AFTER  INTERNMENT  CAMP  HE  BECAME  A  MARINE

Robert Mitsuru “Bob” Wada was born July 12, 1930, in Redlands, California, to Japanese parents who settled in the United States in 1911.  When World War II commenced, Robert was only 11 years of age, and was confined with his family during the war in a Japanese internment camp in Poston, Arizona.  Unfortunately, his father died in 1944 while confined at Poston.  When the war ended, Robert returned with his family to Redlands and graduated from Redlands High School.  While a senior in high school he and his best friend, who he had known since kindergarten, joined the Marine Corps Reserve together and were called to active duty during the Korean War.  During the war Wada participated in several major battles as a tank crewman.  His best friend served with Wada and was unfortunately killed during one of the battles.  Following the war Wada was married, raised a family, and was self employed as a land surveyor.  In retirement Wada was an active leader, speaker, and member of many organizations including the Japanese American Veterans Association, the Veterans Memorial Court Alliance, and the Kazuo Masuda Memorial Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 3640 for which he served as commander for three terms.  He died January 18, 2023, and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, California.

Prior to his death he published in 2010 “From Internment, to Korea, to Solitude”, a written memoir about his journey as a Japanese-American during and following World War II.  Wada wrote: “The most important thing I learned from my military life was an awareness of the value of life.  I saw the suffering of people in other parts of the world whose lives included death and destruction and yet our country and the people at home carried on with their normal lives of plenty, mostly unaware there was even a war going on as many of us were fighting and dying.  I just want my family to know that during my military life, my family meant everything to me, and I vowed never to do anything that would embarrass them.  I want my family to know I served because I wanted to. .I fulfilled the dream of being a U.S. Marine and I was fortunate enough to fulfill it by seeing and experiencing a war.  I joined the Marine Corp because it was always a dream of both my Mexican-American friend, Bob Madrid, and myself, ever since we were little boys.  I am most proud of having served as a Japanese-American in the Marine Corps, proud to have been to war and to experience something that I always dreamed of.  My only regret is that I lost my very best friend in a war and he is not here because I asked him to join the Marine Corps with me.  I ask myself was it God’s will that I asked him to go with me, did he really want to, or did I ask him because I was too afraid to go alone.  I learned the hard lesson from my Korean War experience to not ask anyone else to go with you, especially your best friend.”

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)