Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men
written by: Dawn DeBraal
Alice Okamura put together airplane parts in a factory. She compared herself to Rosie the Riveter after her husband, Toshido, was arrested for the crime of being Japanese in February 1942. Even though he had become a citizen when he was a child, the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan during WWII found the U.S. Government doubting Toshido’s loyalty to his adopted homeland, and he was deemed a security risk.
Toshido was given two weeks’ notice to prepare to submit himself to the Arizona WRC, (War Relocation Center). He and Alice were forced to sell their home at a loss, and he was only allowed to take what he could carry with him.
Having one small child from her first husband, and being a white American, Alice and Benny were left behind to fend for themselves at the height of the war. Luckily, her mother took her in and cared for her son while Alice worked. The shortage of men allowed her to get a good-paying job that wouldn’t have been available to a woman if it hadn’t been during wartime.
At first, the letters came weekly from Toshido. His longing to be home, his sorrow at their separation. Each letter tore at her heart because there was nothing she could do. Other letters filled with awe that Americans were sending care packages and food to those held behind fences. Toshido was struck by the generosity of people who didn’t know him but wanted to let him know how deeply they felt about the government doing such a thing to their citizens.
”It restores my soul, the concern of my fellow Americans when I receive a care package or a letter from someone I have never met.” Toshido wrote.
Alice mostly felt bad for her son, Benny. Her first husband wanted nothing to do with the boy. When Toshido entered their lives, he gave as much love to her son as he had to his new wife.
Well into the second year of his interment, Toshido’s letters dropped to one a month, and he told her there was no end in sight to his leaving the place they had forced him to go, saying that if she wanted a divorce, he would understand. He still loved her and Benny with all his heart, but it wasn’t fair to her to have to work so hard and raise her son on her own. He loved her enough to let her go. She knew her husband was losing faith, having been held captive for so long. No one thought it would last, but it did.
Alice wrote back, telling Toshido he was mistaken: she wouldn’t want anyone else to be her husband. She was writing to the Senator and President again, stating that Toshido’s loyalties were to the United States and his family.
It was mid-December 1944, when the newspaper headlines proclaimed that the courts sided with the detainees and ruled that Japanese Americans would be released. Nine out of ten detention centers were closing, and 120,000 Japanese Americans were free to go. Alice’s heart could not contain the joy she felt.
“Mom, can you believe it? It’s over.” Dorothy hugged her daughter and stroked her hair.
“Honey, it’s not going to be that easy. There are still many people out there who will judge Toshido by his heritage. They won’t trust him or give him a job.”
“He’s done nothing wrong.” Alice cried.
“I know that, and you know that, but this situation is not going to end overnight.”
Every day, Alice waited for a letter from her beloved husband. She expected him to let her know that he’d been released. She had even set aside money to send him to purchase a bus ticket to come to California, for they would need to live with her mother until Toshido was able to find a job and provide for the family. Alice would work at Venture Air as long as she needed, until they were back on their feet.
No letter came. Alice called several government offices, but no one seemed to know what the protocol was for releasing the former detainees. Christmas was only a few days away, and she had not heard from her husband. Under the tree, she had a gift for him, his wedding ring. He’d left it behind because he was told to take nothing of value that could be stolen. She had daydreamed about her husband opening the small gift and seeing his wedding ring —a symbol of their promise to one another —then placing it back on his finger, where it rightly belonged.
A letter from the U.S. Government addressed to her came in the mail. Alice felt her stomach clench. She tore the letter open. It merely stated that her husband had been released from his Arizona detention center on December 17th. It was now the twenty-third of December. There had been plenty of time for Toshido to get in touch with her. Alice felt something had gone terribly wrong. Toshido knew where she was now living, yet there had been no word. Had an angry mob killed him? Had he decided he no longer wanted to be married to her? Why hadn’t she heard from him?
“Mommy, I miss Daddy. When is he coming home?” The five-year-old had been without his stepfather longer than he’d been with him.
“I don’t know, honey, let’s say a prayer that your dad will be with us soon.” Mother and little boy bowed their heads and prayed that God would watch over their husband and father and send him home safely.
On Christmas Eve, the lights on the tree twinkled, and tinsel hung in strands off each branch. Grandma Dorothy put a small ham in the oven along with potatoes. On the cusp of Christmas, instead of being an evening filled with magic and wonder, it was filled with sadness and tension.
Was Toshido ever coming home? Had he abandoned them after being treated like a second-class citizen? It was the only time Alice was grateful that Toshido’s parents were no longer alive. The shame they would have endured because of the government’s outrageous suspicions that never came to fruition. False accusations took so much away from innocent people, simply for being of Japanese heritage.
“Mommy, when are we opening presents?” Benny asked her. She was raised out of her thoughts and chuckled.
“Benny, as soon as we eat supper, we will open presents, how does that sound?”
“Like it’s a million hours from now.” Benny scrunched up his face and pouted.
“Well, at least it’s your favorite meal, ham!” Grandma Dorothy told the little boy while Benny rolled his eyes.
Dorothy lit the candles on the dining room table; the family was saying Grace when the doorbell rang.
“I wonder who that could be?” Dorothy went to answer when Alice told her she’d get the door. Ben and Dorothy waited patiently.
There was screaming, not the kind done in fear, but the kind that’s voiced in joy. Benny hopped off his chair and ran to the front door.
“Daddy!” He threw himself into the lovefest of husband and wife. When Dorothy came around the corner, she joined in.
“Toshido, you made it home. How? Where have you been these last few days?” April asked through tears.
“You’re just in time to eat. I’ll set a place.” Dorothy hurried back to the kitchen, not wanting them to see her tears. She set a place in the empty spot on the table. Toshido, still holding Benny, came in to see the meal waiting for him.
After prayers, everyone had questions.
“I didn’t want you to have to send money, so I spent a few days washing dishes at a restaurant. That got me enough money for a bus ticket. The bus comes through town, so I was only a few blocks from here when I got off.
“Toshido, why didn’t you let me know?”
“Because you would have sent money or taken off from your job. I wanted to come back to you as your husband, not your child.”
“I would never think that.”
“I would think that.”
“Let’s eat, I want to open presents,” Benny said.
After dinner, they went to the living room to open presents. Toshido was surprised when Alice handed him a box. He held the box in his hand and shook it.
“Dad, open it!” Benny laughed. Toshido opened the little box and pulled out the gold band. He looked at Alice, barely able to contain his tears, and placed the ring on his finger.
“Thank you.”
“Oh no, the mushy stuff,” Benny said and turned away.
There was never a better Christmas than the night Toshido Okumura returned to his family after being torn apart for two years. The war would continue for another year or so after his release, but that night, the Okumura family experienced the true Christmas spirit —peace on Earth and goodwill towards men — for the first time in years.
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