Thread by @USFCA_Digi_Coll

On this #NationalDayOfRemembrance, let’s remember Dave Komatsu, quarterback of the @usfca #USFDons freshman football team in 1941. Pictured in the @SFFoghorn (October 24, 1941) bit.ly/3gZaZb6 @DonsAthletics

Because of documents created by incarcerated people of Japanese descent and records created by the U.S. government, we can trace how David Komatsu’s life was interrupted by Executive Order 9066 #EO9066 #NationalDayOfRemembrance

Dave Komatsu was a 17 year old U.S. citizen, born in the United States, and he had spent less than a year in Japan. From @USNatArchives Japanese-American Internee Data File, 1942-1946 bit.ly/3JELEiR #NationalDayOfRemembrance

Before coming to @usfca, Komatsu had graduated from Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles. At @usfca he played football, basketball, & rubgy. He is mentioned in the @SFFoghorn sports pages for 1941 & 1942 bit.ly/3H4bHyn #USFDons #donsathletics #NationalDayOfRemembrance

The @SFFoghorn reported on his departure from @usfca on 3/27/1942: "One of the finest fellows on the campus and a good backfield prospect will be lost to the University ... It's too bad that the likes of Dave must suffer for the misdoings of others..." bit.ly/35a8dNc

And in the Friday, April 24, 1942 issue of the @SFFoghorn, it was noted: "Dave Komatsu, who transferred because of his nationality, is now enrolled at Regis College in Denver from what we hear..." bit.ly/3H2EaEw #NationalDayOfRemembrance

But it appears that he never went to @RegisUniversity. I don’t know why the writer of the @SFFoghorn article wrote that. Was it a rumor? Was there a #Jesuit connection? #NationalDayOfRemembrance

By July 1942, Dave Komatsu had been forcibly relocated to the Santa Anita “Assembly Center” according to the 7/22/1942 Santa Anita Pacemaker (newspaper) available to USF students through the @GleesonLibrary #HistoryVault subscription database bit.ly/3H2tQwu

By November 1942, Dave Komatsu and his family were taken to Rohwer “relocation center” in Arkansas. Learn more about Rohwer at the @ArkansasState Heritage Sites webpage: rohwer.astate.edu or in the @DenshoProject Encyclopedia encyclopedia.densho.org/Rohwer/

While incarcerated at Rohwer, Komatsu played & coached in a camp football team. "In many instances sports functioned as a release valve for the social, economic, psychological, and political pressures created by incarceration" @DenshoProject Encyclopedia bit.ly/3I6AvH1

The @USNatArchives has a photo of a football squad at the Rohwer Center (15-Nov-1942) but the players are not identified by name. Could Dave Komatsu be one of these players? ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-… #NationalDayOfRemembrance

We can trace Dave Komatsu's sporting activity at #Rohwer by reading the Rohwer Outpost, a camp newspaper: bit.ly/3BCQo5F #NationalDayOfRemembrance

"Possession of an abundance of football brains as well as a natural playing ability made it only a matter of course for Dave Komatsu...to assume chores as head coach of the Santa Anitans, and later of the Rohwer all-stars." #Rohwer Outpost 11/25/1942 bit.ly/359XDGj

And in that same source, the Rowher Outpost v.2:28 from April 7, 1943, we read "Dave Komatsu, who left for Michigan the previous day..." from @ChronAmLOC bit.ly/3p1xgsV #NationalDayOfRemembrance

If we look at the "Final Accountability Roster of Evacuees at Relocation Centers, 1944-1946, Rohwer", we learn that David Komatsu was "discharged" in April 1943 @USNatArchives @DenshoProject ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-305…

In that roster, Dave Komatsu was listed with a Type of Final Departure: "Ind-Smpl" @USNatArchives can I get a little help in deciphering what that code means? #NationalDayOfRemembrance

The McGehee Times (March 15, 1945) a local Arkansas newspaper, suggests that David Komatsu left the camp and joined the U.S. military "Rohwer Relocation Center Contributes 866 Men to Service in the U.S. Armed Forces" from the #Rohwer Reconstructed Archive risingabove.cast.uark.edu/archive/item/1…

“Japanese Americans served in the U.S. armed forces in disproportionate numbers, despite having their loyalties questioned after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.” @DenshoProject Encyclopedia bit.ly/3vaamU2 #NationalDayOfRemembrance

I know twitter's not really for long form stuff, but I wanted to share this small portion of the life of David Komatsu, @usfca student and athlete, who had the trajectory of his life changed by Executive Order 9066. #EO9066

On this #NationalDayOfRemembrance we’re called to listen, learn, and remember the people of Japanese ancestry who lived through the injustice of forced removal and incarceration. To learn more, see the sources we've listed on the @GleesonLibrary blog bit.ly/3h1a6i8