Idaho Gov. Brad Little holds the 2026 Day of Remembrance proclamation presented to Robert Hirai, president of the Boise Valley JACL chapter. (Photo: Katie Niemann)
By JACL Boise Valley Chapter
Idaho Governor Brad Little hosted members of the community and the Boise Valley JACL in his ceremonial office on Feb. 16 to read and sign a proclamation proclaiming Feb. 19, 2026, as a Day of Remembrance.
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In attendance were approximately 50 guests, including incarceration survivors, veterans, State senators, Idaho State police, Honorary Consul of Japan and candidates for U.S. Congress.
Present during the DOR ceremony at the state capitol building are (from left) Sophia Niemann; speaker Jane Gunter, a Tule Lake incarceration survivor; Oakley Sanford; and speaker Lisa Olsen, acting chief of interpretation and education at the Minidoka National Historic Site.
Speakers for the event included Boise Valley Chapter President Robert Hirai, president of JACL Boise Valley chapter; Lisa Shiosaki Olsen, acting chief of interpretation and education at the Minidoka National Historic Site; Jane Gunter, Tule Lake incarceration survivor; and Sophia Niemann and Oakley Sanford, sixth-grade students at Compass Charter School who presented their National History Day project about the Japanese American incarceration experience at Minidoka.
Sophia Niemann (left) and Oakley Sanford, sixth-grade students at Compass Charter School in Meridian, Idaho, present their National History Day Project on the Japanese American incarceration experience at Minidoka in Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s ceremonial office during the 2026 Day of Remembrance observance ceremony. (Photo: Robert Hirai)
Pictured (from left) are Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Oakley Sanford and Sophia Niemann. Niemann is the great-granddaughter of Katherine Chizuru Hirai, a Minidoka incarceree.
The ceremony concluded with a presentation of a Day of Remembrance proclamation by Gov. Little that acknowledged the forced incarceration, specifically stating that “10,000 of the 120,000 civilians of Japanese descent were imprisoned in an incarceration camp called Minidoka or ‘Hunt.’” “Volunteers from Minidoka were part of the units, known as the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the 100th Infantry Battalion and the Military Intelligence Service during WWII” and “Minidoka had the highest enlistment rate and highest casualty rate of all 10 major incarceration camps in the United States.” The proclamation concluded by acknowledging that “Japanese Americans in our communities have continued to contribute to our society and have distinguished themselves in all walks of life.”
This year marked the 25th time that the Boise Valley JACL has worked with the Idaho Statehouse to host the Day of Remembrance ceremony.
