Donation recognizes contribution of Japanese Canadians in Great War
PAT SASSA DONATES FATHER’S FIRST WORLD WAR MEDALS TO GALT
It’s a “donation of national significance.”
Words from collections technician Kevin MacLean Friday as the Galt Museum and Archives formally unveiled donated First World War medals from the family of a Japanese Canadian solider, two days ahead of the 100-year commemoration of the armistice to end the Great War.
Receiving any objects related to the First World War is a rare occurrence, MacLean says, adding the supporting story of the medals and Japanese Canadian contributions to Lethbridge and southern Alberta in the early 1900s is even more invaluable to the community.
He said the Galt can now expand its repository of objects and stories related to the First World War, to the Japanese Canadian participation in the First World War, to the Japanese Canadian story in southern Alberta, and to the Okinawan people within the region’s Japanese Canadian community.
The two medals and three badges belonged to Tomomi Okutake and were donated by his daughter, Pat Sassa.
“It means an awful lot to me because it was information that my father did not share at all,” Sassa said during a media event Friday morning at the Galt Museum.
“He (MacLean) has done a great deal of research on my father. I’m very, very thankful to him for doing all this work. Our family is small and I felt that perhaps because of our community and the smaller size, my involvement with the Galt Museum because I am a Galt graduate as well from the old (nursing) school — and so it provides information to the community. It’s absolutely perfect, isn’t it, that it’s 100 years. It is a great opportunity to be proud of giving his time to serve.”
“There’s at least five reasons that we were thrilled to have the medals here and amongst those includes the fact that we previously had no representation, except for one photograph, of the Japanese Canadians’ involvement in the First World War,” said MacLean.
“So we went from one photograph to copious amounts of material, mostly in the form of documents and photographs, but also, of course, in the form of these medals and these badges. The Great War objects are becoming much harder to find. Here’s a case where somebody’s family treasures have come to the Galt. For us, that means trust in what we do, so we are grateful every time.”
MacLean says finding any tangible connections to the Japanese Canadian participation in the First World War is scarce across museums and archives in Canada, because only 222 Japanese Canadians enlisted to serve in that war.
Part of the challenge of establishing the heritage value of war medals and objects, MacLean says, is ensuring that the person who served in the war was a resident in the community prior to their enlistment. The Galt’s research indicated various potential sites of residency prior to Okutake enlisting to serve, ranging from Calgary to Vancouver.
MacLean and his staff worked to ascertain that Okutake was indeed a resident in Lethbridge prior to enlisting.
“It’s critical that we are certain that he was residing here in order to house these objects because if he were not, then his contributions to the war effort relate to another community,” he said.
MacLean and his staff used military records, history books, obituaries and an oral history interview with Okutake’s late spouse Tsuru Okutake from the 1970s at Simon Fraser University to pinpoint Tomomi Okutake’s residency. Using a combination of evidence from a variety of sources, they feel confident Tomomi was a resident in Lethbridge prior to enlisting.
The medals and badges can be viewed online, or in person by appointment at the Galt Museum.
School groups can also view them through a program at the Galt called “Southern Alberta at War,” hosted by Ashley Henrickson.
“We welcome students in Grade 4 and up to come into the Galt Museum,” she said. “They come with their class and we tell them the story of three different soldiers. They can actually see the real medal and the real badges that he wore. It’s a great way to connect kids with that history.”
The actual items were donated last January, but MacLean says it took time to research, process, register and catalogue them. Then they chose to time the announcement with Remembrance Day this year.
“This is the right time to honour Private Okutake’s contributions to Lethbridge and to Canada during the Great War,” he said.
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