Memorial address for Private Nobuo Kajiwara, Sept. 11, 1944

              the following address was given by the rev ghigeo shimada at the memorial service of the late private ito — buo kajiwara v/ho was killed in action in italy on july 11 1944 the service as held at the topaz united protestant church in central utah relocation center on sent ember 11 1944 the late private itobuo kajiwara was 29 years old when he was killed in action ltobuo and his family were members of the japanese methodist church in oakland california he graduated from the university of california in 1936 with his father he operated the oriental shop in oakland calif ornia until he was ordered to enter the tanforan assembly center on fay 6 1942 he was transferred to the topaz re location canter on september 20 1942 from this relocation center he volunteered and joined the united states a.rmy on august 11 1943 he was the only son of i.r and mrs y kajiwara who recently relocated to cleveland ohio to join their three daughters they now reside at 2417 pro spect ave cleveland ohio when an army officer visitod the topaz relocation cen ter and urged the japanese-americans to volunto-.or to join the united states army more than 100 young boys made up their minds to volunteer itobuo kajiwara v-as on of them v/hen 5obuo asked his parents to allow hin to volunteer they pleaded with him not to do bo but to wait until he was drafted itobuo fs decision however was so strong that hi3 parents were unable to change his mind realizing their inability to keep their son from volun teering mr and ilro eajiwara came to me for help i per sonally believed that it was not good to keep him from vol unteering yet on the other hand i fully understood their feelings as japanese parents 3 i said to them i cannot tell whether i would try to make him stop or n~>t but give me the chance to talk with jnur son heart to heart if he is volunteering because he wants to get away from the mo notonous camp life and to have a wild freedom then i will stop him but if it is from a pure opirit f self-sacrifice i cannot stop him late that night itobuo carao to my homo he said rev shimada i came to you not because i want to he or your opi nion about volunteering n->t because i rait to consult you ab'ut this matter i have made xr my mind already jto one can stop me i came to you because i want to tell you what is in my heart and i want you to understand rae and tell my parents about it i can't stand it any longer to see their faces all wet with tears hen he spoke thus his eyes were full of tears and his hands were trembling for a few minutes i could not say even a word i felt my heart beating fast v/hen i calmed myself i asked him four questions first as a son it is your duty to be obedient to your parents itow your parents are asking you not to volun teer but you are going to do so rejectiong your parents plea don't you feel sorry for your parcits he answered yes i am very unhappy when i consider my parents feeling3 i have heard that some parents in amer ica as well as in japan are urging their sons to volunteer but we americans of japanese ancestry are in a very difficult situation our parents are subjects of japan ineligible to become american citizens and we their sons are americans whose loyalty is purely american so our parents are put in a great dilemma my heart has been completely broken after a hard struggle i decided to volunteer i know my • parents will suffer ury much but i feel i must be loyal to