Second World War / Japanese Canadian Military Service / Service in Europe Before Pearl Harbor
Nisei living outside of BC were able to enlist before the Pearl Harbor attacks. Some experienced combat in Europe. Some were the sons of issei First World War veterans. Others, such as James and Yasuo Oshiro, Joseph and Shigeo Takahashi, and Harry and Minoru Tanaka, served with their brothers. First World War veteran Jitsuei Tsubota, an issei, served in the Second World War, as did his sons David and James. David served in the navy and the army, was captured in the Dieppe raid, and spent two and a half years in a German prisoner-of-war camp.
Japanese Canadians were recruited in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick. Two recruits, Winston Claude Mawatari, and James Ubukata, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force; the others joined the Army.
In December of 1944, the fact that Japanese Canadians were serving in the Canadian military seemed to surprise the Canadian government (Library and Archives Canada, n.d., Japanese Volunteers for Canadian Armed Forces). Toru Iwaasa’s first name was incorrectly spelled in this list.