Two Decembers: 1934 and 1948

ABOVE: Eighty-three years ago, the Santa Ana Register reported on the gathering to dedicate the Wintersburg Japanese Church held on December 9, the second mission building and one of three buildings at Historic Wintersburg associated with the Wintersburg Japanese Mission. Already noted as one of the oldest Japanese missions in California, the congregation was marking its 30-year anniversary of the founding as they dedicated the Spanish Revival style church at the corner of present-day Warner Avenue and Nichols Lane. (Santa Ana Register, December 10, 1934)

   In December 1934, the communities of Wintersburg Village and Huntington Beach gathered to dedicate the newest house of worship for the Wintersburg Japanese Mission.  Formally recognized as a Church with the Presbyterian Church USA in 1930, the Wintersburg Japanese Mission was marking its 30th anniversary in 1934.

   The first Mission building also had opened in December, in 1909, followed shortly by the Manse (parsonage).  Reverend Joseph K. Inazawa and his wife, Kate Alice Goodman, were there for the 1910 dedication and services, as was Charles Furuta, the Furuta farm; and Reverend Terasawa and Dr. Ernest Adolphus Sturge, who had helped found the Wintersburg Japanese Mission in 1904. 

LEFT: The program for the Wintersburg Japanese Church dedication featured remarks by Church elders, including Charles Furuta and Kyutaro Ishii.  Charles and Yukiko's daughter, Kazuko (Kay), spoke on behalf of the Sunday school program, while her cousin, Sumi Akiyama played a violin solo.  The Treasurer's Report was delivered by Shuji Kanno, father of California's first Japanese American major, the first mayor of Fountain Valley, James Kanno. Note the program states "motion pictures to be taken". (Wintersburg Japanese Church dedication program, December 9, 1934. Courtesy of Furuta family.) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

    The 1934 Wintersburg Japanese Church building is home to significant events that are part of the reason the Historic Wintersburg property is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Treasure. 
  
   It was home to the first Japanese American Citizen League meeting in Orange County. The Church and Mission buildings were shuttered during World War II incarceration, prompting the Presbyterian Church USA to formally apologize in 2014 for "abandonment" of the congregation.  The 1934 Church building is one of six historic structures that are part of the Furuta farm and Wintersburg Japanese Mission complex at National Treasure Historic Wintersburg. All six structures have been deemed restorable by the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

RIGHT: The first meeting of the Japanese American Citizens League in Orange County, California, is held in the Wintersburg Japanese Church, one year after the church building was dedicated. (Santa Ana Register, January 28, 1935)

   Fourteen years after the dedication of the Church building in 1934--and after Orange County's Japanese American community had returned from World War II incarceration--the Church held a program of national significance.  The body of Orange County hero, Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda with the "Go For Broke" 442nd Regimental Combat Team, was returned home from Europe.  He had been killed in action in Italy in 1944, and--in an event that received national media coverage in 1945--Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda's family was presented with his Distinguished Service Cross by General Joe Stillwell and an Army captain who would one day be President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

   On August 27, 1944, Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda, a graduate of Huntington Beach High School, voluntarily led two men on a night patrol across the Arno river and through the heavily-mined and booby-trapped north bank. Hearing movements to his right he ordered his men to cover him while he crawled forward and discovered that a strong enemy force had surrounded them. 

    Realizing that he was trapped, he ordered his men to withdraw while he engaged two enemy automatic weapons. At the sacrifice of his life, he enabled his comrades to escape with valuable information which materially aided the successful crossing of the Arno river.
Finally, in 1948, Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda was returned home to be laid to rest. 

LEFT: The services for Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda noted in the Santa Ana Register.  His grave site at Westminster Memorial Park in Westminster, California, is home to the annual Memorial Day program with the Kazuo Masuda Memorial VFW Post 3670. (Santa Ana Register, December 10, 1948)

   The funeral services were held in the Wintersburg Japanese Church in 1948 with a military honor guard. The funeral procession made its way down Beach Boulevard to the Westminster Memorial Park for the burial, where Marines from El Toro Marine Corps Air Station fired a 21-gun salute.

ABOVE: The funeral procession for Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda, a member of the "Go For Broke" 442nd Regimental Combat Team, makes its way north on Beach Boulevard from the services at the Wintersburg Japanese Church to the Westminster Memorial Park on December 9, 1948. Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda was remembered by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.  (Courtesy of Dennis Masuda) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

    In 1988, at the official signing of the Civil Liberties Act, Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda and his family were remembered by President Ronald Reagan.  

   Watch President Reagan speak in 1988 about visiting the Masuda family decades earlier in 1945:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcaQRhcBXKY  (Video courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library)

   Members of the Masuda family and Clarence Nishizu, a congregant of the Wintersburg Japanese Mission, were at the signing with President Reagan, who had visited the Masuda family when he was a young Army captain at their Talbert farmhouse with General Joe Stillwell in 1945. Captain Ronald Reagan and General Joe Stillwell were there to award posthumously the Distinguished Service Cross for Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda.

RIGHT: The annual Memorial Day program at the grave site of Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda in Westminster Memorial Park with the Kazuo Masuda Memorial VFW Post 3670. (Photo, M. Urashima, May 25, 2015) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

    Today, the 1934 Wintersburg Japanese Church building remains standing and is one of six historic buildings that are part of National Treasure Historic Wintersburg, listed as one of America's Most Endangered Historic Places in 2014 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and listed as one of Orange County's Most Endangered in 2017 by Preserve Orange County.  The grave site of Staff-Sgt. Kazuo Masuda is home to the annual Memorial Day services held by Kazuo Masuda Memorial VFW Post 3670. The 21-gun salute remains part of the annual Memorial Day program, at which all military veterans are honored for their valor and service. 

ABOVE: The Wintersburg Japanese Church on dedication day, December 9, 1934. The congregation fund raised and built their second church building during the Great Depression, a major effort in the rural farming community of Wintersburg Village. (Photograph courtesy of Wintersburg Church) © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

© All rights reserved.  No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, M. Adams Urashima. 

Kazuo Masuda VFW Post 3670 Memorial Day

ABOVE: A 21-gun salute in honor of all fallen veterans at the VFW Post 3670 Kazuo Masuda Memorial Day program at Westminster Memorial Park. (Video, May 30, 2016 M. Urashima) © All rights reserved.

   Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach author and preservation task force chair, Mary Urashima, was asked to speak at the annual  Kazuo Masuda Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3670 program on Memorial Day.  It is an honor to be part of this day, recognizing the remarkable men and women fallen in their service to our country.  This event---which bears the name of Congressional Gold Medal and Distinguished Service Cross recipient Kazuo Masuda---honors, in particular, the Nisei soldiers of World War II and all service men and women who have fallen in the line of duty.

   An excerpt of her remarks:

   "...This is a chapter of our country’s history we are reminded of today, as we stand near the grave of Kazuo Masuda, whose family was incarcerated during the time of his service.  Four of the Masuda brothers served during World War II.  Kazuo was awarded posthumously in 1945 the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action.

RIGHT: Marvin Masuda (second from left) lays flowers at the grave of Kazuo Masuda, with his father, Masuo Masuda (center). Masuo Masuda is the brother of Kazuo Masuda and also a WWII veteran.  Both were Huntington Beach High School graduates. (Photo, M. Urashima, May 30, 2016, Westminster Memorial Park) © All rights reserved.

    On July 6, 1944, when his observation post became the target of heavy mortar and artillery fire, Staff Sergeant Masuda crawled 200 yards to the mortar section, secured a mortar tube and ammunition, and returned to the observation post.  

   Using his helmet as a base plate, he single-handedly directed fire at the enemy for 12 hours, repulsing two enemy counter-attacks.                         

   A month a half later, on August 27, 1944, he voluntarily led two men on a night patrol across the Arno River and through the heavily-mined and booby-trapped north bank.  Hearing movements, he ordered his men to cover him while he crawled forward. He discovered that they had been surrounded.   

   
   Kazuo Masuda ordered his men to withdraw while he engaged the enemy.  At the sacrifice of his life, he enabled them to escape.  Kazuo Masuda’s family would hear of his death, while confined at Gila River.

LEFT: A news clipping from 1945 announces the War Relocation Authority had taken "steps to end threats against a West Coast Japanese American girl who has four brothers with honorable army service records."  The article is paired with another article noting the reception received by a northern California Japanese American family attempting to return home after WWII confinement.  Acts of violence and vandalism toward Japanese Americans were widely reported and the return home was difficult, for those who chose to return to their prior home. Many lost their properties or chose not to return after WWII confinement.        

    
   The return of the Masuda family to Orange County in 1945 was not easy. Kazuo’s sister, Mary Masuda was confronted with threats of violence. Hearing this, the War Relocation Authority issued a national bulletin against such acts, reminding the public these were American families returning home. 

   
   General Joe Stillwell, determined to make a statement, traveled to the Masuda’s farmhouse in Talbert to present posthumously the Distinguished Service Cross.  It was on the front page of the Los Angeles Herald on December 9, 1945, and carried by the news reels of the day.  With General Stillwell, was a young Army captain, Ronald Reagan.

ABOVE: A Nisei military honor guard holding American flags flanks the entrance to the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Church as the Masuda family departs the memorial service for Westminster Memorial Park in 1948. This was three years after leaving confinement at the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona and three years after Mary Masuda confronted threats of violence during her attempt to return home to Orange County. (Photo snip courtesy of Dennis Masuda) © All rights reserved.  

   
   As a historian, I have written about the Masuda family’s story and the impact it had in 1988 when President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act.  He remembered the Masudas from that December day in 1945.  This was an American family, in the farm country of Orange County, whose story would resonate all the way to the White House.  

   
   It would be several years before Kazuo Masuda could be brought home to rest.  Finally, in 1948, the family and community were able to memorialize this hero who had walked on.   

   
   The funeral services were held with a full house in the Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Church with a Nisei military honor guard, before proceeding here, to the Westminster Memorial Park, to this place where we are today.   

   
   Looking at the photographs of that day, I am struck by the dignity, sadness and pride I see in the faces of those gathered to honor him.  It is what we feel here today. 

LEFT: The Congressional Gold Medal awarded posthumously to Kazuo Masuda and other Nisei soldiers of World War II. Kasuo Masuda is one of twelve Nisei soldiers featured in the Smithsonian Institute's 2016 digital exhibit, The Nisei Soldier: Congressional Gold Medal, http://cgm.smithsonianapa.org/ The Smithsonian explains, "This exhibition presents the extraordinary life stories of 12 Nisei soldiers who served in the US Armed Forces in World War II. While some had families in America’s concentration camps, all served with a highly uncommon and commendable sense of patriotism and honor. This is their American story."  

   
   The story of Kazuo Masuda continues to resonate seven decades after his death, as he is one of twelve Nisei soldiers featured in the Smithsonian Institute’s new exhibit on Congressional Gold Medal recipients, of whom Kazuo Masuda is one.    

   
   We gather on Memorial Day to remember those who have fallen during their service to our country, those who have walked on during the past two and a half centuries.  As is the nature of America, their service was not easy and not always understood.  Not all have received the hero’s welcome they deserve.

RIGHT: The Japanese American soldiers of World War II are one of the few military groups who have not been honored with a U.S. postal stamp, yet they remain the highest decorated units of all time. Learn more at Stamp Our Story, http://niseistamp.org/

   There are generations of soldiers and families of soldiers who have persevered when the political climate made that difficult.  We live in a time when manners and respect seems to have faded.

   This brings me back to what I was taught by my parents in my childhood.  It is the message conveyed by General Stillwell in 1945 and President Reagan in 1988.  It is still timely today, it is a message we still should be teaching our children, and the message I wish to close with.  

     
   On Memorial Day, we remember the fallen. Those who have walked on.  What we must remember is they walk past us every day.  Stand.  Show respect.  Cheer for them. Every day.  These are heroes."

All rights reserved.  No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, M. Adams Urashima.   

Kazuo Masuda Memorial Day program, May 30

ABOVE: A photograph of SSgt. Kazuo Masuda in the foreground, an honor guard prepares for a salute at last year's Kazuo Masuda Memorial VFW Post 3670, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Memorial Day Service at Westminster Memorial Park. (Photo, M. Urashima) © All rights reserved.

    Kazuo Masuda is one of twelve Nisei soldiers featured in the Smithsonian Institute's 2016 digital exhibit, The Nisei Soldier: Congressional Gold Medal, http://cgm.smithsonianapa.org/  He was awarded posthumously both the Distinguished Service Cross in 1945 and, more recently, the Congressional Gold Medal. 

    Kazuo Masuda is honored each year at the Kazuo Masuda Memorial VFW Post 3670, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Memorial Day Service at Westminster Memorial Park, Orange County, California.  This year, Historic Wintersburg will be part of the program, with comments by the preservation task force chair Mary Urashima.

   The Masuda family are part of the history of the Wintersburg Mission, congregants who traveled from their farm in Talbert (Fountain Valley) to attend services and carnivals on the Furuta farm.  One of the Masuda descendants serves on the Historic Wintersburg Preservation Task Force, providing first-hand historical insight for the efforts to save a National Treasure historical place.  This family's history is one of the reasons Historic Wintersburg is considered nationally significant.  It is part of the history that we work to preserve for future generations.

RIGHT: From a traveling exhibit held at a veterans' organization in Maui, Hawaii, in 2014, an image of General Joe Stillwell presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Mary Masuda, on behalf of Kazuo Masuda, on the steps of the Masuda family farm house in Talbert, December 1945. (Photo, M. Urashima) © All rights reserved.

    The Masuda family history is linked to one of our country's monumental civil liberties moments: the authorization of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, during which President Ronald Reagan talks specifically about the Masuda family and the heroics of SSgt. Kazuo Masuda, of the "Go For Broke" 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Company F.  Their story can be found here: http://historicwintersburg.blogspot.com/2012/06/masudas-national-civil-liberties-icons.html
 

LEFT: The Los Angeles Herald featured General Joe Stillwell's visit to the Masuda family on their front page. Newsreel media covered the event, at which a young Army captain--Ronald Reagan--accompanied Gen. Stillwell, to present posthumously the Distinguished Service Cross. (Image, Los Angeles Herald, December 9, 1945)

   Four of the Masuda brothers served in the U.S. military during World War II, while their family remained incarcerated, first at the Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas, later at the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona.  Gensuke Masuda, the family patriarch and a farmer in Talbert, was taken and interrogated by the FBI the night of the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor.  He had been in America for over 40 years.  

   Seen as a community leader for his involvement with the Wintersburg Japanese Mission and due to his success as a farmer, Gensuke Masuda's hard work and efforts to establish his family in America now moved against him.  Kazuo Masuda--already in the U.S. Army--wrote letters on behalf of his father, asking for his release and noting his father's devotion to America, "I believe he has done his part in making it the great nation that we are."

   Killed in action in Italy, in 1944, it would take several years before Kazuo Masuda would come home to rest. Finally, in 1948, the family and community were able to memorialize a hero who had walked on.  The funeral services were held with a full house in the Wintersburg Japanese Church with a Nisei military honor guard and Japanese American clergy, before proceeding to the Westminster Memorial Park.   Those in attendance knew of the long, painful journey by the Masuda family.  Many had shared the same journey.

   In 1988, President Ronald Reagan would remember Kazuo Masuda and his family, remarking, "America stands unique in the world, the only country not founded on race, but ...an ideal. Not in spite of, but because of our polyglot background, we have had all the strength in the world. That is the American way."

ABOVE: The funeral procession for Kazuo Masuda in 1948, enroute to the Westminster Memorial Park. Originally prohibited from burial in an area with grass and trees due to "restrictive covenants" which barred persons who were not of Caucasian ancestry, public pressure on behalf of the hero reversed the Park's decision. The annual Memorial Day service is held near his grave. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Masuda) © All rights reserved.

  On Monday, Memorial Day 2016, we remember and honor Kazuo Masuda and those who have fallen during their service to our country. We honor their families, who--even in the best of times--must bear the absence and loss of loved ones.  We reflect on the sacrifice of generations of Americans. 

All rights reserved.  No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, M. Adams Urashima.