Actor George Takei, known for his role in the Star Trek television series will make a return visit to McGehee next month to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum.
Takei was one of the estimated 17,000 Japanese Americans who were held at camps at Rohwer and Jerome following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was 5 years old at the time.
The museum first opened in 2013 and is funded by money raised by the McGehee Industrial Foundation’s annual barbeque and auction.
In addition to Takei, the McGehee Dermott Times News reported that more than 200 Japanese Americans who live on the West Coast are expected to attend the celebration of the museum and the barbeque fundraiser.
Tickets for the event will cost $30 and are available at McGehee Bank and First Natural State Bank locations and at the door.
Because of the COVID pandemic, this will be the first in-person fund raiser for the museum since 2019, the newspaper said.
