Sue K. Embrey; sought to honor WWII detainees
LOS ANGELES -- Sue Kunitomi Embrey, who was interned with thousands of Japanese-Americans at Manzanar in World War II and later fought to have the camp declared a national historic site, died May 15 of complications from bowel-obstruction surgery after a long illness. She was 83.
Born Sueko Kunitomi in Los Angeles, Ms. Embrey was 19 when she, her seven siblings, and widowed mother were taken to the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California's Inyo County under a 1942 presidential order to intern West Coast Japanese-Americans and resident Japanese after Japan's Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.
The camp was ringed with barbed wire and guard towers, but internees tried to maintain a vibrant community. Ms. Embrey became a reporter and editor for the camp newspaper. Both of her brothers served in the war.
In 1969 she and others made headlines with a pilgrimage to Manzanar. She helped form a committee that began a campaign to have Manzanar recognized. In 1972, it was declared a California historic site and 20 years later became a National Historic Site. 