Masaji Mas Inoshita

MASAJI “MAS” INOSHITA
Family # 8574
Camp: Gila River, AZ
Address: 45-8-5

My father, Maruju Inoshita, was an immigrant from southern Japan who came to the United States independently as a Sumo wrestler in 1900. My mother came as a picture bride in 1916. She was positive she married the handsomest of the immigrants but to her dismay she found out that he was older then her own father. They produced 10 children. One child died in infancy and another died at age 35. The family moved from Madera, California to Guadalupe and finally to Santa Maria where we grew up.

In December 1941, I was a 22-year-old draft-exempt farmer. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor I knew that all Japanese Americans would be affected but not to the extent that unfolded. On December 11, the FBI arrested my father as a suspicious enemy alien. Our bank account was frozen, our movements restricted, and we had to turn in all prohibited items such as guns, ammunition, short­wave radios, cameras, and knives.

It was my job to dispose of all the chickens, rabbits, horses, trucks, tractors, cars, farm machinery, and crops since we were allowed to take only what we could carry. The disposal of dad’s prize draft horses was traumatic. A Caucasian came to our rescue. He made us haul all unsold farm machinery to his barn for storage and verbally supported us as his friends.

The US Army transported us from Santa Maria to the Tulare Assembly Center in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, where we lived in Row F, Horsestall 12 for three months.

We were later moved to the Gila River War Relocation Center in south central Arizona. We received two barracks rooms and our food dramatically improved. I cooked rice and picked cotton for Arizona farmers in the Casa Grande area.

In November 1942, I volunteered to serve as a Japanese language expert in the US Military Intelligence Language School. I trained in Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and was shipped out to the South Pacific. I worked military intelligence in Australia, Sri Lanka, Delhi, India, Burma, Central China, Okinawa, and occupied Japan. My mother, father, brothers, and sisters endured hostility in the Gila River camp because I went into the military service to fight Japan. One brother suffered mental anguish in the camp and was placed in a mental institution where he died.

I was discharged in 1946 and went back to Arizona to farm. I married Betty and we had three children.

The family left camp after three years and settled in Arizona. The family started a farm. My parents became U.S. citizens in 1954 and became landowners in 1956. One brother went from being a farmer to an accountant in South America. Another brother became involved in construction and created a mobile home park. My brother entered the lucrative field of electronic engineering. One sister married a farmer. Another sister operated a restaurant.

Incarcerating our family during the war was wrong, but it opened up opportunities for all of us in all parts of this country. Those of us who were alive in 1988 received an apology letter and a reparations payment of $20,000.

In retirement I have become a volunteer. I worked as a volunteer librarian for six years but gave it up because of my involvement in maintaining the Gila River Relocation Camp monuments. I have given numerous tours of the former camp for school and civic groups in hopes of educating people to what we went through.

Wind and Dust
This wind and dust I have to bear
How hard it blows I do not care.
But when the wind begins to blow –
­My morale is pretty low.
I know that I can see it through
Because others have to bear it too.
So I will bear it with the rest
And hope the outcome is the best.
– George Nishimura, age 16 (Manzanar, 1943)

Read this to learn more about the demographics of each of the ten facilities administered by the War Relocation Authority.

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