The premiere of an animated film, a nationally honored presentation, a tribute to the memory of Senator Alan Simpson and a reading of the names of the 148 people who died while incarcerated at Heart Mountain were among the highlights of the Heart Mountain Pilgrimage between July 24 and 26.
Hello Maggie!, an animated film adapted from a book by former childhood incarcerees Shigeru Yabu and Willie Ito, was shown for the first time during Friday’s session of the Pilgrimage in the Wynona Thompson Auditorium at Cody High School. Ito, a former Disney animator, joined director Tony Tarantini for a panel discussion after the film’s showing.
A video tribute to Simpson, who died at age 93 in Cody on March 14, was presented during Friday morning’s session. On Saturday, his widow Ann Simpson spoke about the importance of Heart Mountain to Al Simpson and about his lifelong relationship with Norman Mineta, the former Cabinet secretary who was incarcerated at Heart Mountain. Deni Mineta, Mineta’s widow, also honored Simpson and spoke about the meaning of the Mineta-Simpson Institute.
Saturday’s session at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center was capped off by a presentation by Sam Mihara, a former childhood incarceree at Heart Mountain. Mihara was honored by the National Endowment for the Humanities in February as the 51st Jefferson Lecturer. He also received Heart Mountain’s Douglas W. Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.
Duncan Williams, a Buddhist priest and professor at the University of Southern California, led the recitation of the names of the 148 people who died while incarcerated at Heart Mountain between 1942 and 1945. Williams is the leader of the Irei National Monument for the Japanese American Incarceration, which honors the more than 126,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned at all sites during World War II. Pilgrimage attendees had the opportunity to place stamps beside the names of former prisoners in the project’s Ireicho book.
Dave Bonner, the publisher of the Powell Tribune, accepted the LaDonna Zall Compassionate Witness Award, for his paper’s honest and nuanced portrayal of the events at Heart Mountain during the war. Bonner was also the editor who opened the paper’s archives to Nelson in 1968 for his research into what became the groundbreaking book, Heart Mountain: The History of an American Concentration Camp.
Conducted every year during the final weekend in July, the Heart Mountain Pilgrimage is an opportunity for former incarcerees, their families, friends and interested parties to return to the former incarceration site to reflect on the history, loss and resilience of the 14,000 Japanese Americans who spent up to 39 months at the camp. Eighteen former incarcerees returned to Heart Mountain for this year’s Pilgrimage.
The Foundation wishes to thank its Pilgrimage sponsors: Absaroka Wealth Management, Big Horn Designs, Big Quiet Camping, Blair Hotels, Blanca Tatanka, The Cody Enterprise, Cody Rotary Club, Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee, Devon-Wolfe Custom Jewelry, Grub Steak Expeditions, Keele Sanitation, Libations, Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee, Pat’s Brewhouse, Pinnacle Bank, The Powell Tribune, North Fork Anglers, Surf Wyoming, Timmer Gallery, The UPS Store—Cody, and Whittle, Hamilton and Associates, P.C.