San Jose REgenerations Oral History Project

Katie T. Hironaka

General Topic of Interview

Katie Hironaka is a Nisei who was interned at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. She was born in Santa Clara County and continues to reside there. At the outbreak of World War II, she was pregnant with her first child while her husband, Al Uchiyama, was in the United States Army. She tells heartwarming stories of her family life as the youngest child with three siblings. She explains how she used domestic work to get away from farmwork and internment. Mrs. Hironaka returned to San Jose after the war. There, she and her husband raised five children and became active leaders in the Japanese-American community.

Biography

A second generation Japanese American, Katie Hironaka was born on October 31, 1919. Her father was a farmer, and her mother was a picture bride from Japan. Although she enjoyed going to school, she was only allowed to finish the ninth grade. She and her older sister were able to find work off the farm as live-in domestic workers. At the age of twenty-one, she was interned at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. After World War II, she returned to San Jose, CA, to live with her husband and his family. When her children were in school, she became active in their school and the community. Her commitment to volunteer work became even greater after the passing of her first husband in 1964. She never allowed her limited education to hinder her leadership roles in her church and numerous Japanese-American organizations. Mrs. Hironaka has been publicly recognized for her community contributions by such groups as the Martin Luther King Foundation and the VeteranŐs of Foreign Wars.