Japanese Internment and Abandoned Apple Orchards around Bangor Naval Base
Googled: various permutations of Japanese internment, Washington State, Bangor Naval Base, etc. Found a lot about the Bainbridge Island Japanese community (which I was already somewhat aware of) but nothing more specific.
My mother told me stories from the time she spent growing up around Bangor (I think the family lived closer to Bremerton, but for a while her father was CO of Bangor, and had been a naval Captain during WWII). One of the images that stuck with me is how Red Delicious Apples used to have flavor, and about how she'd wander through apple orchards in the vicinity of Bangor Naval Base, orchards that I think she said had been abandoned during the war, and eat these marvelous apples from the trees. (Of course the orchards could have been around Bremerton as well. But I thought she said near Bangor.)
I am wondering about the likelihood of these orchards having previously belonged to Japanese Americans who lost their land during the Japanese internment.
My mother's stories were probably more from the mid fifties through early sixties, at a guess. This is for a poem, and I'm not sure how important proximity to the base will end up being, but if anyone has information about Japanese communities in or around Bangor, Bremerton, the Washington Peninsula more generally, and loss of land around internment, I would be quite grateful.
My mother told me stories from the time she spent growing up around Bangor (I think the family lived closer to Bremerton, but for a while her father was CO of Bangor, and had been a naval Captain during WWII). One of the images that stuck with me is how Red Delicious Apples used to have flavor, and about how she'd wander through apple orchards in the vicinity of Bangor Naval Base, orchards that I think she said had been abandoned during the war, and eat these marvelous apples from the trees. (Of course the orchards could have been around Bremerton as well. But I thought she said near Bangor.)
I am wondering about the likelihood of these orchards having previously belonged to Japanese Americans who lost their land during the Japanese internment.
My mother's stories were probably more from the mid fifties through early sixties, at a guess. This is for a poem, and I'm not sure how important proximity to the base will end up being, but if anyone has information about Japanese communities in or around Bangor, Bremerton, the Washington Peninsula more generally, and loss of land around internment, I would be quite grateful.