Sadahei Hirose

Sadahei was born in Kamimanriki Town, Higashiyamanashi County, Yamanashi Prefecture, Tokyo City, Japan on Nov. 28, 1879 . He entered the U. S. in 1903 via Seattle and bound for San Pedro. His wife, Tomiko Hamaya of Esa-mura, Hokkaido, was born April 15, 1898. She immigrated in 1922 aboard the Shinyo Maru into San Francisco accompanied by Sadahei. Sadahei and Tomiko had six children born in San Pedro: Atsushi Jack b. Jan. 28, 1923 d. Jan. 8, 2006 Mizuye (f) b. Feb. 14, 1925 d. 2008 Ruriko (f) b. Oct. 6, 1926 d. June 15, 2001 Mutsuo b. Jan. 31, 1928 Ikuo b. Dec. 6, 1930 d. April 17, 1932 Mutsumi b. May 17, 1933 Ikuo died as an infant.

Sadahei was truck farming in the Portuguese Bend area in 1920. By 1930 he was farming Ranch 28 on a lease from Frank Vanderlip. He continued to farm on Ranch 28 until 1942. Sometime during the 1930s Hirose bought a house around 9th St. in San Pedro and moved it to their farm. Mutsuo (and perhaps his siblings) began school at Miraleste Elementary but transferred to Malaga Cove in 1935 after his first year . He graduated in June of 1942 and received his diploma at the Santa Anita Assembly Center.

Sadahei was one of 15 men arrested by the FBI for allegedly possessing contraband in their sweep of 100 Japanese homes on the Peninsula on Feb. 2, 1942. Initially jailed at the Immigration Station in San Pedro, Sadahei was transferred several times within the next several months to Tuna Canyon Detention Camp in Tujunga, California; Fort Lincoln in Bismarck, North Dakota; Santa Anita Assembly Center in Arcadia California; Granada War Relocation Project in Amache, Colorado; and finally Tule Lake Relocation Center in Newell, California. Ironically, in December 1942 the Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service sent a letter to Sadahei requesting his current mailing address.

The Hirose family remained on the farm while other Japanese families were moving from Palos Verdes to central California to avoid internment. The Hirose family was taken to the Santa Anita Assembly Center where Sadahei joined them in July and later sent to the Granada War Relocation Project. As recounted by Mutsuo, Sadahei volunteered for the Swiss-run exchange program with Japan whereby Japanese in the U. S. were exchanged for American POWs. He volunteered in order to help bring American POWs home, not to get to Japan himself. The family was shipped to Ellis Island for embarkation. However, after waiting two weeks, the over-crowded ship left without them. Unfortunately, it was carrying all their baggage. From Ellis Island the Hirose family was shipped to the Rohwer Relocation Center in AR. In September, 1943 they were sent to Tule Lake, CA where they remained until the end of the war.

Atsushi renounced his U. S. citizenship while at Tule Lake. With Mutsuo’s help he was able to reclaim that citizenship a few years later. He lived in Monterey Park and Long Beach, CA in the years prior to his death on Nov. 30, 2006 . He was survived by his wife, Fumiko, two sons, Glenn and Tad, a daughter, Nancy Shinyama, and nine grandchildren. After the war, Mutsuo served in the army as a translator working on the 5th floor of Gen. MacArthur’s HQ in Tokyo. He later graduated from the University of Southern California on the GI Bill. Mutsuo and his wife, Lynette, currently live in Orange County. Mutsumi and his wife Mary Ann live in Eupora, MS.

Sadahei died July 22, 1945 at Tule Lake. Tomiko became a naturalized citizen in 1954 and died Feb. 9, 1980 in Los Angeles County.

Sadahei and Tomiko appear as numbers 43 and 94 in the 40 Families Photo. Atsushi who was born earlier in 1923 should be in the photo but has not been identified.

The Hirose children attended Malaga Cove School, then the only public school in the area. During incarceration, many of the students and parents corresponded with their pre-war teacher, Ms. Afton Dill Nance. The Japanese American National Museum has digitized a number of these letters.

Letter from Sadahei Hirose to Afton Nance, 1942 Jul 7