Biography:
Noboru Sumi was born on August 23, 1920, in Seattle, Washington, to Yoroku and Takiko Sumi, who were small business owners from Japan. He had an older brother and three sisters. Sumi moved to Japan with his mother in 1922 and attended school there until 1931, when they moved to Los Angeles. After finishing high school, he worked in the grocery store owned by his older brother, Bill Sachio Sumi. During the forced removal, Sumi, his parents, older brother, and sister were sent first to the Pomona Assembly Center, where they arrived on May 9, 1942, and then to Heart Mountain, where they arrived on August 21, 1942. They lived in apartment 12-6-E. Sumi answered No to Question 27 and Yes to Question 28 of the 1943 loyalty questionnaire. He was arrested on April 7, 1944, with his brother, and they were among the 63 draft resisters tried and convicted of violating the Selective Service Act in June 1944. Sumi was sentenced to three years in the federal prison at McNeil Island, Washington. He was released in July 1946 and pardoned by President Harry Truman on December 24, 1947. After prison, Sumi returned to Los Angeles, where he married Toshiko Takai on September 30, 1951. They had three children. Noboru Sumi died on May 27, 2020, in Los Angeles.