Understanding Internment/Incarceration in the Early 1940’s

Featured Speaker: Jack Kubota

This presentation will tell the story of Jack Kubota’s
family, from small business owners in the Imperial
Valley through their stay in an Arizona incarceration
camp near the Colorado River, to the family’s
eventual return to start their lives from scratch in San
Diego County. The presentation will be in the form of
an interview in which Linda Canada, former archivist
for the Japanese American Historical Society of San
Diego, will lead Jack through the various parts of his
life and that of his family.

Presenter Biography

Jack Kubota is an engineer at Hoch
Consulting whose major focus is water projects
for municipalities in Southern California. He was
born in Pasadena but grew up in the Imperial
Valley, where his family had a trucking business.
In 1942, when he was 13 years old, his family
was forced to move to an incarceration camp at
Poston, Arizona. Kubota joined the Navy after
high school and eventually graduated from UC
Berkeley with a degree in Civil Engineering.

Coordinator: Dick Dahlberg