Friends of Mukai on Vashon Island is honored to announce that we have received a $45,000 grant from the T-Mobile Hometown Grant Program to construct a memorial sculpture at Ober Park to honor the legacy of the 111 Vashon residents of Japanese descent who were expelled from their homes on Vashon Island on May 16, 1942, in response of Executive Order 9066.  That Executive Order, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on two months earlier, directed the expulsion of 120,00 persons of Japanese descent living in the Westcoast “Zone of Exclusion” into inland concentration camps. 

An unveiling event for the design of the statue will be held at Ober Park at 10:00AM on May 18 at Vashon’s annual Day of Exile ceremony. The public is invited to attend the ceremony. Construction of the installation is planned for completion this year.