Harumi “Bacon” Sakatami spoke to Mrs. McArthur’s and Mr. Fulton’s U.S. History morning classes Friday morning about his experiences as one of 10,000 Japanese-Americans held at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center during World War II

Mr. Sakatami also discussed his life in Altamonte, CA, before living at Heart Mountain.

“I’m in the fifth grade… this is a segregated school for Japanese and Mexicans from the first through the fifth grade… this is discrimination,” Mr. Sakatami said.

Mr. Sakatami lived in the Heart Mountain Relocation Center 1941-1945. He spoke about the rooms or barracks they were forced to live in, the dining hall and the work they did for the government while they lived in the camp. He was 13 years old when he first arrived.

“I was just a kid of 13, no government person or anyone came to me and told me that I committed a crime,” Mr. Sakatami said.

The Heart Mountain Relocation Camp was the third largest community in Wyoming at the time. The site currently is a public visitor’s center about 12 miles south of Powell.

Mr. Sakatami spoke about the activities the young people were engaged in. There were extremely successful high school football teams and girls and boys basketball teams. The students were allowed to travel outside the camp and compete against surrounding schools. He said they only lost one football game during their time at the camp.

He was also involved in Boy Scouts and they took a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Mr. Sakatami said the trip was the most memorable part of living in the camp for him.

Mr. Sakatami wanted everyone to know what the U.S.  government and the state of Wyoming did to apologize to the members of the Heart Mountain community and to make sure that something like that never happens again.

“A great injustice was done to American citizens… of Japanese ancestry,” Mr. Sakatami said.