The Dakota County Historical Society will host the second “Mendota After Hours" presentation at the Sibley Historic Site on Friday, May 16 at 6 p.m. The presentation “Camp Savage and the Birth of U.S. Military Language Intelligence: One Soldier's Story" will be presented by Dr. Karen Lucas. Admission for this event is $20 per person, or $15 for members of DCHS and the Minnesota Historical Society.
The Sibley Historic Site is located at 1357 Sibley Memorial Highway in Mendota. Registration is limited, so contact the Sibley Site at 651-452-1596 to reserve a spot. For more information or to reserve online, please visit the Dakota County Historical Society website.
Most Minnesotans are unaware of the significant role our state played in the early development of U.S. Military Language Intelligence. Camp Savage (once located in the town of Savage) and Fort Snelling secretly trained 6,000 Japanese linguists who accompanied troops in every combat theatre and engaged in every major battle launched against Japanese military forces during World War II.
The vast majority of these soldiers were Americans of Japanese descent. The speaker's father, Walter Tanaka, was in the first class that trained at Camp Savage in 1942. Dr. Karen Lucas will share his experiences before, during and after the war, as well as photos of Camp Savage from her family's private collection.
Lucas is a third generation Japanese American. Originally from California, she graduated medical school in Minnesota and practiced family medicine for more than 30 years before retiring from HealthPartners. She is a long-term resident of Apple Valley and currently on the board of the Twin Cities Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League and a volunteer on their education committee.