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#dimaggio
Timothy Yan, that was his name I miss him, still, 71 years later I don't know if he's alive now Nor, really did I know then in 1942 We were kids, he was 11 and now would be 82 or 83 I don't know if he'd remember me But, I remember him and will forever He was Canadian He was my best friend His family was Japanese We'd come from Ontario, Burlington Work brought dad west So, we settled in a suburb of Vancouver Tim's family had been here for a few years There weren't a lot of Japanese in Canada He was the first one I saw We didn't have any in Burlington So as I know We lived on the same street Went to the same school He was Canadian We played baseball, road hockey football, we were brothers blood brothers, we were a team We moved west in 1938 I met him that fall in school We were instant friends The day I saw that St. Louis Cardinal hat stuck in his pocket, all rolled up He'd be Stan The Man, I'd be Red Russer He was Syl Apps, I was Sam LoPresti I was Turk Broda, he was anyone he wanted to be We were both Joe Di Maggio We were brothers I remember the noise first Great big Army trucks, Olive green All up the street Not just at the Yan place The Yokishuris, Wans, and Timmy's Aunt too Soldiers, loading the trucks We weren't allowed out to see Notices had been posted though the door We could only watch and wonder They were being moved They scared the powers that be Little Japanese families Many born here Scared the powers of  King in Ottawa And they had to be moved Inland, to the Okanagan Valley To Camps, in Canada, their country, Camps Canada was at war With it's own people With 11 year old Timothy Yan Ever since Pearl Harbour Ottawa got scared Japanese fishermen in the west Japanese fighter planes from the east There had to be spies in British Columbia Tim Yan was apparently one of them They were told their property was safe All their goods in storage They were lied to A month after they left The auctioneers came in Everything was sold Everything... I hope he kept that hat Dad bought what he could So did other neighbours I still have the boxes Never opened Waiting for the Yans, I miss Joe DiMaggio I didn't understand it then And I don't now My teachers couldn't explain it My minister said it was the best That didn' t help either What best? Who decided what was best? Best for who? It wasn't best for me, or Tim Nobody asked us He was just gone I spent years looking for him He never came back after the war They were moved further east They were sent to Japan He was from Canada Why would they send him to Japan He was gonna be the first Japanese big leaguer I hope he made it I grew up and became a lawyer A citizenship lawyer This was not going to happen on my watch To anyone again Not while I was around I miss him He went to war And never fired a shot He went to war And never knew why...
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Mar 21, 2013
Mar 21, 2013 at 11:39 AM UTC
roger-turner
I Miss Joe DiMaggio ...A recollection of war
Timothy Yan, that was his name I miss him, still, 71 years later I don't know if he's alive now Nor, really did I know then in 1942 We were kids, he was 11 and now would be 82 or 83 I don't know if he'd remember me But, I remember him and will forever He was Canadian He was my best friend His family was Japanese We'd come from Ontario, Burlington Work brought dad west So, we settled in a suburb of Vancouver Tim's family had been here for a few years There weren't a lot of Japanese in Canada He was the first one I saw We didn't have any in Burlington So as I know We lived on the same street Went to the same school He was Canadian We played baseball, road hockey football, we were brothers blood brothers, we were a team We moved west in 1938 I met him that fall in school We were instant friends The day I saw that St. Louis Cardinal hat stuck in his pocket, all rolled up He'd be Stan The Man, I'd be Red Russer He was Syl Apps, I was Sam LoPresti I was Turk Broda, he was anyone he wanted to be We were both Joe Di Maggio We were brothers I remember the noise first Great big Army trucks, Olive green All up the street Not just at the Yan place The Yokishuris, Wans, and Timmy's Aunt too Soldiers, loading the trucks We weren't allowed out to see Notices had been posted though the door We could only watch and wonder They were being moved They scared the powers that be Little Japanese families Many born here Scared the powers of  King in Ottawa And they had to be moved Inland, to the Okanagan Valley To Camps, in Canada, their country, Camps Canada was at war With it's own people With 11 year old Timothy Yan Ever since Pearl Harbour Ottawa got scared Japanese fishermen in the west Japanese fighter planes from the east There had to be spies in British Columbia Tim Yan was apparently one of them They were told their property was safe All their goods in storage They were lied to A month after they left The auctioneers came in Everything was sold Everything... I hope he kept that hat Dad bought what he could So did other neighbours I still have the boxes Never opened Waiting for the Yans, I miss Joe DiMaggio I didn't understand it then And I don't now My teachers couldn't explain it My minister said it was the best That didn' t help either What best? Who decided what was best? Best for who? It wasn't best for me, or Tim Nobody asked us He was just gone I spent years looking for him He never came back after the war They were moved further east They were sent to Japan He was from Canada Why would they send him to Japan He was gonna be the first Japanese big leaguer I hope he made it I grew up and became a lawyer A citizenship lawyer This was not going to happen on my watch To anyone again Not while I was around I miss him He went to war And never fired a shot He went to war And never knew why...
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