Roy J. Esaki photograph collection

Roy J. Esaki was born in Stockton, California on February 25, 1922. He was a second year student at the University of California, Berkeley when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. The Esaki family was sent to Tulare Assembly Center and then to the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona. After a ten month internment, Roy Esaki was one of the first individuals at the internment camp to receive permission from the War Relocation Authority to leave the camp to attend college at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
In 1945, Esaki was inducted into the United States Army and was stationed in Augsburg, Germany. He was honorably discharged in 1947. After his military service ended, he returned to Washington University to complete his degree. He resided in Seabrook, New Jersey for several years until he permanently settled in Chicago, Illinois.

Source: Esaki, Roy J.