Kane Senda Papers

Kane Ken Senda was born in Seattle, Washington on January 20, 1921. He was a University of Washington student when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. The following month, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized United States Executive Order 9066. This order led to the forced removal of individuals of Japanese descent from designated “military zones” located mostly along the West Coast. Senda knew that the forced evacuation would inevitably affect him and he immediately made plans to leave the area. He contacted an uncle in Ohio whom was instrumental in getting him into Denison University. Sadly, the rest of his family was sent to Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho.

Upon graduating from the university, Senda was drafted into the Military Intelligence Service. He graduated from Camp Savage in February of 1945 and was promptly sent to Japan. After working as an interpreter for a period of time, the war objectives changed and the U.S. military began to prepare the troops for the occupation of Japan. Senda was assigned to the 6th Army in Kyoto, Japan where his chief responsibility was to help military units find working and living quarters. In order to make these spaces habitable, Senda had to hire Japanese carpenters, janitors, electricians and so on. He described his role as running an “employment agency” of sorts.
In 1946, Senda was discharged from the U.S. Army and decided to resettle in Chicago, Illinois with his wife. He attended Northwestern University for a period time and has two children. Senda is now retired and resides in Glenview, Illinois.

Source: Senda, Kane Ken