A man who opposed the incarceration of Japanese Americans and saved their farms had died at the age of 101, reports the Sacramento Bee.
Bob Fletcher quit his job as an agricultural inspector so he could care for the farms three Japanese American families were forced to abandon while behind barbed wire.
Some neighbors called him a “jap lover,” but Fletcher was not deterred.
He paid the mortgages and taxes and took half the profits. He returned the farms to all three families after the war, along with the remaining profits.
Few people in history exemplify the best ideals the way that Bob did,” said Marielle Tsukamoto’s who was 5 when she was incarcerated and Fletcher took care of her family’s farm. “He was honest and hardworking and had integrity. Whenever you asked him about it, he just said, ‘It was the right thing to do.’ ”
