Raymond Uno returned to Heart Mountain last week.

Uno, 83, first arrived in the windswept high plains of northwest Wyoming in 1942 as a prisoner, held in an armed camp because he was of Japanese ancestry.

Last week, the retired district court judge from Salt Lake City came back to join with internees and others to honor Japanese American World War II veterans and others who served. The Heart Mountain World War II Japanese American Confinement Site’s fourth annual pilgrimage was held on Friday and Saturday. The two-day event was sponsored by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.

“I have a mix of good and bad memories,” Uno said of being at Heart Mountain then and now.

He was just 11 when his family was wrenched from their lives in El Monte, Calif., and brought via troop train to the camp where more than 14,000 Americans of Japanese descent were incarcerated from 1942–45.

His father, Clarence Hachiro Uno, was a World War I veteran who had served in France with the American Expeditionary Force.

And yet like other Japanese Americans who lived on or near the West Coast, Clarence Hachiro Uno was taken to a camp, which his son referred to Saturday as a “prisoner of war camp.”

His late mother Osako Teraoka Uno and late brother Wallace Uno were also held at the camp, as was his sister Yuki Tomomatsu, who now lives in Gardena, Calif. The elder Uno died there.

“My father passed away Jan. 21, 1943, in Heart Mountain of coronary thrombosis,” Judge Uno said Saturday.

Uno said he recalls the funeral service clearly.

“Ironically, he was a Legionnaire, and given a full military funeral by the American Legion posts of Powell, Cody and Heart Mountain, with a Legion honor guard’s rifle salute and Boy Scouts posting colors of the U.S. flag,” he said. “I believe this is the only time an interned Japanese American veteran was so honored in any of the 10 ‘concentration’ camps throughout the U.S. during WWII.”

Raymond Uno said his family entered the camp the day it opened and was held there behind barbed wire, under the watchful eye of armed guards, until the camp closed in 1945.

Like thousands of other internees, Uno served his country after he was released.

He joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Japan for two years and seven months as an interpreter, translator and interrogator for the 319th Military Intelligence Service as well as a special agent for the 441st Counterintelligence Corps in Tokyo.

He went on to a long, successful career, earning multiple degrees, including a law degree and a doctorate in humanities. He served as the deputy attorney for Salt Lake County and as Utah’s assistant attorney general before he was named to the bench.

While his years at Heart Mountain was a dark, often sad period in his life, he has returned to the site to ensure the memories of that place are not lost.

Despite the unconstitutional treatment that these Americans received from their country and government, thousands of men who were held in camps chose to serve in the armed forces during World War II.

Memories of the 442

The pilgrimage adopted the theme “Honoring Selfless Service” there in recognition of all soldiers, especially those who were incarcerated at Heart Mountain during World War II.

The story of those servicemen was told in vivid detail by historian and author Eric Saul, who delivered the keynote speech during more than three hours of ceremonies Saturday morning and afternoon.

Saul told the story of the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team from WWII, the most decorated unit in U.S. Army history for its size and length of service.

The 442nd, which adopted the motto “Go For Broke,” earned eight Presidential Unit Citations while 21 of the soldiers in the unit received Medal of Honor awards for World War II.

There were 18,000 members in the unit during the war, although the regular strength was 6,000. Saul said so many were killed or wounded in action, the turnover was tremendous.

Half of its members were from internment camps; the other half were Hawaiian.

Most of Nisei, the first generation of their families born in the U.S.A. They were small — the average weight was 125 pounds, with size 5 shoes. But they were extremely fearless in combat, winning battle after battle, including the famous rescue of “The Lost Battalion” in 1944, in which the 442nd suffered horrific casualties.

The soliders fought, he said, to show their patriotism, to ensure a better life for their children and grandchildren, and to prevent other Americans from being treated so shoddily in the future.

“You couldn’t make a story like that up,” Saul said, clearly moved at times during his speech.

In addition to helping win the war in Europe, since that is where the 442nd was assigned, several of its members and other Japanese Americans served during the occupation of Japan after the war, including Raymond Uno. They helped create a new, free Japan.

“You were literally ambassadors in arms,” Saul said, addressing members of the unit who were in the audience.

When the 442nd was honored by President Harry Truman in 1946, their heroism was noted in his speech, Saul said.

“You fought prejudice and you won,” Truman said. “You made the Constitution stand for what it really means.”

Inouye honored

During the three-hour ceremony, the Heart Mountain Honor Roll Memorial was rededicated to honor the late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye. The Honor Roll was built at Heart Mountain by internees in 1944, and the site has been preserved by the HMWF in recent years.

The widow of the late senator, Irene Hirano Inouye, said Heart Mountain meant a great deal to him, and he was honored to speak at its grand opening in 2011.

“It was a very special trip for him,” she said.

Inouye, who died in 2012 at the age of 88, was severely wounded in Italy in 1944, losing most of his right arm while heroically taking out three machine gun bunkers.

His boyhood dream of becoming a surgeon was ended, but he instead focused on politics, embarking on a 60-year career, never losing an election. Inouye served in the territorial Legislature, the U.S. House and was elected to the U.S. Senate nine times.

Uno was at the grand opening three years ago and talked with Inouye.

Former Sen. Al Simpson, who grew up in Cody and first visited the camp as a teenager, also spoke Saturday, as did former Commerce and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who met Simpson at the camp 70 years ago and has remained a lifetime friend.

Both spoke highly of Inouye.

“There was something about him,” Simpson said. “There was an aura.”

He said the veteran senator was widely respected by both Democrats and Republicans. He was kind, helpful and supportive, Simpson said, while noting that his father also served in the Senate with Inouye.

When Inouye died, he was hailed by leaders of both parties, and President Barack Obama, himself a native of Hawaii, called him a “true American hero.”

Mineta, who paused before he spoke, looking around the place where he and his family were held, said Inouye was both a very wise man and a “master of the legislative process.”

“Daniel K. Inouye was the kind of person you want to follow,” he said.

The pilgrimage opened with a dinner banquet and reception Friday in Cody, where the documentary “A Flicker in Eternity” was shown.

Sharon Yamato made the short film to tell the story of Stanley Hayami, who was incarcerated at Heart Mountain as a teenager but left to join the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II. He was killed in action.

Several veterans and scholars discussed their experiences and thoughts during a Saturday afternoon seminar.