Thomas Iowa Yamashita BORN June 3, 1921 DIED September 10, 2005 OCCUPATION Nurse
TOM WAS BORN on June 3, 1921 at Blunden Harbor, B.C. to parents Isoji and Etsu Yamashita. He went to the Central Public School and King George High School in Vancouver and then enrolled at University of British Columbia. While at UBC in 1941, he enrolled with the university’s Canadian Officer Training Corps. A month later, because of the Pearl Harbor attack, he was ordered by the university’s senate to turn in his uniforms. In 1942, when JapaneseCanadians were forced from their homes on orders from the B.C. and Canadian Federal Governments, Tom went on his own to Toronto while his family was sent to the interior of B.C. to Bay Farm. He was denied entry into the College
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of Optometry in Toronto because Japanese-Canadians then were barred from universities. In May 1945, officers of the British Army came to Toronto specifically to recruit a unit of Japanese-Canadians to serve overseas. Tom, then 24, and several of his friends decided to join up. After basic military training, they spent one year in Vancouver, attending the required S-20 Japanese Language School. In 1946, Sgt Tom Yamashita’s unit, Canadian 6th Division, traveled briefly through England and then India, ending up in Singapore. From there, they separated and were sent to different places. For over a year, Tom worked as a war crimes investigator for
RETURN a commemorative yearbook in honour of the Japanese Canadian students of 1942
the British Army, South East Asia Command, in Penang, an island north of Singapore. He was the only Canadian stationed there. He spent about four hours every day at the prison, questioning Japanese war criminals who had surrendered when the war ended and also some Japanese civilians. Tom felt very comfortable among the local people of Penang and he made several good friends there. In fact, he continued to correspond with them for years. When he was discharged in September of 1947, it was with mixed feelings that Tom returned to Canada and settled in Montreal where his family relocated. Tom received eight service medals, including those for the Canadian Infantry, the British
Army and the Canadian and British Intelligence Corps. Tom moved to Montréal when he was discharged to rejoin his family and worked for Transport Canada and Environment Canada in Dorval until his retirement in 1993. Tom was a quintessential volunteer, quietly and responsibly giving his time in the Montreal Japanese-Canadian Community. He was a weekly driver for seniors attending the Thursday Drop-In at the Cultural Centre, and the Sunday School treasurer at The Montreal Japanese United Church for more than 20 years. He married Lil (Imai) in June 1959, and had a daughter, son-in law and two grandsons. Tom passed away September 10, 2005.