Wakako “Katie” Burk and Kazuko “Kay” Aho are pictured many years ago at the Elk’s Lodge kitchen in Kalispell. Japanese war brides often held jobs in the service industry, and used “American” first names to help them assimilate into their communities.
September 17, 2017
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September 17, 2017 1:53 p.m.
Japanese war brides project taps into Flathead stories
A quest to tell the story of Japanese war brides who married American soldiers and assimilated into life in the United States in the years following World War II brought journalist Kathryn Tolbert to small towns across the country, including the Kalispell and Trego areas.