Bob Emmett Fletcher

Fletcher was born in San Francisco, California and he lived in the Bay Area city of Brentwood. He married Teresa Cassieri and the two had a son: Robert Fletcher III. After the war the family purchased land in Florin, and raised cattle.[2]

In 1929, he graduated from high school in Brentwood.[2] In 1933 he graduated from University of California, Davis.[3] B.S. in Agriculture[2]

After College Fletcher ran a peach orchard in Red Bluff, California. He then became a State Shipping Point Inspector (agriculture inspector).[2][4] Starting in 1942 Fletcher began working for the Florin Fire Department. He eventually became the Chief of that fire department.[2] In 1941 the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor. In 1942, Fletcher agreed to manage 90 acres of grapes for Japanese citizens who had been relocated as a result of Executive Order 9066.[5] The grape farms were in the Florin area of Sacramento, California.[6] Fletcher claimed to have been harassed by his own community and he also found bullet holes in his barn. Fletcher used the proceeds from farming the land to pay the taxes for the interned Japanese.[5] From 1942 to 1945 he managed the Tsukamoto, Nitta, and Okamoto farms. Fletcher's wife Teressa Cassieri also worked the farms. Fletcher kept half the net profits after paying mortgages and taxes on the farms, and returned the remaining net profits to the Japanese farmers when they were released.[6][7]

Fletcher died May 23, 2013 in Sacramento California, he was 101 years old.[8] He did not get recognition for his efforts until later in life. Most of the interned Japanese lost everything during the war.[3] In 2005 he spoke about Japanese Internment before the Lodi Historical Society in Lodi, California.[9] In 2011 he was feted with a birthday bash, and honored for his heroism and his story was being told in books.[8]

*Robert Emmett Fletcher Jr. at Legacy