Retreat

There are times that you just can't make anything happen. Or you don't have the position to make something happen. That's the time to retreat. Retreat from ambition and impatience, pride and desire.

When you can't do something big, do something small. (It could make a big difference.)

My 104-year-old business coach, Fred Nicholas was drafted out of college into the army during World War II. ?

In his first assignment, Fred was ordered to round up and imprison people of Japanese descent in a relocation camp located at Tanforan Race Track in San Bruno, California. ?Fred was a guard at the relocation camp for four months and what happened there says so much about him.

What he did was legally (but not morally) wrong.? He committed treason.? 66 years later he was honored by those he was forced to guard.

The?Japanese Americans from throughout the San Francisco Bay area were transported to this site in San Mateo County where they were housed in horse stalls, tents and barracks.? According to the U S National Park Service, a total of 8,033 Japanese Americans were incarcerated at the Tanforan Prison.? From this initial facility, the individuals were then taken to relocation centers (prisons) in the interior of the United States.?

“They were American citizens, forced to live under armed guard and were very, very upset,” Fred remembers.? “I always admired the Japanese Americans.? They were taken advantage of and treated very badly by our country.”?

Many were students around his own age.? They were taken right from school at places like Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley.

“I was on duty for four hours, then off for eight hours,” Fred recalls.? “Sometimes, I was in the watchtower but much of the time was spent walking around the perimeter of the prison.? While on tour, I would talk to the inmates through the fencing topped with barbed wire.”

His commander was either told that Fred was doing “something” or his commander witnessed the activities.? In either case, Fred said that his commander told him to “knock it off.”

When asked how he responded to the order from his superior, he said “I was more careful from then on.”

“I’d stand by the shrubbery while talking to the Japanese Americans,” he explained.? “I’d keep walking while we talked – me on the outside, they on the inside.”

But Fred did more than just talk to the people incarcerated at the Tanforan Prison.

“I helped get them needed items.? It was cold there.? Three or four people gave me the keys to their homes.? When I was off duty, I went to their homes and got their sweaters and coats.? Back on duty, I quietly gave them their clothes and keys.”

“Beyond the clothing, I did shopping for several families.? I’d go to the grocery store and get food that the Japanese Americans wanted.? I’d go to shoes stores and get them footwear.”

For four months at the Tanforan Prison, Fred Nicholas put into active practice the values of respect and dignity that he lived by for the rest of his life.

Years later, after he became an attorney and became extremely successful in the real estate industry, he never forgot about his time as an MP at the Tanforan Prison.

“I kept my eye on the property.? Watching to see if the property ever came on the market.,” he says.

The land that had been a prison for Japanese Americans had reverted to its previous status as a racetrack after World War II.? A fire damaged much of the property in 1964.? It sat vacant for a number of years.? In 1968, Fred was part of a real estate team that acquired much of the site.? He was then in a position to reach his ultimate goal.

“We tore the damn thing down,” he says.

The Tanforan Park Shopping Center was built on the site.? Beyond the retail aspects of the shopping center, Fred installed a plaque on an interior wall in the shopping mall to recognize what happened at the property in the 1940s.

“I wanted people to know what happened here,” Fred explained.? “It was important that people not forget the Japanese Americans that were imprisoned at Tanforan.”? Today, the plaque can still be found in a small outdoor garden area of the retail center, now called “The Shops at Tanforan.”?

On June 2, 2007, the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California held a ceremony to dedicate a new memorial to the Japanese Americans that were imprisoned on those grounds.? Over a thousand people attended the event and former internees came from as far away as New York and Canada. ?The event was called Journey to Tanforan. As part of the event, a luncheon was held in honor of Fred Nicholas.

?When asked in 2021 if he would again do what he did in 1942, Fred did not hesitate.

“Yes,” was the answer.

Many Japanese Americans – many Americans of all ethnicities – are grateful for the actions Frederick Nicholas took almost 80 years ago and that he would be willing to do the same again today.