Joanne Nakamura Rollins shares her memories of her father, Dick Nakamura, who grew up on a strawberry farm in Surrey BC. Besides his community service, he also served the public services of Canada and British Columbia, and the Royal Canadian Air Force, Navy, and militia.
I know if my father Dick Nakamura were still alive, he would have lots to say regarding both the 80th Anniversary of the Internment and the 75th Anniversary of the National Association of Japanese Canadians. He had a passionate interest in Japanese Canadian history and he did his part as a community leader, initially in Regina, educating people about the internment of Japanese Canadians at a time when few beyond the Japanese Canadian community had even heard about it. In Victoria, he worked tirelessly to help organize the island for redress and to support the Redress Foundation.
The Nakamura family, parents Jukichi and Yuki, settled in Surrey on a Strawberry farm. The children Karou, Yoshio (Dick), Toshiko and Tamiko led a normal life with chores, school and fun until April 1942 when people of Japanese descent were removed from the BC coastline changing their lives forever. Their father wanted to keep the family together so he volunteered the family for the sugar beet fields in Alberta where the whole family laboured with back breaking work.
My dad would be very proud of what is happening today with both Anniversaries and the BC Redress announcement.
