http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=4836
David Mitsui, a practicum supervisor in the U of A Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, received Gravel's letter and decided to join a tour of 35 Canadians who attended the naming ceremony in Cagnicourt. Mitsui's grandfather, Masumi Mitsui, was a decorated soldier who fought in the First World War, including in the Cagnicourt area in September, 1918.
However, during the Second World War, Masumi and his Japanese-Canadian family were interned. In 1985, after the Canadian government officially apologized to Japanese-Canadians for actions taken against them during the Second World War, Masumi, the last surviving Japanese-Canadian soldier from the First World War, re-lit a flame monument that had been built to honour the Japanese-Canadian soldiers who fought in the First World War. The monument had been extinguished since the Second World War.
From:
http://www.najc.ca/thenandnow/history6.php
Japanese Canadian volunteers, Tenth Battalion, France, 1917. Masumi Mitsui (left, middle row) was winner of the Military Medal.
In World War I, Sergeant Mitsui defended Canada's honour at Vimy Ridge. For his bravery and distinguished conduct, he was awarded the Military Medal. In World War II, he, his wife and his children were labeled "enemy aliens" and forced off their farm. Summoned before the Security Commissioner, Mitsui reached into his pocket, pulled out his medals and threw them on the floor. "What good are these!" he demanded in fury. He and his wife, separated from their children, were taken to Hastings Park and then to Greenwood, B.C. He died at the age of 99[1987] and was the last surviving Japanese Canadian who fought in World War I.
