Willie Ito's Journey from Internment Camps to Disney Animation

Legendary animator Willie Ito has lived an incredible life. Born in San Francisco in 1934, he was one of the 120,000 people held at internment camps across the country during World War II.

Ito's family was first sent to the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, and then moved to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. He remembers the guns, barbed wires, and the locations being called 'concentration camps' before government public-relations teams changed the name to 'internment camps.'

After his family's release in 1945, Ito continued to draw and eventually earned a scholarship to the Chouinard Art Institute. He took classes under people such as Marc Davis, one of Walt Disney's 'Nine Old Men' core of animators.

Ito was hired by Disney at 19 and worked on iconic scenes in 'Lady and the Tramp' and 'One Froggy Evening.' He later went to Warner Bros. Cartoons, working under the direction of Chuck Jones.

Today, Ito is on a mission to share a story about the endurance of hope and love even from behind barbed wire. At 92, he will be visiting Santa Cruz for a screening of 'Hello, Maggie!', an animated short film based on his childhood friend's story of a boy who finds joy and friendship inside a World War II incarceration camp.