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| George Fujimoto, Jr. |
George Fujimoto, Jr, was born in Riverside, California on January 2, 1921 to Suna (Sugi) and Toranosuke George Fujimoto. He grew up on the family farm located on Chase Road in Riverside, raising poultry. George attended Riverside Jr College, where he took a photography class.
During 1942, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 21 year old George Jr. started writing a diary when his father, Toranosuke George Fujimoto was arrested by the FBI along with 27 other issei in Riverside and imprisoned at the Riverside County jail. He was transferred to the Department of Justice detention camp at Tujunga Canyon, California, and later to the facility located at Santa Fe, New Mexico. When the family was notified that they were to be evacuated, John Kolb, head of the Poultrymen’s Cooperative of America, advised George Jr. to hire an attorney to draw up a lease agreement and rent out the chicken ranch to a white tenant. [This advice saved their home and many of their most prized possessions while they were evacuated.]
During late May, 1942, the Fujimoto family was evacuated from Riverside Department of Employment (5th and Main) where they boarded buses to Poston Arizona internment camp block 3-4-D. His father was paroled on July 7, 1942 and allowed to join the family at Poston camp 1, bock 3-4-D. His older sister, Lily with her husband, Harrie Taka and baby, were allowed to leave Poston and resettled in Des Moines, Iowa. George was allowed to leave Poston since he found a job with a photography shop and he stayed with his sister's family in Des Moines. George was drafted for the selective service and spent 4 months during late spring of 1944 at basic training at Fort Blanding, Florida. He began intensive language training at the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Fort Snelling, Minnesota and completed in August 1945. George served with the Occupation Forces in Japan as a military translator from November 1945-May 1946, and then was discharged from the US Army.
George returned to the family poultry farm in Riverside, where he was used the GI bill to attend college. He married Masako, and raised a family. In 1967, George worked as an insurance salesman for nine years, and in 1976, he purchased and managed a the Sunshine Gal doughnut shop in San Bernardino until 1986, when he retired. In 1988, he and his wife, Masako moved to Ferndale, Washington, where he was a member of the Ferndale Senior Center and the First Baptist Church. George frequently spoke to the public about his internment camp experiences and his diaries are part of the Special Collections at University of California, Riverside, cover 1942-48, as well as his father's diaries.
George Jr. passed away in Riverside, California on May 9, 2011 at the age of 90 years. He was preceded in death by his wife Masako (3/21/2005), his father, Toranosuke (1968 ) and his mother, Sugi Fujimoto(1981).
He is survived by his sons, Wayne Fujimoto, William Fujimoto and daughter, Janet Solomko; sisters Lilly Taka, Doris Miyeko Aoki, Mabel Zink, Betty Jean Ogawa, and brother, Charles Mitsuru Fujimoto.
Sources:
http://akesfamilyfuneralhome.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1159637&fh_id=11548
http://aar.ucr.edu/NotableAsianAmericans/Japanese/Fujimoto/index.html
http://www.riversidehistoricalsociety.org/Documents/RHSJournalVol5.pdf
http://www.fiatlux.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=16
