Government Files on Family Members
- Tom successfully left camp before even setting foot in Utah.
- Bob and Kimi's son, Ted, was already attending college at the Washington University in St. Louis. Some siblings had more agency than others in being able to secure work and leave clearance.
- John languished in camp. After being accepted to seminary schools, he waited for months for leave clearance from the authorities, at times losing hope that he would be able to leave. See John's War Relocation Authority File.
- Ed Kitow would eventually get a job farming in Idaho, received leave clearance and moved there with Chiz, leaving their son Kiku ("Kix") in camp, who became quite lonely [Letter from Kay to Tom dated April 26, 1943]. See Ed's WRA File. See Chiz' WRA File.
- Iyo would move with her new husband Min Tamaki, whom she met and married at Topaz. Min got a job in Chicago for a welding defense job. He was trained in pharmacy. They later moved to Philadelphia to join Kay who had moved there to work for Student Relocation after getting her leave clearance. [Source: Letter from Kay to Ted, April 9, 1943] See Iyo's WRA File.
- Bob Ono who was raised in Japan and educated in the U.S., graduating from graduate school of the University of Oregon, got leave clearance to teach Japanese at the military intelligence school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. See Bob's WRA File. Kimi and daughter Martha applied to leave Jerome, Arkansas to join him in Michigan. See Kimi's WRA File.
- Kay who worked alongside the camp administration through the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC) which was operated by the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), had possibly the most agency in being able to leave by obtaining a leave clearance document. But her work helping student aged youth get into college compelled her to stay after some of her family were able to get out.See Kay's WRA File.
- Tomi was able to eventually follow her kids. She wanted to join some of her kids who could afford to live with her. She may have planned to stay with Chiz and Ed in Idaho. [Letter from Kay to John dated April 21, 1943]. But her leave clearance was being denied in the summer and fall of 1943 at the time when most of her grown children were allowed to leave. Kay wrote in a Dec 16, 1943 letter to Tom in Chicago that she would try to pull some strings with Marvel Maeda in the Leave Section in Washington DC to get Tomi out of Camp. But by January 1944, Washington DC abandoned the leave clerance process "EDC" and allows Tomi to leave. Kay plans to puts her in a pullman car to Phillie.[Letter from Kay to Tom and John on Jan 4, 1944] But she heads first to Chicago to be with Tom and John.[Letter from Kay to Tom dated Jan 8 1944]See Tomi's WRA File.
- Sus, being educated in Japan, was not given leave clearance easily and stayed in Topaz for much longer, almost the full duration of the war. He applied to farming jobs but was turned down, possibly because of his high level of education in business. The authorities were suspicious of his employment at a Japanese firm in San Francisco, Mitsubishi, which was involved in building war planes. See Sus' WRA File. See Sus' FBI File.
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