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| Shigezo Iwata |
Shigezo Iwata (Poston 42-7-D) was born on January 1, 1900 in Otaru, Hokkaido Japan. In 1923, he graduated from the Waseda University in Tokyo. He immigrated to the United States through the port of Seattle, Washington on May 12, 1924, to study plant management and labor issues. He faced language barriers, and in 1935, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a Japanese schoolteacher.
Sonoko Flora Uyematsu was born on December 15, 1911 in Los Angeles, California to Japanese immigrant parents, and spent her early childhood living with her grandparents in Japan after her parent's marriage failed in 1913. She left Japan in 1922 and returned to California, and attended a public school in Montebello. Later, she went to Japan to attend Mrs. Hani’s School (Jiyu Gakuen), a two-year junior college in Tokyo, and graduated in 1933. She returned to Montebello briefly, and resided at the Japanese Children's Home where she worked as a practical nurse, while teaching Japanese, and attended night school to learn typing and improve her English. In 1937, she was introduced to Shigezo Iwata through a matchmaker, and after the family broke off their engagement, Sonoko married Shigezo Iwata in a civil ceremony.
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| Sonoko Iwata |
In August 1941, Shigezo and Sonoko relocated to Thermal, California to farm. He became the secretary of the Thermal Farmers' Cooperative Association for Japanese farmers.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Shigezo was arrested and detained by the FBI, since he was a former kendo teacher. He was taken to the Santa Fe, New Mexico Department of Justice detention prison, and a few days later, transferred to the facility at Lordsburg, New Mexico.
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| Iwata children Poston camp I |
On July 6, 1943, Shigezo was finally granted parole after a second hearing. He joined his wife and their three young children, who had been evacuated from Thermal, California and detained at the Poston, Arizona internment camp block 42-7-D since May 19, 1942. Baby Michi Iwata was born in 1944, and the family left Poston on August 21, 1945 and traveled East to New York where Shigezo found work on a dairy farm as a cook. The following year, the family moved to Seabrook, New Jersey. Shigezo worked at the Seabrook Farms Frozen Foods plant as a laborer, and in 1948, Sonoko began work at the plant as a packer. They remained employed with the Seabrook Farms Frozen Food Plant until retirement in the 1970s. In 1953, when naturalization laws allowed, Shigezo earned his citizenship. They had five children, Masahiro, Misao, Miki, Michi, and Misono Iwata.
Masahiro graduated from Rutgers University as a ceramic engineer, worked in Baltimore, and raised three children. Misao graduated from the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania Nursing School, worked in Wilmington, Delaware, and has two children. Miki graduated from the Presbyterian Hospital Nursing School in Philadelphia, joined the Navy, and retired as a Captain after a long career. Michi attended Ursinus, raised three daughters, and lives in St. Louis. Misono graduated from Cedar Crest College and has two children.
Shigezo Iwata died on April 2, 1986 in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Sonoko Flora (Uyematsu) Iwata died on January 11, 2004 in Millville, New Jersey.
Sources:
http://www.hsp.org/node/2763
http://rwalck.wordpress.com/page/8/
