Honoring service to the community
Monday, November 27, 2006 11:56 AM PST
Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
ONTARIO
Joe Saito has been an ambassador for a long time.
Saito, Ontario, is a member of the Ontario Ambassadors but he worked as a citizen diplomat to improve ethnic relations in the community and to promote acceptance of Japanese-Americans following World War II.
Saito, 88, Ontario, has been one of Malheur County's most active residents and his service to the community will be honored this weekend when he will be the Grand Marshall of the Ontario Winter Wonderland Parade.
The parade is slated for Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Born in Portland, Saito's family lived in Clackamas, and he moved with them to the Ontario area as a teenager in 1934.
“I've lived in Ontario ever since,” he said. However, Saito explained, he has never lived inside the Ontario city limits.
His family moved to Ontario after learning about the farming opportunities in the area, Saito said. The farm at Clackamas was along the river and was continually flooded out when there was a lot of snow in the Cascades.
“I quit school when I was a freshman. Dad needed help,” he said.
He enlisted in the Army in 1941 and, after Pearl Harbor, ended up serving for 51 months.
He was on a ship headed toward the Philippines on Dec. 7, 1941 when the attacks on Hawaii occurred and the ship was ordered back to San Francisco where his unit was held until further orders, he said.
Saito, who came out of the war commissioned as a second lieutenant, never went overseas but eventually was sent to a base where he helped train soldiers for combat, including members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
“I trained replacement troops,” he said. “Very few Nisei came home back with commissions.”
He said he still thinks about those troops, some of them just out of high school, who were killed in their first battle.
Saito came back to the valley in 1945, and rejoined his family in farming. It grew from 60 acres to 120 acres. Having seen how Japanese-Americans were being treated, he wanted to “create a situation where our people could be accepted,” he said.
He said he set about to join whatever organizations that would take him. He applied to become a member of the American Legion.
“I became Legionnaire,” he said. “I was welcomed by the World War I veterans.”
He also became a member of the newly formed Japanese American Citizen's League, and served as president of that organization.
“I joined the Lions Club.”
He said he wanted to help overcome prejudice.
“We became first-class Americans,” he said, a value he still believes is important for people coming to this country.
Over the years, Saito became a member and was active in the onion growers associations, county and regional.
By the time he retired, Saito was farming 300 acres, more than 20 years ago, but kept active in the various organizations.
“I was one of the original (Ontario) Ambassadors,” he said.
He and his wife, Nellie, who was originally from Bellevue, Wash. and was interned at the Minidoka, Idaho, internment camp, have been married almost 60 years, and will celebrate that anniversary in January.
They have two daughters and one son and five grandchildren.
Saito said he is very honored to be Grand Marshall of the Winter Wonderland Parade.
“I think it's the highest honor in the community,” he said.
