Masato Suehiro
Private First Class
442nd Regimental Combat Team
3rd Battalion, L Company
Masato Suehiro was born on January 30, 1920, in Kaneohe, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. He was the son of Sanjuro and Matsuno (Matsumoto) Suehiro.
Sanjuro arrived in 1898 from the village of Kamihata, Kuga District, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. In September 1906, he returned to Yamaguchi where he married Tatsu (last name unknown), 10 years his junior, from the village of Hongo, Kuga District. He took her to Honolulu on the Tenyo Maru on 1908, and they lived on Hotel Street where he was a merchant.
By 1910, Sanjuro was working on a sugar plantation in Waialua, on Oahu’s North Shore. Sanjuro then married on January 4, 1911, at the U.S. Immigration Station the 19-year-old Matsuno Matsumoto, who had just arrived on the Tenyo Maru from the village of Waki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. On the marriage record he stated that this was his second marriage. They first lived on Sheridan Street and Sanjuro was a cook for Dr. Uetaro Mitamura. His first wife, Tatsuno, filed for divorce in Honolulu on grounds of nonsupport on November 6, 1914, and it was granted on May 14, 1915.
Mansan, as Masato was called, was the sixth eldest child. His siblings were: brothers Sanshi, Goichi R., Wallace Yasuichi, Raymond Tokuhachi, sisters Kiyono, Doris Fujiko, Yoshino, Sueko Gladys, and Edith Tomeko.
By 1920, the family was living on Windward Oahu where Sanjuro worked on a rice plantation. Growing up, Mansan attended Japanese school in Kaneohe. In November 1931, he was among a group of students from Hawaii who were attending schools in Kyoto.
Photo below: Mansan is on the far right, second row (light-colored suit). Seated center front is Bishop Yemo Imamura, Fort Street Buddhist Mission
At some point after his father Sanjuro died in 1932, he dropped out of school to help support his family. By 1940, mother Matsuno was living with her six youngest children on Kamehameha Highway in Kaneohe. Mansan was employed as a laborer for a general contractor.
Mansan registered for the draft on July 1, 1941, Local Board No. 1, at the Benjamin Parker School in Kaneohe. His address was Kamehameha Highway in Kaneohe, but he was employed in Honolulu as a stevedore at the Castle & Cooke Terminals Ltd. His point of contact was Isami Yasutake (his future brother-in-law) of 832 South Hotel Street. He was 5’4-1/2” tall and weighed 127 pounds.
When the call for volunteers was issued in early 1943, Masato and his younger brother Goichi both volunteered. Mansan was chosen and was enlisted on March 25, 1943. At the time, his civilian employment was listed as “semi-skilled warehousing, storekeeping, handling, loading, unloading, and related occupations.”
Brother Goichi was not among the number of volunteers chosen, but he appealed to the local draft board and was inducted five days after Mansan. This meant that only he, and not his brother, was at the community aloha farewell ceremony for the new soldiers at Iolani Palace on March 28. However, both brothers shipped out with the 442nd to San Francisco on the S.S. Lurline on April 4.
After a train trip across the US, the men arrived at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Once there, Mansan was assigned to L Company and his brother Goichi to F Company. After a year of basic, combat, and specialized training and field maneuvers, the 442nd left Camp Shelby by train on April 22 for Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. They sailed in a convoy of about 100 ships and arrived at Naples, Italy, on May 28, 1944.
Suehiro went into battle with the 442nd near Suvereto, north of Rome, on June 26, 1944. According to an interview that brother Goichi gave years later, Pfc. Masato Suehiro was wounded in Italy 14 days after arrival (i.e., likely 14 days after going into combat). His name appeared on a casualty list in the Honolulu Advertiser on October 1, 1944.
Research did not reveal the nature or severity of Suehiro’s wounding. He was sent home at some point in either 1944 or 1945 and was discharged from the U.S. Army on July 26, 1945.
For his military service, Pfc. Masato Suehiro was awarded the following: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one bronze star (for Rome-Arno Campaign), World War II Victory Medal, and Combat Infantryman Badge. It is not known if he served in additional campaigns. He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on October 5, 2010, along with the other veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. This is the highest Congressional Civilian Medal.
After the war, Masato married Yuriko Arakaki on February 7, 1948. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hatsu Arakaki of Koloa, Kauai. At the time of their marriage, they were living at 1523-A Piikoi Street. They later moved to Aiea where he was employed by Waialua Produce, and they eventually moved to 45-544 Duncan Drive in Kaneohe. Over the years they raised a family of two sons. Mansan owned a wholesale food delivery company. He enjoyed playing golf at the Bay View Golf Center in Kaneohe and was involved with the East Oahu 4-H Club.
Masato Suehiro died on November 11, 2002. He was buried in the Hawaii Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe, Section 50-C, Site 12. Survivors included his wife Yuriko, two sons, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Yuriko died in 2012 and was buried next to her husband.
Above: Tombstone of parents Sanjuro and Matsuno at Nuuanu Memorial Park, Honolulu
Researched and written by the Sons & Daughters of the 442nd RCT in 2021. Updated in 2024.