2024 Japanese American WWII Camp Survivors on Trip to Topaz, UtahNEW

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the WWII mass incarceration of 125,000 Japanese Americans. The Topaz, Utah, camp, two hours south of Salt Lake City, was one of 10 federal prison camps. Join Topaz survivors and descendants as they mark the 81st memorial for James Hatsuaki Wakasa, 63, who was killed by a guard while walking his dog at Topaz in April, 1943. Walk one-quarter mile from Wakasa's barrack to the fence, where he died, for a site ceremony, and back. Afterward, visit nearby Topaz Museum to view the sacred Wakasa Monument, built and buried by grieving inmates in 1943 and unearthed by the museum board in 2021.

Topics: immigration, life at Topaz, intergenerational trauma, archaeology, memory, monuments. Tour cost includes bus transport between SLC and Topaz, lunch, snack. Sponsored by Wakasa Memorial Committee (NCPH roundtable April 11). Logistics by Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages. Cost: $95. Participant limit: 40. To register and for more info: wakasamemorial.org.

For questions: wakasamemorial@gmail.com.

Date
April 13, 2024

Time
8:00 am - 6:00 pm

Register

Location
Hilton Salt Lake Center
Costs: $95
Includes: Transportation to and from Tpaz site, lunch, snack 
Limit: 40