Mercer Island resident Judy Kusakabe will discuss “Behind the Barbed Wire: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans” in a Mercer Island Historical Society-presented event at 6 p.m. on May 29 at the Mercer Island Library (4400 88th Ave. SE).

From 1942-1945, approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans on the West Coast were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to prison camps in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan, reads a historical society press release.

According to the historical society and a previous Reporter story, Kusakabe’s mother was pregnant with Judy while she and her husband were imprisoned on the Puyallup Fairgrounds during World War II. As a baby, Judy’s family lived in a tiny barrack under the ferris wheel; but they were some of the lucky ones — others had to live in the filthy and smelly horse stalls. Soon, her family was sent to Camp Minidoka in Idaho, and they eventually came back to Seattle in 1945.

Kusakabe has been speaking about the incarceration for more than 20 years to audiences of all ages. She will share the stories of her Japanese American friends and family before, during and after they were sent to prison camps by the U.S. government during World War II.