Story17B

Presented here are two extraordinary remembrances of Mr. and Mrs. Edward and Dorothy Lupton, by Japanese Americans whose families were incarcerated in Topaz, Utah during WWII. The accounts are from Congregational Church of San Mateo, Celebrating 150 Years of Progressive Faith in Action, published in 2014. The following is an excerpt from personal interviews of the late Shig Takahashi recorded in 2003 and 2005, about his return to San Mateo in 1945, after three years in Topaz:

“When I came back, an acquaintance of mine, Mr. Oida, and I stayed two nights at Mr. and Mrs. Lupton’s house. They treated us just like family. They shared that their son had been killed in action by the Japanese army. Here their own son had been killed by the Japanese and they were willing to accept us to stay in their home. They loaned us their car to make our different businesses. But the neighbors that had been living near them for years started calling them Jap lovers and started to ostracize them so they moved away from San Mateo” (1).

In a 2005 interview, the late Martha Imai also fondly recalled Mrs. Dorothy Lupton’s help to the Japanese community. Martha’s Issei parents had been removed from their San Mateo home in 1942, and after incarceration at Topaz, returned to San Mateo. Martha, already in her late 20’s and married before WWII, lived in Colorado during the war. Afterwards she, her husband and two young sons went to live in San Mateo with her parents before establishing their own home elsewhere. She added that her younger son eventually married a relative of Mrs. Lupton, concluding, “Isn’t it interesting how you go through life and you meet people, and it’s almost like a circle”(2).

In gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Lupton for their committed loving action and faith in humanity – for choosing peace and understanding when there was little of it for themselves – we are left in our own self-reflection. One of the church’s seven memorial windows commemorates their son’s dedicated service to the US during WWII. In an issue of the church’s 2023 Pine Tree Advent newsletter, Sgt. Robert Henry Lupton was remembered on the 80th year of his missing in action:

“Robert Henry Lupton enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943 at the age of 18. Sgt Lupton was a member of the 877th Bombardment Squadron and was attached to the 499th Bombardment Group. They saw action in the Pacific Theater of War and operated from Saipan. The 877th flew mainly B-29 bombers and participated in the Battles of Iwo Jima, Truk, and the Mariana Islands. His plane went down January 9, 1945 when his squadron participated in raids on Kyushu in support of the advance on Okinawa. He is memorialized at the National Cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii”(3).

Robert’s sister, Phyllis M. Lupton Brislawn, lost her only sibling when she was 15 years old. Records show that she eventually became a school psychologist, and it may be telling of her upbringing that when she passed away in 2008, it was written: “She was a quiet role model who did not bring glory to herself when others succeeded with her help”(4).