Mpls - Hannah Semba, Who Shared Lessons of Wartime Incarceration, Dies at 99.

Hannah Sakae Semba (nee Hayano), who spent her later years ensuring that younger generations understood the injustice of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, died peacefully on March 10, 2026, at age 99, just weeks before her 100th birthday.

She was 15 years old when the news arrived at her family's small house in Conway, Washington. On December 7, 1941, soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, she recalled hearing her brother shout, "We're at war! We're at war with Japan!" Within a few months, her family would be forced to sell their few possessions, abandon their home, and relocate to government prison camps, an experience that shaped the rest of her life.

Born on March 26, 1926, Hannah was one of seven children born to Japanese Issei immigrant parents who grew potatoes as tenant farmers in Skagit Valley. "After the war broke out, we learned that the FBI was going to people's homes and taking the Isseis. We were so frightened!" she recalled. "We didn't have a telephone and got no notice before they arrived at the house. We had heard rumors from the Japanese in Seattle that the FBI would take family photos and keepsakes. My mother dug a hole in the backyard and buried all the pictures. When the FBI did come, they told us we couldn't travel more than five miles and had to be home by 8 p.m. with lights out. Since we couldn't go beyond five miles, we couldn't go to high school anymore," she recalled. Mount Vernon High School was ten miles down old Route 99.

Within weeks, Executive Order 9066 authorized the forced removal and incarceration of approximately 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast into designated prison camps scattered across the dusty interior of the western United States. The Hayano family was originally assigned to the Tule Lake, California camp and then transferred to the Heart Mountain, Wyoming camp. As a college-bound teenager, only a handful of colleges were willing to admit Japanese American students from the camps on educational leave permits, and she was accepted at Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, in 1943. At the end of the war, following more than three years of incarceration, the remainder of the Hayano family relocated to Minneapolis, MN, to restart their lives.

In 1951, Hannah married Thomas Semba (1923-1988) whom she met at the University of Minnesota where she received a degree in nutrition and he completed medical school. Executive Order 9066 also had forced Thomas to leave the University of Washington as a freshman, and he was sent to the Tule Lake camp before attending Dakota Wesleyan University on an education pass. They settled in Minneapolis to raise a family. "Of the many lessons in life, I believe education is the most crucial. When we left the camp - we were so determined that we would rise above what happened that we made sure our children were well-educated. This is what I am most proud of," she shared in her oral memoirs. All four children became physicians.

Hannah rarely spoke about her wartime incarceration until later in life. "I was ashamed of my own ethnicity. You carried this guilt of - what did I do to deserve this? You're in a state of confusion. Why are we here [in prison camp]? I am an American citizen!" She made it a mission to share her story with students, volunteering her time and memoirs through the Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota Public Radio, the Japanese American Citizens League, the Minnesota Star Tribune, and the oral history project at St. Olaf College.

Though she never returned to Skagit Valley, the Mount Vernon school district did not forget Hannah. In 2021, 77 years after she was forced to leave, Hannah (Hayano) Semba was invited back to Mount Vernon High School to finally receive her high school diploma. "This story must be told. Could it happen again? Yes—in some ways, it's happening now," she warned.

Hannah was preceded in death by her siblings Torao (Joe), Hiroshi, Masami, Mary (Koura), Judy (Tabata), and George. She is survived by her four children, Robert Semba, MD (Robin Naden), Richard Semba, MD (Rita Costa-Gomes), Laura Semba, MD (Patrick Tosetti), and Charles Semba, MD (Christina Platon). She is also survived by five grandchildren: Sarah Semba (Angel Valdez), Thomas Semba, Jake Semba (Amanda Arnette); Emily Mormann (Andrew), and Jonathan Semba; and three great-grandchildren, Asa Mormann, Ellie Jo Semba, and Emilia Renee Semba.

In sharing her story, Hannah hoped future generations would learn from the mistakes of the past. "No matter what our ethnicity," she said, "we should remember that we are all equal. We are Americans—and we must stand together."

A private celebration of life is planned.