“When my family returned to the nursery, all the glass panes in the greenhouses were broken. I didn’t see it because I was overseas with the 442nd in Italy.” - Jun Honda

Above: Jun Honda

Henry and Angie

with Jun Honda

1. NO HOME ON THE HOME FRONT

Located in Shimada Park, named for Richmond’s Japanese sister city, this marker is the first public retelling of the wartime incarceration of Richmond’s Japanese American community, and the relocation of local Italian residents who were also deemed “enemy aliens.”

    Bombs exploding over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 destroyed American ships, shattered lives and divided American people.

    In Richmond, war stirred thousands to roll up their sleeves and build new ships. They shared a single goal: to win against the enemy. War kindled fear and long-held prejudices, and America’s own citizens became suspect. Immigrants from Japan and Italy who’d lived in Richmond for decades were labeled “enemy aliens.”

   Japanese Americans were forced to shutter their businesses and piled onto trains, each passenger clutching the two suitcases they were allowed to carry. They were incarcerated, behind barbed wire, in Topaz Relocation Center, Utah. Italian-American families were split in two: non-citizens were forced away from the waterfront, while others could stay in Richmond. Yet citizens of both communities enlisted to defend US ideals. Despite the wounds of war, many who were sent away returned to Richmond. They rebuilt. The greenhouses filled with roses and carnations.

   In 1961, some of the original flower-growing families helped launch a Sister City relationship with Shimada, Japan. As allies, they continue “aiding in the development of mutual understanding between citizens of free countries.”

A separate project funded by the California State Library allowed Graves to gather oral histories and family photographs from these communities, which were incorporated into the graphic panels.