Title:

Joe Nitta and family, Mr. and Mrs. H. Okamoto and daughter on the Rohwer Special which took them from the Rohwer Relocation Center at McGehee, Arkansas to Sacramento, California. This special train of seven cars brought some 450 Japanese American residents of California back to their homes after residence of over three years at the Rohwer Center. Met by several officers of the WRA at Sacramento, Robert Allison, Assistant Relocation Officer at the Rohwer Center, who accompanied the returnees and all the passengers, reported a satisfactory and uneventful trip during the 2,000 miles, over lines of four railways and with equipment varying from a fairly modern cafe car to antiquated wooden coaches of the gaslight era, with a tourist sleeper reserved for the aged and a few who were ill. However, there were no complaints from the returnees, numbering young, old, and babies in arms. En route several crowded troop trains, in some cases bearing G.I.'s back from the South Pacific, were met by the Rohwer Special on sidings. All reported that hearty and cordial greetings were exchanged. Disembarking at various stations between Sacramento and Los Angeles, the returnees found many friends to greet them, both Caucasian and Japanese Americans. The unanimous verdict? We're glad to get home! -- Photographer: Iwasaki, Hikaru -- Sacramento, California. 7/30/45

Contributing Institution:

The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.