I have heard my grandparents — Leon A. Westover and Maurine R. Westover — speak of their time in Topaz, Utah many times. It was their unique part of the war experience, a chapter of their lives that took another unusual turn when Grandpa later joined UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) and went to Europe after the war. Topaz was a Japanese Internment Camp, a shocking chapter in American history that saw thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent forced into detention centers. Grandpa was the head of the math and science department at a camp school and Grandma taught Japanese children.

I saw an article in the Salt Lake Tribune updating the status of the project to erect a museum at Topaz. In browsing their website I found the above picture showing Grandpa with teachers of the math and science department — a picture I had never seen before.

My father was a small child when during the more than 2 years my grandparents lived there. I actually think that helped them to take more pictures there than they likely would have because Topaz itself is far from picturesque.