Ken Sato

Kenjiro “Ken” Sato was born in Los Angeles in 1919, the eldest son to Japanese immigrants. His father worked the San Pedro docks, his mother sewed for neighbors, and their small home smelled of salt and rice. Kenjiro grew up fascinated by machines — engines, propellers, anything that moved. After high school, he apprenticed at a local machine shop, repairing aircraft tools, dreaming of building things that could fly. After December 7, 1941, life changed. The FBI arrested his father for attending community meetings; he was sent to a Department of Justice camp. Kenjiro, his mother, and his sister Emiko were left to fend for themselves. In early 1942, Executive Order 9066 forced them to abandon their home. They sold belongings and boarded a train to Manzanar, the desert wind cutting through their barracks. Kenjiro spent his days repairing pumps and generators, trying to keep purpose alive, while dust and heat reminded him of confinement. By 1943, whispers spread through the camp: Japanese Americans could volunteer for the U.S. Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The offer was controversial; some saw it as loyalty demanded from the imprisoned, others as a chance to reclaim dignity. For Kenjiro, it became a choice of agency — a way to prove that fences could not define him. Torn between fear and hope, he prepared to enlist, leaving the camp and its shadows behind, stepping into uncertainty, driven by the need to reclaim honor for himself and his family.