Nori Uyematsu rides with Patti Hirahara in last year’s Nisei Week Grand Parade.
94-year-old vet recognized by Asahi Shimbun, OC Register, FDR Presidential Library, and Brigham City Museum.
By PATTI HIRAHARA
BRIGHAM CITY, Utah — Norio Uyematsu has been a fixture in the Japanese American community in Southern California for 72 years and preferred to work in the shadows rather than gaining notoriety for himself.
He enjoyed coordinating events, but he pushed others into the lime-light instead all these years.
After his wife Rose passed away in 2020, he felt he had nothing to live for but realized he had some unfinished business he had to do before he died.
Life changed for Uyematsu once Rep. Lou Correa introduced his story to be included in the Congressional Record in 2022. He first wanted to help promote the Japanese American Korean War veterans’ story since those that fought and served had been in the shadows of the 100th Battalion and 442nd RCT’s illustrious history.
While many grew up in the incarceration camps during World War II, they were too young to enlist and were part of the “Forgotten War,” which is what the Korean War has been called since no peace treaty has ever been signed to officially end the war.
In February 2024, The Orange County Registerheard of Uyematsu’s Korean War memorabilia donation to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s Military Collection and featured his story on the front page of the Sunday edition on Feb. 18 — a major opportunity to promote the Japanese American Korean War veterans’ story.
The story went viral, and Uyematsu received letters from readers from across the country as his story was shared on social media.
He then made his first trip to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, N.Y. — the first presidential library to be built in the U.S. — in May.
He participated in events relating to key observances of the Korean War and was the keynote speaker on Veterans Day last year for the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA) in Washington, D.C.
The year ended with a major honor — being named one of The Orange County Register’s 125 Most Influential Persons in Orange County for 2024. The Anaheim resident was recognized for promoting the stories of Japanese American Korean War veterans.
Uyematsu has focused his last two years on fulfilling his last wish to honor a Brigham City, Utah farmer who gave his family a second chance at a normal life after losing everything during World War II and having nowhere to go after their incarceration at Heart Mountain in Wyoming. 80 years later, at the age of 94, he was able to thank the remaining descendants of Earl G. Anderson last February in Brigham City.
Unaware of Japanese customs and traditions, he did not realize that as the oldest of four children, he was supposed to stay home and take care of his parents and his siblings. He did just the opposite and once he graduated from Box Elder High School in Brigham City in 1948, he enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of 17. Upon returning from duty in Korea, he went to California to go to college and never returned to live in Utah.
In his 90s, he realized his mistake and wanted to take responsibility for what he and his family should have done many years ago.
So in 2022, Uyematsu started the ball rolling for the Brigham City Museum to create its first “Japanese Pioneer” exhibit covering Brigham City and Box Elder County, which made its debut in February. His desire to tell the story of Earl G. Anderson and the Uyematsu family’s resettlement to Brigham City became one of the storylines that the museum hoped to tell.
I was asked to be an advisor on the project and opportunities came together to utilize Brigham City facilities and businesses for the Wasatch Front North JACL’s Utah Day of Remembrance event on Feb. 15 in conjunction with the grand opening of the Brigham City Museum’s 2,000-square-foot “Japanese Pioneer” exhibit.
This was truly a community working together and Uyematsu never wanted to take credit for inspiring this major opportunity, but the community felt without his desire to tell Anderson’s story, this day would not have happened at all.
With a capacity crowd of 263 people and a waiting list for those who still wanted to attend, Uyematsu sat in amazement of how things had successfully come together.
William A. Harris, director of the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, came from New York to address the Day of Remembrance program in Brigham City.
“Uncovering the Journey: Japanese American Pioneers in Box Elder County” exhibit at the Brigham City Museum will run through June 21. The museum is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday, 1-5 p.m.?
The event had representatives from the Governor’s Office, Box Elder County, Brigham City, and former U.S. and local government officials. Then, in the afternoon, Uyematsu was honored to cut the ribbon during the opening ceremony for the exhibit — now in its third week, the most successful exhibit in the museum’s history.
Uyematsu offered greetings to the audience before the ribbon-cutting, but he couldn’t believe 270 people would gather for such an event 80 years after his family came to Brigham City.
Then on Feb. 19, Uyematsu’s interview was released on the FDR Presidential Library’s YouTube channel for its Day of Remembrance observance. The video, recorded in May 2024 at the library, has over 720 views thus far.
His wishes were coming true, but on March 6 he received the biggest shock of his life by seeing his family and Anderson’s family story as the lead story on the front page of the Asahi Shimbun’s Evening Edition in Japanese in the Tokyo and Osaka regional editions. The newspaper also translated the article into English (https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15658839).
“What an honor,” Uyematsu said. “Having Asahi Shimbun Bureau Chief Daisuke Igarashi come to Utah from San Francisco to cover my resettlement story is amazing, but it just proves no matter how old we get, we can make a difference.”
Uyematsu still has a sense of humor when he says with a wink, “It is wonderful that I am 49 and still can travel.” But his desire to speak at community events and tell the story is what keeps him going.
What he has done in just two years is amazing and makes us realize how lucky we all are that Norio Uyematsu is a bridge-maker to the generations.
