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Description
A letter from Makoto Okine in Lecce, Italy to his father, Seiichi Okine, in the Rohwer incarceration camp in Arkansas. It is mailed via New York by the US Army Postal Service. In the letter, Makoto assumes that not many people participate in the bonodori event in the camp this time because many of the young people left the camp either for work or being drafted. He also talks about the U.S. government recruitment of eligible Japanese American students and volunteers for M.I.S. The Okine Collection contains materials collected by Seiichi and Tomeyo Okine who were Issei flower growers in Whittier, California. It includes correspondence, photographs, financial documents, and a photo album. A large portion of the collection consists of family correspondence with Seiichi and Tomeyo Okine, including letters from their Nisei children, Masao and Makoto Okine, both soldiers overseas during World War II, to their Issei parents incarcerated in the Rohwer incarceration camp in McGehee, Arkansas. The correspondence also includes letters from their relatives and friends who are former incarcerees in the camps during the war and have “resettled” in Chicago, Illinois as well as letters from the Okines’ family members in Hiroshima, Japan during the Allied occupation of Japan. In addition, the collection includes a family photo album compiled by Dorothy Ai Aoki, a Nisei daughter to the Okines.
Community activities--Festivals, celebrations, and holidays--Obon World War II--Incarceration camps--Social and recreational activities World War II--Military service--Military Intelligence Service World War II--Military service--Recruiting and enlisting Identity and values--Nisei
Place
Lecce, Italy Incarceration Camps--Rohwer
Source
CSU Dominguez Hills Department of Archives and Special Collections
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