Missing Names from the City of Richmond Cenotaph
by Debbie Jiang
Individual people matter. When I was the National Coordinator of the Lest We Forget Cenotaph Research Project at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa (2008 – 2012), I helped scores of teachers and students study the lives of hundreds of soldiers and nursing sisters who served in the First World War. Their job was to recreate the life of a person killed in war using primary sources.
Chiseled into large and small communities’ cenotaphs across our country, these names held stories of unique Canadians who responded to the call of duty between 1914 and 1918.
Individual names matter in histories of injustice. During my lunch break, I would often study the military personnel records of visible minorities. I found the files of six soldiers of Chinese heritage but I found over two hundred and twenty Japanese Canadian soldiers’ files among 660,000 files. To omit a name from a cenotaph is to erase someone’s story and remove them from their context, in this case the place where they lived and worked prior to volunteering to fight in Europe.
One of my two favourite war memorials in Canada are Coeur de Lion MacCarthy’s “Angel of Victory” of which there are three identical ones, found at Canadian Pacific Railway stations in Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
The other is the Japanese Canadian War Memorial in Stanley Park, located in downtown Vancouver. It is unique in two ways: listed are the names of all Japanese Canadians who served in the First World War — names of both those who survived and of those who died. Secondly, it is the only cenotaph in Canada that is dedicated to one ethnic community. The Japanese Canadian War Memorial was privately funded by the Canadian Japanese Association, (not by the City of Vancouver) and was erected on the third anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, on April 9, 1920. With the aid of the Landscapes of Injustice Archives, along with the military personnel records of these individuals, quite a bit can be known about their lives.
When the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (incorporated in 1901) funded a Celtic cross-shaped cenotaph for the municipality of Richmond, BC, erected in 1922, this group of Anglo-Saxon ladies did not have on their agenda to commemorate the soldier-fishermen of Japanese heritage who worked at the local canneries in and around Eburne (now where the Vancouver International Airport stands). 102 years later, their names were still missing, so I set about to address that.
How did I know there are missing names on the Richmond Cenotaph?
Many cenotaphs across Canada have omissions, errors or duplication. The process was far from perfect as mothers and wives mourned the loss of their loved ones. Lists of names were hastily compiled, neighbouring towns erred on addresses of where itinerant or immigrant workers dwelled and spelling mistakes were not uncommon. Sometimes, a deceased soldier was the sole member of his family to live in Canada and had no one, no employer, to memorialize him. In some cases, names of the living have made it onto a cenotaph!
Knowing what I know about the history of Steveston, a historic fishing village located in southwest Richmond, and its long connection to Japanese Canadian fishermen, I dug into the archives to unearth proof that of the 55 names of soldiers who died as a result of war on the Stanley Park memorial, some of them fished and worked in canneries in and around the Fraser River, in the vicinity of Richmond. Using the soldiers’ attestation papers and next-of-kin cards, I was able to single out sixteen men who had declared “fisherman” as their profession. There ought to be more but many simply declared generically their professions as “labourer”. In the end, out of a possible sixteen names, I was able to find definitive evidence of two who had connections to Richmond’s Terra Nova Cannery. More sleuthing is required to ascertain to where the remaining fourteen names are connected (the Skeena, Vancouver Island, Vancouver or Richmond areas). We Went to War, Roy Ito’s book, outlines the fishing communities in British Columbia where active military recruitment of Japanese Canadian men happened.
I approached the archivist and team at the Richmond Archives, Steveston’s Japanese Canadian community leader Mr. Kelvin Higo, and activist Mrs. Mary Kitagawa to share my findings. I was encouraged to present my case to City Council which took place on January 30, 2024. The Mayor and City Councillors listened with great interest to the request to have Hikotaro Koyanagi and Kazuo Harada’s names be added to the war memorial in front of City Hall, on No. 3 Rd. On February 13, 2024, history was made when the motion was read and unanimously passed.
It would take warmer weather in order for the adhesive to stick well to the three-metre high granite shaft of the cenotaph. So one sunny day, on June 6, 2024, the lettering for the two soldiers’ names were added to the First World War side which faces the busy No. 3 Road at Granville Street. It is a thrill to see their names on there as they reflect the true times of 1914 – 1918 Richmond. Diversity now recognized, anyone who looks upon the names of those who gave their lives for our freedom will know that it wasn’t only those with roots in the United Kingdom or First Nations communities who enlisted to fight for Canada.
I searched high and low for any descendants or relatives of these soldiers. I held a Zoom call to share my research journey with them and invited them to attend the Remembrance Day ceremony this November in Richmond, BC. I wanted them to know. It felt like a homecoming as the Zoom meeting coincided with Kazuo Harada’s 134th birthday. Everyone was excited to learn how they were related to one another and to each of the two soldiers. I was able to find only one direct descendant of Hikotaro Koyanagi.
Historical Context
Japan was Great Britain’s ally at this time in history. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Japanese Canadians were eager to enlist for King and country. British Columbia’s Japanese Canadians wasted no time in forming a battalion of 200 volunteers, but local politicians and Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden rejected them. Racism was rife but by 1916, the need for replacement troops on the Western front was dire. Military leaders in Alberta were keen to accept the volunteers and welcomed the Japanese Canadians from British Columbia.
This explains why Japanese Canadian soldiers’ attestation papers show Albertan addresses instead of Eburne, Steveston, Vancouver, Skeena River area – places from where fishermen-immigrants from Japan lived and worked were recruited for war service1. However, by studying the next-of-kin cards, the medal cards and the pay ledgers found in the First World War personnel records, they hold solid clues as to where the soldiers actually lived and worked prior to the war. In addition, by studying the data in clusters, patterns of relationships can be seen among clansmen and those sharing the same profession. Example: out of seven soldiers who enlisted together between September 1 and 5, 1916 in Calgary, five of them gave 240 Alexander Street, Vancouver (a rooming house) as their “latest address”.
Who were Hikotaro Koyanagi and Kazuo Harada?
Canneries sprang up along the Steveston waterfront and Eburne where many Japanese Canadians fished and worked. Many were naturalized British subjects. One of the largest family clans to immigrate from Fukuoka, Japan to Richmond were the Koyanagis.
In the cases of Private Hikotaro Koyanagi2 and Private Kazuo Harada3, both clearly stated on their attestation papers that they were fishermen by profession. Koyanagi’s marriage certificate gives the strongest evidence that he worked and lived in Eburne. He states “Terra Nova” as his residence. On May 10, 1913, he and Miss Toshi Koyanagi were married4 in Vancouver. Tragically, Toshi died two weeks after giving birth on March 7, 1914, and their baby son did not survive either. Depressed and distraught, Hikotaro disappeared for six months5. By the time friends and family found him, he and his cousin had enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Both their addresses were 240 Alexander Street, a rooming house in Little Tokyo (Vancouver). This was their temporary address where they were staying for a few months in 1916 when the Japanese Canadian battalion was raised up.
Toshi Koyanagi was the younger sister of Sakumatsu Koyanagi6, children of Matsuzo Koyanagi and Suma Nishi. Hikotaro, was the brother of Kuichi Koyanagi7, children of Ichimatsu Koyanagi and Haya Harada. All of these men were multi-generational fishers in Japan and Eburne. Toshi’s maternal grandmother’s maiden name is Harada.
Private Kazuo Harada was the nephew of Otohachi Koyanagi8. Kazuo’s mother was Mrs. Teo Koyanagi. His elder brother’s name was Hatsuji Koyanagi. His uncle, Mr. Otohachi Koyanagi, being Harada’s only relative in Canada, was assigned his monthly pay from the military. Otohachi Koyanagi was a fisherman of Eburne, working for the Terra Nova Cannery9. Harada immigrated to Canada on March 9, 1915. Sixteen months later he joined the 175th Battalion in the Canadian army.
During the Second World War, when 22,000 Japanese Canadians were forcibly uprooted and dispossessed, Otohachi’s son, Ryushin, wrote a letter of protest to the federal government. In it, the 34-year old Canadian-born fisherman laments, “I have just received your letter and statement of my account of July 27, 1944. To say that I was shocked is putting it mildly. I am sure my aged parents will be shocked too when they learn that the land which they bought for me with the labour of their sweat and tears have been sold. I know now that my cousins who fought and died in France for Canada during the last war have died in vain…You have cunningly taken advantage of this war to deprive illegally the properties, which I, a Canadian subject, had acquired legally.”10
Ryushin Koyanagi’s cousins are none other than Hikotaro and Kazuo as there are no other Japanese Canadian fishermen-soldiers within the Koyanagi family tree. The men both enlisted on the same day, September 1, 1916 at the same recruiting office in Calgary, one behind the other in a group of fishermen friends and boarding housemates. Incidentally, one of these men was Private Daitaro Araki, also a Sea Island Japanese Canadian labourer who lived at the Vancouver Cannery in Eburne. Judging by his regimental number, 697077, he stood in line right in front of Koyanagi whose number was 697078. Unlike Koyanagi and Harada, Araki survived the war and returned home.
Koyanagi and Harada were among the 55 casualties of the 222 soldiers of Japanese descent who suffered a 25% attrition rate. Private Koyanagi was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele. His body was never recovered and he has no known grave. His name is engraved on Belgium’s Menin Gate in Ypres. Private Harada was grievously wounded at the Battle of Amiens. His body shattered, he was sent to England where he would die five days later of sepsis. He is buried in Netley Military Cemetery.
LOCAL & NATIONAL COMMEMORATION
Are there other memorials in Canada that commemorate Japanese Canadian soldiers of the Great War?
In 1921, the Great War Veterans Association of Cumberland, BC erected a Memorial Arch where bronze tablets hang, bearing the names of their town’s war dead, including Private Toraki Matsumura and Private Masaji Yamada. Apart from this memorial on Vancouver Island, there is no other city/town whose local war memorial in British Columbia honours any Japanese Canadian who died in the First World War11. In Alberta, in the town of Raymond, their cenotaph lists the names of two Japanese Canadians (Pte Kichimatsu Sugimoto and Pte Teiji Suda) who fought and died in the First World War. Outside of this memorial, there is no other known cenotaph in Canada that commemorates fallen Japanese Canadian soldiers. In summary, these four Japanese Canadian soldiers’ names are found on both the Stanley Park Memorial AND on their local memorial plaques and cenotaph.
Furthermore, there is no protocol in Canada nor the United Kingdom regarding whether a name can appear on more than one memorial. It is up to the community to decide how to commemorate their war dead, and a name may be commemorated on a church stained-glass window, in a school’s name, a university roll of honour. Sometimes a name may be commemorated in three or four places including the local cenotaph, depending on the family’s and city council’s wishes.
The Richmond Cenotaph was erected at a time when Japanese Canadians did not have the right to vote. The Hayashi-Lemieux “Gentlemen’s Agreement” had been in place for 14 years, limiting the number of immigrants from Japan. Economically, the white population felt threatened by the Japanese Canadian workforce. The names of Japanese Canadians from Terra Nova and Steveston were omitted from the cenotaph by a prejudiced society. Despite the alliance between Japan and the United Kingdom, locally in British Columbia, they did not matter.
On a national level, the only place you will find the names of the Japanese Canadian soldiers commemorated is on paper, in the pages of the Book of Remembrance for the First World War, found on the third floor of the Peace Tower of Centre Block on Parliament Hill, Ottawa.
Stanley Park is a popular tourist area where the Vancouver Aquarium is located. Behind it, stands the Japanese Canadian War Memorial, beautifully framed by cherry blossom trees, newly restored and with new memorial plaques to help interpret it. While it receives thousands of visitors annually, few are actually from Richmond, about a 40-minute drive due south. Now, whenever local residents of the City of Richmond drive and walk by the local cenotaph, they will notice the new names. They will be made aware that in 1918 when the Armistice was signed to end the First World War, that a pair of fishermen-cousins of Japanese heritage were among those who also left the comforts of home to pay the supreme sacrifice for King and country. It’s time that Richmond’s young and old ought to know.
Lest we forget.
Debbie Jiang is a teacher, free-lance writer, and the former National Coordinator of the Lest We Forget Cenotaph Research Project at Library and Archives Canada. Debbie’s areas of expertise include teaching others how to use and interpret Canadian military personnel records and Chinese and Japanese Canadian genealogy. She is currently a member of the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society’s Teacher Resources Committee. The British Columbia Historical Federation awarded Debbie with the 2024 Bright Lights Advocacy Award and the Richmond Heritage Commission awarded her with the 2024 Richmond Heritage Award.
