The Heart Mountain Camp Reunion will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Quiet Cannon, Montebello Country Club, 901 N. Via San Clemente, Montebello.
Registration is still open at $40 per person, with Heart Mountain internees ages 90 and older being admitted free of charge. Food choice of prime rib or fancy chicken breast must be specified.
One of the guests will be Heart Mountain internee and Rafu Shimpo columnist George “Horse” Yoshinaga, and the committee will try to line up a person willing to have a “debate” with him, as he has mentioned several times in his column. Another guest is the executive director of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, Brian Liesinger. The Horse questioned his background in terms of being the right person for the job; attendees will have to see what kind of response there is from Liesinger.
The first Heart Mountain reunion was started in 1982 by the Los Angeles group, and has been organized every few years ever since by other cities. It is probably the longest-running of all camp reunions. The other cities participating were San Jose with two, Seattle with two, and Salt Lake City with one.
This will be the ninth one by the Los Angeles group, and will be honoring the committee members from the first reunion, as well as those who attended that reunion. Already signed up are Shig Honda, the first chair, and his family.
This is also turning out to be a family reunion of sorts as the children are taking their elderly parents/grandparents who no longer can drive. Drivers/caretakers are being given a special rate of $35 per person.
For more information and registration forms, contact Bacon Sakatani at (626) 338-8310 or BaconSakat@aol.com, or write to 210 N. Shadydale Ave., West Covina, CA 91790-2245. Note that Sakatani will be attending the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation’s event at Heart Mountain from Aug. 20 and will not be available until his return on Aug. 26.