Academy students entitled, “Remember Us: An Historic Chapter at Anaheim High School,” made its debut at “The Poston Experience” program.
In conjunction with the Anaheim High event, a City of Anaheim’s new original exhibition – “I Am An American – Japanese Incarceration in a Time of Fear,” will run from Aug. 25 through Nov. 3 at the Muzeo Museum & Cultural Center.
Here are photos from the Aug. 24 event at Anaheim High:
