SEATTLE
More than six decades after they were forced to leave college, some 450 Japanese Americans interned during World War II have been awarded honorary degrees from the University of Washington.
Relatives wept during the ceremony Sunday to honor the students, who were among 120,000 ethnic Japanese who were relocated in 1942 under the executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The degrees were presented to at least 65 surviving former students, mostly in their 80s, and 110 relatives representing others who had died or were unable to attend.
“It still seems like a nightmare to me,” said recipient Teru Nakata Kiyohara. Like many other former internees, she later earned a degree at another school.
The UW Board of Regents voted in February to award the honorary diplomas.
“The message of today’s event is a simple one, and one that I believe none of us should ever forget,” former Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, himself a former internee, told the crowd. “It’s never too late to do the right thing. It’s never too late to rejoice that the right thing has been done.”
