9/11 ECHOES FROM THE PAST, PART 2: Leaving Tule Lake – A Japanese American Soldier’s Story and Beyond

The second session highlights a remarkable journey of resilience and service as the presenters share how their parents ultimately left the incarceration camp. Learn how their father and three dozen other men from Tule Lake became the first to enlist in the U.S. Army from their camp, attending a highly classified Military Intelligence Language School (MILS) near Minneapolis to prepare for vital service in the South Pacific. This presentation weaves together their father’s secret wartime contributions and their mother’s path to freedom through a marriage proposal, offering a unique perspective on courage and survival. Instructor Bios: Peggy Doi:  Peggy is the oldest of Bill and Peggie Doi’s five children. She was born and grew up in Minneapolis and received a BS degree in Medical Technology from the University of Minnesota. She worked primarily in pharmaceutical research and public health. She retired and moved back to the Twin Cities in 2009 to care for her parents. Currently she is very active with the Minnesota Nikkei Project, a non-profit service group to aging Japanese in the Twin Cities area; a group spearheaded by her father in 1978. She is a member of the Twin Cities Japanese American Citizen League Education Committee and through this group gives presentations on the Japanese in America, based on her family’s stories. She is also a member of her parish Social Justice committee and is a member of the RASP (Roseville Area Senior Program) Advisory Council, and She is also one of the volunteer directors for a non-profit gift shop at the Aŋpétu Téča (awn-BET-doo TEH-cha) Education Center. Dave Doi:  David Doi has a degree from the University of Minnesota in American History with a concentration in civil rights and civil liberties and a minor in Political Science. He spent his entire career working in the non-profit sector doing community organizing whether in South Minneapolis with a neighborhood association or organizing law enforcement across the country to prevent gun violence with Jim and Sarah Brady. He served as the executive director of the Minneapolis Community Crime Prevention Program and the National Coalition for Juvenile Justice. He moved to Washington DC and spent 20 years doing advocacy there. After retiring to Jacksonville, he served as the volunteer executive director of Rebuilding Together Rogue Valley for 2-1/2 years during COVID. He has served as the Secretary of the Jacksonville Community Center since 2017 and was awarded AARP’s Oregon volunteer of the year award in 2020. He has a son and daughter, four grandchildren, and is celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary this year with his wife, Sue Miler.