Sam Ozaki Papers

Sam Ozaki was born in Los Angeles, California in 1924. Shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, Ozaki’s father was picked up by the FBI and sent to a Department of Justice camp located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sam, as well as his mother and siblings, was sent to the Santa Anita Assembly Center and then was interned at the Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas.
Ozaki volunteered for military service and was trained as a Military Intelligence Service interpreter and as a Browning Automatic Rifleman (BAR). He was stationed in Italy and France. After Ozaki was honorably discharged in 1946, he moved to Chicago and took advantage of the GI Bill. He received degrees from Roosevelt University and Loyola University and started a career as a Chicago Public School (CPS) teacher. After a decade of teaching, Ozaki obtained a job as a CPS high school principal, a position which he retained until his retirement.

Source: Ozaki, Sam