Henry Hiroshi Harada

Henry "Hank" Harada, 98, of Gardena, California, passed away, December 21, 2018 at board and care home in Costa Mesa, California.
Hank was born November 8, 1920 in Yuma, Arizona to Kenzo and Wari Harada and was the oldest son of six children. His love for photography started in high school where he was the yearbook photographer graduating from Yuma Union High in 1939. On December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked and then in May 1942 Hank was among the many Japanese Americans interned in one of the Poston, Arizona concentration camps. As the war progressed and after spending a year in camp, Hank was one of the few detainees allowed to leave camp if they found individual or corporate employment sponsorship in the Midwest or the East. He ending up working for National Shoe Service, making and repairing shoes in Cincinnati, Ohio.
While in Ohio, in 1944 he was drafted by the Army and was on his way to Europe when the Germans surrendered. Luckily, he avoided the battle front as he was reassigned to War Department Language School at Fort Snelling, Minnesota to learn conversational Japanese. In 1945 as a member of the Military Intelligence Service, he was in Japan and then the Philippines photographing convicted Japanese prisoners of war.
After the war he was employed for a short stint at Columbia Records, pressing vinyl LPs before enrolling and graduating from ArtCenter College of Design in their photographic department in 1949. Shortly after graduation he married Tomiko Shinozaki.
His pursuit of photography resulted in multiple failed attempts starting his own photo studio but ultimately landed him in managerial roles of photographic departments of large defense contractor companies in the South Bay area. In retirement he taught photography on a part time basis at El Camino College.
He is survived by his son, Scott, his daughter-in-law Dr. Meigan M. Everts and two grandchildren Jessica K. and Carolyn K. Harada.
Consistent with Hank's charitable endeavors, memorial and koden donations may be made to the Japanese American National History Museum, ArtCenter College of Design or Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute.