Biography:
Frank Hiroshi Uyeda was born on August 1, 1922 in Los Angeles, the son of Heishiro and Ito, who were immigrants from Fukuoka, Japan, on the island of Kyushu. He was the oldest of three sons. The family lived in Los Angeles, where Uyeda worked as an auto mechanic and a salesman of gardener supplies after graduating from high school. Uyeda married Hiromi Ikeda on March 31, 1942, shortly before the family was forcibly removed to the Pomona Assembly Center on May 10, 1942, and then to Heart Mountain on August 12, 1942, the first day the camp was open. They lived in apartment 1-22-F with their infant daughter, Jeanette Sumi, who was born on April 20, 1943. Uyeda answered No to Question 27 and Yes to Question 28 on the 1943 loyalty questionnaire. For Question 27, he added, “more useful in defense or farm – wife pregnant – citizenship status clarified.” Uyeda worked outside camp on multiple jobs in Powell, Cody, Elk Basin, and Worland, Wyoming, and later in Denver. He was arrested and sent to Cheyenne, Wyoming, on April 7. Uyeda was eventually declared 4-F, unfit for military service, and he returned to Heart Mountain long enough to arrange for a job as a mechanic in Cleveland, where he moved on April 22, 1944. He remained there for the duration of the war, while the rest of his family, including his newborn son Dean, moved back to Los Angeles. By 1950, the Uyedas had four children and lived in Los Angeles with his parents. Heishiro Uyeda worked as a gardener at a private home, while Frank Uyeda was a car salesman. The Uyedas would eventually have five children. Frank Hiroshi Uyeda died on August 21, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.