Monrovian Toshio Asano finally received his Associate Degree from Citrus College Tuesday. Asano was one of thousands of students who was sent to internment camps during the anti-Japanese fear in World War II and subsequently interrupted his education completion.
Photos by Terry Miller
By Terry Miller
During a brief but poignant ceremony Tuesday, Citrus College’s Dr. Patricia A. Rasmussen presented Toshio Asano and the late Masako Mukai Kusomoto with Honorary Degree Ceremony .
Asano and Kusomoto were Citrus College students whose education was interrupted during the 1941-1942 academic year as a result of Executive Order 9066 which was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones. Eventually, EO 9066 cleared the way for the deportation of Japanese Americans to internment camps. The executive order was spurred by a combination of war hysteria and reactions to the Niihau Incident., which resulted in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
MASAKO MUKA! KUSUMOTO
Ms. Mukai Kusumoto received her high school diploma from Citrus Union High School in 1936 and later returned to begin her college studies at Citrus Junior College. In 1942, during her fourth semester, Executive Order 9066 interrupted her studies. Her permanent record card states that she “left March 26, 1942 for war measure for Japanese.” In 1943, Ms. Mukai Kusumoto attended Iowa State Teachers College, now University of Northern Iowa, in Michigan. She returned to Hawaii in 1945, where she taught school on a sugar plantation in her childhood neighborhood and later specialized in reading and taught grade school. She inspired several of her nieces and nephews to become teachers. Ms. Mukai Kusumoto passed away in 1980 in Wailuku, Maui.
TOSHIO ASANO
Mr. Asano, a graduate of Monrovia High School, attended Citrus Junior College from September, 1941 through March 1942, creating a strong legacy in athletics. Mr. Asano’s education was cut short by Executive Order 9066 when he and his family were forced to evacuate to the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming. While at Heart Mountain Mr. Asano was drafted into the U.S. Army and became an interpreter, serving in the Philippines and Japan. The Army also recognized his athleticism and Mr. Asano played softball in the Army Olympics. .Upon his discharge in 1945, Mr. Asano returned to Monrovia where he continued to play softball for the next 20 years, playing semi-pro baseball with the Little Tokyo Giants and later pitching in a softball industrial league until his early 50s. He worked for MidWay Ford until his retirement. Mr. Asano was married in 1949 and has two daughters
The Honorary Degree Ceremony is an initiative of the California Nisei College Diploma Project, a statewide effort in which the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges locate individuals who were affected by Executive Order 9066 and confer their degrees.
Now observing its Centennial year, the Citrus College President Dr. Geraldine M. Perri said the community is proud to honor Mr. Asano and Mrs. Kusomoto by presenting the degrees they earned during the 1941-1942 academic year. “It is a privilege to join the California Community Colleges, California State University and the University of California in recognizing these distinguished citizens,” she said.
