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There will be a dedication ceremony on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 11am, honoring the Japanese Americans who were forced to move to the Turlock Assembly Center at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds.On April 30, 1942, the Japanese American Assembly Center in Turlock opened after President Franklin Roosevelt signed an Executive Order that authorized the forced relocation of people of Japanese descent living on the West Coast. Several days later, thousands of Japanese Americans arrived outside the Fairgrounds to be checked-in. During Saturday’s ceremony a monument dedicated to those Japanese men, women, and children will be unveiled.
“We are very proud to be part of such a historical event,” said Dale Butler, president of Stanislaus County Fair Board of Directors. “There has been a lot of hard work put into making this memorial dedication come to fruition.”
Kayla Canelo, a graduate student at California State University, Stanislaus, was introduced to this idea in one of her graduate courses.“I am very excited to see all this come together,” said Canelo. “When we had detainees from the assembly center speak to our class, it made me want to have a memorial dedicated to them.”
The ceremony will include the presentation of flags by the Merced Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Mr. Hiro Asai of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT), and Mr. Howard Taniguchi from Military Intelligence Service (MIS). Turlock High School Band will be performing as well as the Stockton Taiko Group.