My great Uncle Teddy Hansen
(No Photo available):
Now I wasn't partial to the slants myself. Was living in Twin Falls at the time, and figured that if they minded their business I'd mind mine, but with Pearl Harbor, who couldn't think of spying? I remember that murder in Boise, but some things you just don't want to dredge up. |
A bit of controversy surrounds the internment camp in Idaho.
Some place it near Hunt, while the official Idaho history says it was in Eden. My
grandfathers brother Teddy worked in the camp as a guard (it got him out of
selective service). When I asked him about the location, he said the camp was
located in Southern Idaho, pretty much an equal distance from either of these villages,
while the closest town of reasonable size was Twin Falls.
Most of the Japanese population in the camp came from Boise, and, according to Teddy, many showed up of their own accord. An executive order created the camps, but the National Guard was not vigorous in its execution. The Idaho Anti-Asian League took the bombing of Pearl Harbor as the sign a "yellow tide" was about to wash across the Western states. On February 3, 1943, the family of Richard Fu, not Japanese but Chinese, was discovered murdered part way up Table Rock. Wendy Fu, actually Filipino, had been raped and beheaded, while the two boys were set on fire. Richard Fu had been stabbed forty-seven times and then beheaded. Evidence at the site: none. |
Children walk between barracks at the Minidoka interment camp in Hunt, Idaho, in 1943 (Documentary Photo #rtkl0). |