VAntage Point Frank Wada: Which Side? People doubted Frank Wada’s loyalties because he was Japanese-American. However, Wada readily volunteered to fight for his country when given the chance. Born in Redlands, California, in 1921, Frank Wada faced racial discrimination throughout his childhood. He was only allowed to swim in the public pool on Mondays, which was the day that non-white children were granted entry. At the movie theater, he was expected to sit in the upper balcony. And, he was only one of the few Japanese American families in town, so he had difficulty finding a community he could closely identify with. No amount of education seemed to liberate Wada from discrimination. In his senior year of high school in 1938, a fellow student asked him, “Which side are you going to fight for?” Wada’s mother got wind of his harassment and told him that if he were to ever fight, it would be for America.