12 Facts About Ralph Lazo

Ralph Lazo was the only known non-spouse, non-Japanese American who voluntarily relocated to a Japanese American internment camp during World War II.

Ralph Lazo's experience was the subject of the 2004 narrative short film Stand Up for Justice: The Ralph Lazo Story.

Ralph Lazo, born in Los Angeles on November 3,1924, was of Mexican-American and Irish American descent.

Ralph Lazo's mother died when he and his sister were young, leaving them in the care of their father, who found work painting houses and murals.

Ralph Lazo was so outraged that he joined friends on a train that took hundreds to Manzanar in May 1942.

Ralph Lazo attended school at the camp, and spent time entertaining orphaned children who had been forcibly relocated to Manzanar.

In 1944, Ralph Lazo was elected president of his class at Manzanar High School.

Ralph Lazo served as a staff sergeant in the South Pacific until 1946, helping liberate the Philippines.

Ralph Lazo was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism in combat.

Ralph Lazo spent his career teaching, including at Los Angeles Valley College, mentoring disabled students and encouraging Latinos to attend college and vote.

Ralph Lazo helped raise funds for a class-action lawsuit to win reparations for Japanese Americans interned during the war, which resulted in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

Ralph Lazo died in 1992 from liver cancer, at the age of 67.