Dear Miss Breed Letters Shed Light on Japanese Internment Camp

"I was overwhelmed with joy to hear from you."
(Japanese-American internee)

Clara Estelle Breed, city librarian at the East San Diego Library, took a liking to the Japanese-American children who borrowed books.  Every week, they frequented the library, smiles on their faces.  But that all changed after Pearl Harbor.  In 1942, after President Roosevelt announced the interment of 120,000 Japanese Americans, the faces of these children became sullen.  Miss Breed decided to make a difference.

On the day that the San Francisco children accompanied their parents to the train station to travel to the camp, Miss Breed was there.  She handed out stamped, addressed postcards and asked the children to write to her about life in the camp.  Dozens of children took her up on the offer.  She received 250 letters, including one that opened:  "I was overwhelmed with joy to hear from you."  The letter continued:  "Now to answer [your questions] -- yes, we do have chairs and tables.  Father made them out of scraps of wood...But we do not have mattresses.  We use some our blankets as mattresses." (http://www.janm.org/exhibits/breed/title.htm)

The librarian was determined to make life more pleasant for the Japanese-American internees.  She visited the children in the camp, loaded down with reading materials and personal items like soap and toothpaste.  In 1943, Miss Breed also wrote articles protesting the treatment of the Japanese Americans, including "All But Blind" in the Library Journal, and "Americans With the Wrong Ancestors" in the Hornbook Magazine.

Miss Breed passed her collection of letters on to one of her former penpals, Elizabeth Yamada, who in turn donated the letters to the Japanese American National Museum.  

Note:  For more information, read Joanne Oppenheim's book Dear Miss Breed.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/267924.Dear_Miss_Breed

TNT, Blood Banks & Canaries

Here are ten facts you may not know about World War I, the Great War or the "War to End all Wars".

1.  An explosion on the battlefield in France was heard in England.  Over 900,000 pounds of explosives were detonated simultaneously in 19 tunnels.  The British Prime Minister heard it at 10 Downing Street in London.

2.  Twelve million letters were delivered to the Front every week.  It only took two days for a letter from Britain to reach the Front in France.

3.  "Canaries" were women who worked in factories with TNT, which gave them toxic jaundice and turned their skin yellow.

4.  World War I sparked the invention of plastic surgery.  Harold Gillies, a surgeon, saw how shrapnel could damage a soldier's face beyond recognition.  He pioneered techniques in facial reconstruction.

5.  The youngest British soldier was only 12 years old.  Sidney Lewis was one of thousands who lied about his age to enlist in the army.

6.  World War I nearly caused financial ruin in Britain.  In 1918, the cost of bullets fired in one 24 hour period was four million pounds.

7.  Blood banks were developped during World War I.  A U.S. Army doctor established the first blood bank on the Western Front in 1917.  Blood was kept on ice for up to 28 days, used in life-saving surgery.

8.  Nine out of 10 British soldiers survived the trenches.  The typical life of a British Tommy was one of boredom and routine.

9.  It cost the U.S. 30 billion dollars to finance World War I.  And they didn't even officially join the war until 1917.

10.  Sixty five million soldiers served in the First World War.  Ten million soldiers lost their lives in the conflict.  Almost seven million civilians died in the war.

Secret tunnelers of World War I courtesy www.bbc.co.uk.