Fred Apgar has done a fine job in arranging speakers this year.  However, Frank came to us through a friendship with Buck Weaver.  Frank said he would talk about internment during WWII in the Minidoka Relocation Center one last time because Buck had asked him to.  Frank was a young teenager living in Seattle when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  A few months later, Frank and his family were interned first at the Puyallup Assembly Area (now the Puyallup Fairgrounds) and then were taken by train to Hunt, ID and the Minidoka Relocation Center.  I had read about the internment of Americans of Japanese descent, but never had the opportunity to listen to anyone speak of it at a personal level.  For someone as American and patriotic as Frank, it was a difficult experience judging from his remarks and reading between the lines.  Frank was too young to join the army so he was in the camp until the end of the war.  Living conditions were deplorable.  Hot in the summer, freezing in the winter, it wasn’t an experience that a kid from the city was ready for.  However,  Frank returned to Seattle, with his family, following the end of the war where they started their lives over again.  Frank joined the Army and fought in Korea.    He is a member of the Nisei Veterans Committee (NVC).  The Post, with Buck as the chair, is planning on visiting the NVC Memorial Hall located in the International District sometime this fall.  Frank told me he was a bit worried about the reception he might receive from our group, but he was warmly welcomed as a fellow veteran and as a man with an important story about another aspect of WWII.

The Post held its annual election of officers during the April Meeting.  The incoming officers for 2010-2011 (ouch—2011 is just around the corner) are listed above.  Appointed officers will be listed in the next newsletter.  Thanks to Buck Weaver who led the nominating committee.

The Sno-Isle Library System and the Edmonds Library  are having a series of events talking about Vietnam.  They are using Tim O’Brian’s book “The Things They Carried” as theme for the event.  Lisa invited all the veterans to the event and asked if any of the Vietnam vets would temporarily loan any items they carried overseas.  On 5/17 at 7PM there will be a stage play of the book and on 5/19 at 7PM a discussion of it.