The Chronicles of Shinjitsu:
Americans Of Japanese Heritage
Part Eleven
Earl Yonehiro, MD
July 10, 2021
Earl Yonehiro, MD.
(The photograph was provided courtesy of the Western Trauma Association.)
Earl Yoney Yonehiro may be the only former chief of police that the Federal government imprisoned during the incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s.
Mr. Yonehiro was a top academic student at Roseville High School. He was a leader in his school. The front page of the edition of the Roseville Press dated April 10, 1942, included a news article that reported that “Earl Yonehiro, who is vice president of the [Roseville High] school’s student body, will hold the law in his palm when he becomes chief of police for the day. He will remain at the police station getting first-hand information on the art of keeping law and order in Roseville.”
While the City of Roseville and the Roseville High School saw Mr. Yonehiro as a teenager with great promise as a leader, the Federal government saw him as a threat to the security of our nation.
As was the case with other Japanese Americans, Mr. Yonehiro was first incarcerated with members of his family in the Arboga Assembly Center (Arboga Prison) near Marysville, California, and at the Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake Prison), located just south of the border between California and Oregon. Though Mr. Yonehiro was American citizen – having been born in the United States in 1925 – he was still taken into custody as a prisoner of the United States of America because his parents were Japanese and he had Japanese American heritage.
“…It is important for people to know that my grandfather, Saburo Yonehiro, served for the U S Army during World War I and was honorably discharged,” stated Bruce Yonehiro, one of two sons – Bruce and Grant – of Earl Yonehiro. “Despite being a U S World War I veteran, he was nonetheless sent to the camps.” Mr. Yonehiro noted that his grandfather had owned a fruit farm in California. A document from the Federal government noted that the farm owned by Saburo Yonehiro included 46 acres and that he grew peaches, pears, and plums near Penryn in Placer County, California.
Saburo Yonehiro “…had to find a manager to run his farm on short-notice when sent to the camps,” said Bruce Yonehiro. “He was forced into bankruptcy after receiving bills for white-wall tires for his tractor. Then the manager bought the farm from the bankruptcy trustee. My grandfather never recovered financially from that loss, but as a loyal American, he defended the government’s internment actions when challenged by other Japanese-Americans in the camps.”
A number of religious faiths – including individuals and organizations within the Society of Friends (Quakers) – were among those that helped lead efforts to get Japanese Americans released from the Federal prisons. Earl Yonehiro was able to be released from the Tule Lake Prison because he was admitted as a student at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Antioch College was one of several hundred colleges and universities that offered to educate American citizens with Japanese heritage.
Earl Yonehiro left school early by enlisting in the U S Army. He and his two brothers all served in the 442d Regimental Combat Team, according to his son Bruce. This unit of the U S military was composed of soldiers with Japanese Americans heritage while, according to the U S Army Center of Military History, “the commander and most company grade officers were Caucasian; the rest of its officers and enlisted men were Nisei [American citizens born in the United States to parents that had been born in Japan].”
The Western Trauma Association noted that after his military service, Earl Yonehiro received his medical degree from the University of Rochester in New York State and then went on to obtain a PhD. in surgery from the University of Minnesota. The Association noted that he also obtained advanced training in cancer research at Harvard University, completed a cardiovascular fellowship at Baylor University in Houston, and studied microvascular surgery at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Yonehiro was a clinical professor of surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and a practicing general and vascular surgeon at the Park-Nicollet Clinic in Minneapolis for many years. He was nationally known and was actively involved in research and education throughout his career.
A decision made by Dr. Yonehiro symbolizes his leadership and commitment to helping people in need of medical care: Earl Yonehiro changed his name to “Earl G. Young.”
Barry Esrig, MD, one of his colleagues and friends, wrote in a publication of the Western Trauma Association that Dr. Yonehiro explained that “…he changed his surname to Young because it was easier to have call-in prescriptions filled and had less spelling errors on the part of the pharmacists by using an easily spelled and understood western-type name.” Both Dr. Esrig and Dr. Yonehiro served as leaders in the Western Trauma Association; Dr. Yonehiro was president of the Association in 1984, while Dr. Esrig was president of the Association in 2000.
“His name change late in life is consistent with his dedication to assimilation, his dedication to his surgery practice and his wartime heroism,” explained Bruce Yonehiro. “He was always willing to make huge personal sacrifices to do what he thought was right. His explanation of that simple practicality is shocking, almost unbelievable, to most. But he was willing to sacrifice his own name if it had any chance of making him a better surgeon…It is just one of many examples of how dedicated he was to his surgical practice. Here is another: He always kept a back-up car with four-wheel drive, so neither car trouble nor bad weather would ever keep him from the hospital when needed. His condo was on the same street as the hospital, so it was a direct route.”
Dr. Yonehiro’s commitment to academics and teaching “…was recognized in 1988, just one year prior to his very untimely death, by his receiving the Owen H. Wangensteen Award for Academic Excellence at the University of Minnesota Health Science Center,” stated Dr. Esrig. “In the selection process for this award he received a truly unprecedented unanimous vote of all seventy-two residents.”
Dr. Esrig also noted that Dr. Yonehiro had a playful side of life as well: “He was an outgoing, vibrant person with a love for his students and residents, as well as skiing. One can still recall the ‘yips’ of delight as he skied the powder and the bumps.”
To give you a perspective of his impact on healthcare in the United States and globally, consider these comments from his son, Bruce Yonehiro: “He was the chief resident during his medical training at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Christiaan Bernard, who performed the first human-to-human heart transplant, was studying there at the same time…I received an autographed copy of The Unwanted from Dr. Bernard. He inscribed it ‘For Bruce and Grant. Your father taught me all the surgery I know. With my very best wishes, Christiaan Bernard.’”
Dr. Earl Yonehiro – Dr. Earl G. Young – died in 1989.
The life of Earl Yonehiro is recalled each year as an annual award is given by the Western Trauma Association in his name – the name he chose to use to help Americans in need of medical care. The Earl G. Young Resident Prize for Clinical Research “…is a continuation of Dr. Young’s profound interest in the training of residents and his commitment to ongoing research,” according to a statement from the Association. “It is given each year to stimulate resident clinical research.”
In 2021, Daniel Hahn, the current Chief of Police of the City of Sacramento, noted the leadership of Roseville and Earl Yonehiro in 1942: “It’s ironic that the local leaders in Roseville saw Earl Yonehiro as a good citizen and named him as an honorary chief of police, yet a few weeks later, the Federal government locked him up as a threat to our country.” Chief Hahn also served as the Chief of Police of the City of Roseville from 2011 to 2017. He was the first African American police chief in both Roseville and Sacramento. Chief Hahn noted that what happened to Dr. Yonehiro and other Japanese Americans was part of our history. “We will not reach our full capacity until we overcome prejudice.”
Earl Yonehiro was incarcerated as a prisoner at the Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake Prison) in northern California.
(The photo was provided courtesy of the National Park Service.)
Do you have questions about Japanese American communities?
A street name? A building?
Your questions may be used in a future news column.
Contact Richard McDonough at chroniclesofshinjitsu@protonmail.com.
© 2021 Richard McDonough