Bridge, Business, and a Bronze Star

By Dylan C. Fox

Sam Y. Matsumoto

March 17, 1915 - April 1, 1984

Matsumoto’s headshot in a feature on his bridge club in the Mountain Plains A.J.A. News. (Courtesy of the Mile High Japanese American Citizens League Collection, Auraria Library Digital Collections)

Battles have always been fought with weapons, but a modern war is fought with intelligence. Successful strategic planning requires trustworthy intelligence that can either reveal or predict the enemy’s actions. These contributions of intelligence officers play a pivotal role in influencing the tides of war; this was especially true during World War II as the Allies gained a significant advantage in both the European and Pacific theatres through espionage, codebreaking, and signal intelligence. For the United States, the diversity of its immigrant population meant that ultimately any language barrier could be overcome to outmaneuver the Axis Powers.

Sam Y. Matsumoto was born in Dinuba, California on March 17, 1915. His parents immigrated from Japan just before the turn of the century in 1899 and his father Reikichi, who happened to be born in Hiroshima, supported the family by working as a ranch hand in-between Sanger and Fresno.[1] While growing up in central California, it seems Matsumoto navigated common second-generation struggles like mismatched names in his high school yearbooks[2] (a mistake that followed him his whole life as his records often switch between Yoshiharu and Yoshihara) and social pressure to take on an Americanized first name. Otherwise, he seemed to live a quiet childhood while presumably speaking some Japanese in his household – a fact that would radically alter the course of his life years later.

Matsumoto was still living in Sanger and worked self-employed as a trimmer alongside his older brother Henry Inayoshi Matsumoto when he registered for the draft in October 1940.[3] Yet something must have changed within Matsumoto as only five months later he left for Los Angeles to enlist in the Army.[4] As early as 1939, many military officers regarded the Nisei (second generation) with extreme mistrust; Lt. Col. Rufus Bratton, chief of the Far Eastern Section of the Military Intelligence Division, stated that “their loyalty could never be trusted.”[5] While anti-Asian sentiment undoubtably existed throughout the West Coast, the opinions of men like Lt. Col. Bratton became commonplace throughout the American military and populace alike after Imperial Japan’s declaration of war. In the wake of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 and authorized the forcible relocation of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry to internment camps.[6] Matsumoto’s brother Henry and his family were sent to the Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona, while his girlfriend, Doris Asaye Domoto, was moved almost 2000 miles away to the Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas.[7]

Matsumoto evaded suspicions of disloyalty and was one of the few thousand Nisei selected for training in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), a specialized group of Japanese speakers who served as interpreters, translators, and interrogators in the Pacific theater. The language skills of the MIS played a pivotal role in verifying intelligence on Imperial Japanese operations; one notable example was Operation Vengeance in 1943, wherein an MIS operative confirmed a report that allowed American forces to shoot down a plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto, the head of the Imperial Japanese Navy and a major planner behind the Attack on Pearl Harbor.[8] Matsumoto graduated from the MIS language program at Camp Savage in December of 1942, but before leaving for war he traveled to Arkansas to marry Doris Domoto while she was still interned in Arkansas.[9] Once in the Pacific, Matsumoto was attached to the 43rd Infantry Division in the final months of the Guadalcanal Campaign which was the first major American offensive in the Pacific that dislodged Imperial Japanese forces from the Solomon Isles. From there, Matsumoto would have assisted in the planning and execution of the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines. Afterwards, the 43rd Division was posted to occupation duty within Japan for the majority of September, 1945.[10] By the time Matsumoto was discharged on December 28, 1945, he had earned a Bronze Star and promotion to First Sergeant for his service.[11] He settled in Henderson, Colorado with his wife and his brother Henry living close by.

Matsumoto and his family, enclosed in the article on his visit to the JACL Convention in 1952. (Courtesy of the Mile High Japanese American Citizens League Collection, Auraria Library Digital Collections)

After moving to Colorado, success seemed to follow Matsumoto in many of his endeavors. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder, found long-term employment with the NY Life Insurance Company while owning a small business on the side, had three children, and joined the Denver “Mile-Hi” chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL).[12] The JACL is the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization in the US, and after the war it played a pivotal role in campaigning against discriminatory laws both nationally and locally, such as “anti-alien employment provisions in Colorado laws, [and] prohibition against internment of non-whites in cemeteries[.]”[13] By 1952, Matsumoto was voted the finance chairman of the Denver JACL, a role he clearly took seriously as his name and fundraising activities appear dozens of times in local newspapers like the Denver JACL Bulletin, the Rocky Mountain Jiho, and the Mountain Plains A.J.A. News. Matsumoto dedicated much of his time and energy to a wide variety of charity projects; for years he served as an advisor for the Intermountain Collegiate Students that provided community scholarships to Americans with Japanese ancestry; he also headed dozens of fundraisers for JACL as well as for the Simpson Methodist Church, where he was the chairman of the church board.[14]

Matsumoto diligently supported the Colorado community of Americans with Japanese ancestry, but in one notable instance he also joined the rest of the JACL to play a role in influencing national immigration policy. In late June 1952, Matsumoto was asked by fellow JACL member Roy Mayeda to take his spot as the Denver delegate to the National JACL Convention in San Francisco, a request Matsumoto was happy to fill since it also gave him and Doris the chance to visit California for the first time in ten years and catch up with old acquaintances. In his editorial feature in the Denver JACL Bulletin, Matsumoto recounts that most of the convention was overshadowed by the legislative battle over the “Walter-McCarran Immigration Bill.” The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 replaced the blanket ban on Asian immigration with a quota of 2000 for the whole continent, removed racial restriction on naturalized citizenship, and was supported by the JACL as a step in the right direction that opened citizenship to their Issei parents.[15] Yet, the bill was also mired in Cold War political calculus and a hysteria over communist infiltration from Asia that caused President Truman to veto it. Matsumoto was behind one of the 119 wires sent to Washington by the JACL that urged the Senate to overturn the veto, which did so only days later. Matsumoto recounted that when news reached the convention, “The roof was raised right then and there and grown men were actually shedding tears of joy.”[16]

Matsumoto enjoyed a wide range of hobbies and seemed to have a bit of a competitive side as he participated in, and won, numerous competitions over his lifetime. The Mountain Plains A.J.A. News once described him as a “bridge fiend [extraordinaire],” a fitting title as he ran the Simpson Church Bridge Team, took first place in several championships, and became “the 1st AJA man in the Rocky Mtn area to achieve Life Master Ranking in the American Contract Bridge League, on Sun., Mar. 25th [1962].”[17] While not playing bridge or fundraising, Matsumoto also enjoyed fishing trips in Montana both alone and with his family.[18]

Matsumoto and the JACL spent decades fighting racism and discrimination, but the recent spike in anti-Asian hate crimes proves that their struggle is not over. Anti-Asian sentiment still creeps into various sectors of society, disrespecting the contributions and legacies of Asian Americans.[19] Nevertheless, Matsumoto deserves to be remembered for his lifetime of accomplishments in charity, as an expert bridge player, a diligent businessman, and a Bronze Star recipient. Sam Matsumoto passed away on April 5, 1984.

Footnotes ↓

[1] “1930 United States Federal Census,” ancestry.com, entry for R Matsumoto; “California, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882-1959,” ancestry.com, entry for Reikichi Matsumoto.

[2] Sanger High School, 1930 & 1931, U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999, Ancestry.com.Identified as Yoshiharu on p. 194 in 1930, Yoshihara on p. 245 in 1931.

[3] “U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” ancestry.com, entry for Sam Matsumoto.

[4] “U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946,” ancestry.com, entry for Sam Matsumoto.

[5] James C. McNaughton. Nisei Linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service during World War II (US Army Center of Military History, 2006), 7.

[6] Ibid., 46-47.

[7] “U.S., Japanese Americans Relocated During World War II,” ancestry.com, entry for Inayoshi H Matsumoto.

“U.S., Final Accountability Rosters of Evacuees at Relocation Centers, 1942-1946,” ancestry.com, entry for Asaye Doris Domoto.

[8] McNaughton, Nisei Linguists, 185-186.

[9] Seiki Oshiro, et al, “Military Intelligence Service Language School Registry 1941-46,” Japanese American Veterans Association, javadc.org/MISLS%20Registry%2002-02-03.pdf;

“Arkansas, U.S., County Marriages Index, 1837-1957,” ancestry.com, entry for Sam Matsumoto and Doris Domoto.

[10] “43d Infantry Division,” World War II Divisional Combat Chronicles, U.S. Army Center of Military History, accessed April 27, 2021, history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/cbtchron/cc/043id.htm.

[11] Seiki Oshiro, et al, “Military Intelligence Service Language School Registry 1941-46.”

[12] “Simpson Church Bridge Club,” Mountain Plains A.J.A. News, vol. 6, no. 2 (October 1964): 8, Mile High Japanese American Citizens League Collection, Auraria Library Digital Collections, digital.auraria.edu/AA00004566/00049.

[13] “JACL Movie Benefit Grosses $600 for Anti-Discrimination,” Mountain Plains A.J.A. News, vol. 3, no. 7 (March 1962): 4, Mile High Japanese American Citizens League Collection, Auraria Library Digital Collections, digital.auraria.edu/AA00004566/00023.

[14] “I.S.C Conference,” Mountain Plains A.J.A. News, vol. 3, no. 7 (March 1962): 4, Mile High Japanese American Citizens League Collection, Auraria Library Digital Collections, digital.auraria.edu/AA00004566/00023.

“Welcome Dinner,” Rocky Mountain Jiho, no. 84 (November 1963): 1, Mile High Japanese American Citizens League Collection, Auraria Library Digital Collections, digital.auraria.edu/AA00004568/00021.

[15] “The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (The McCarran-Walter Act),” Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State, accessed April 27, 2021, history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/immigration-act.

[16] Sam Matsumoto, “Highlight of the JACL Conference,” The Denver JACL Bulletin, vol. 7, no. 7 (July 1952): 2, Mile High Japanese American Citizens League Collection, Auraria Library Digital Collections,digital.auraria.edu/AA00004563/00060.

[17] “Town Talk,” Mountain Plains A.J.A. News, vol. 3, no. 8 (April 1962): 7, Mile High Japanese American Citizens League Collection, Auraria Library Digital Collections, digital.auraria.edu/AA00004566/00024.

[18] “Husband and Wife Team Capture Out-Of State Fishing Prizes,” Rocky Mountain Jiho, no. 33 (November 1962): 2, Mile High Japanese American Citizens League Collection, Auraria Library Digital Collections, digital.auraria.edu/AA00004568/00021.

[19] For instance, the history section on the official website of the 43rd Infantry Division Veterans Association continues to use an anti-Japanese slur multiple times – which Matsumoto undoubtedly endured countless times during his service in the 43rd while the nation he dutifully served had forced his family into internment camps back home. A recently archived version of the history section in question can be found at web.archive.org/web/20210427141407/http://www.43rd-infantry-division.org/history.