STANLEY HAYAMI
WWII
Private Company C, 2nd Battalion
442nd Regimental Combat Team
Dec. 23, 1925 – Apr. 23, 1945
San Gabriel, California
The wartime diaries of Stanley Hayami inspired the book, “Stanley Hayami, Nisei Son” and the documentary “A Flicker in Time”. His journals and illustrations are an extraordinary insight of a Japanese American teenager facing the struggles of life incarcerated at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. They also provide an in-depth personal view of war, racism, and patriotism as well as Stanley’s hopes for the future.
He was born in Los Angeles and raised in San Gabriel where his family-owned and operated the Hayami Nursery. He was a student at Mark Keppel High when he and his family were removed from their home with the enforcement of Executive Order 9066.
Stanley Hayami’s joy was writing and drawing and this led him to become the art editor of the Heart Mountain High School yearbook. He graduated in June 1944 and in August he left Heart Mountain for Army training and then to Europe where he became a replacement soldier for the 442nd RCT.
In the battle for San Terenzo, Italy, Hayami was killed when he left a protected position to render medical aid to injured soldiers. For his bravery under fire, the 19 year old Private Hayami was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
Stanley Hayami’s diaries, illustrations, and letters are a permanent collection at the Japanese American National Museum.