Man accepts high school diploma alongside grandson, 75 years after being placed in an internment camp

Haruo Hayashi finally accepted his high school diploma after he and his family were forced into an internment camp in the United States. (Photo: The Tribune)
Haruo Hayashi finally accepted his high school diploma after he and his family were forced into an internment camp in the United States. (Photo: The Tribune)

Haruo Hayashi, a farmer in Arroyo Grande, California, accepted his high school diploma after 75 years alongside his grandson who was graduating with the class of 2019.

In 1942, when Hayashi was a sophomore at Arroyo Grande High School, he was forced into an internment camp 500 miles away in Arizona with his parents and his younger brother, at the executive order by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

Hayashi, relocated to the Gila River War Relocation Center, was just one of 110,000 to 120,000 Japanese Americans forced into concentration camps in the United States. The order, which was in response to Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and incarcerated American citizens, meant that Hayashi was not able to graduate from high school.

When the internment order finally ended in 1944, Hayashi joined the Army instead of returning to school.

After serving in the Army, Hayashi returned to Arroyo Grande to run the farm, where he became a staple in the community. Together with his wife of 62 years, Rose Hayashi, who passed away in 2015, they raised five sons. He has since become an advocate for reparations for those affected by the War Relocation Order.

Hayashi, 93, was honored during his former school's graduation ceremony on Thursday, alongside his graduating grandson, Kobe Hayashi.

"Today I have the honor of announcing a very special grad," Arroyo Grande administrative secretary Rocio Palacios-DeVries said during the commencement ceremony. Principal Dan Neff then walked over to Hayashi beside the stage, dressed in a cap and gown, and handed him his long-awaited diploma.

"Arroyo Grande was, is and always will be his home," Palacios-DeVries said. "He was, is and always will be an Arroyo Grande Eagle."

"It is my privilege to announce, Haruo Hayashi," Palacios-DeVries said. "Class of 1944."

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