A Life of Service and an Educator of Vision

By Katie Mittelstadt

Photo of Hason in a “WWII Veteran” hat and jacket after his retirement. “Obituary for Hason F. Yanaga at Monarch Society,” Monarchsociety.com.

Hason’s Registration Card from 1944. Ancestry, “Hason Yanaga in the U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.”

Hason while serving in Japan during WWII. “Obituary for Hason F. Yanaga at Monarch Society,” Monarchsociety.com.

Image of the front and back of the Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal, “The Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal, apa.si.edu.

Hason “Haas” Fujio Yanaga

August 21, 1926 - February 16, 2021

Hason “Haas” Fujio Yanaga was born to Haishburo and Tamano Yanaga both of whom were Japanese immigrants to the United States, on August 21, 1926.[1] Hason, the fifth boy of six that blessed the Yanaga home, grew up on a 160-acre farm near Fort Lupton, Colorado. Along with memories of working tirelessly on the family farm, Hason remembered the unobstructed view the land had of Long’s Peak, one of Colorado’s stunning fourteeners.[2] Hason’s father, Haishburo Yanaga, had come over to the U.S. in 1906 from a small farming village in the Southern Island of Kyushu, Japan as a contract laborer, and was employed by a coal mining company in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Hasishburo worked as a coal miner for 12 years until he made enough money to bring Hason’s mother, Tamano Yanaga, a rice farmer who he had married while still in Japan, over to the U.S. in 1918.[3] After the birth of their first child, Hason’s parents moved to Fort Lupton in the plains region of Colorado to start farming. Growing up as a child of Japanese immigrants in America – also known as a “Nisei” – during the World War II era was no easy feat. Even before the war Japanese immigrants and their descendants faced extreme forms of race-based discrimination in the U.S. Many states, including California and Minnesota, passed Alien Land Laws which made it illegal for immigrants, including those from Japan, to own any agricultural land. This economically paralyzed the U.S. immigrant population in the early 20th century as agriculture was the booming industry in America at the time.[4] Along with this economic racism, Japanese individuals in America were denied naturalization and, in turn, their basic civilian rights and blatant daily racism by fellow Americans. These unnerving conditions rapidly worsened for Japanese immigrants after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared America’s complete involvement in the war and issued Executive Order 9066, which called for the forced internment of Japanese Americans.[5] It is highly likely that Hason’s family experienced all, or at least some, of these forms of anti-Japanese American actions.

Despite these experiences, Hason, following in his two elder brothers’ footsteps, enlisted in the military in 1944.[6] He had just completed his fourth year of high school and was 18 years old when he was eventually drafted into the Army and inducted on November 21, 1944, at Fort Logan in Colorado.[7] When asked about his reasons for joining the armed forces Hason stated “for one thing a lot of my classmates had already joined” and mentioned that he “had two brothers that were already in service.” Hason mentioned that the overall cultural beliefs surrounding the war created a world in which many did not wait to be asked to serve, they just volunteered.[8]

After being drafted, Hason was sent to Fort Hood, Texas, for basic training from January to June of 1945. Assigned to infantry basic training, Hason remembered the rigor of it, thanking his experiences growing up on the family farm for making him “hearty enough to survive basic training.”[9] Eventually, because of his fluency in the Japanese language, Hason was sent to Fort Snelling, Minnesota to attend military intelligence service language school and become a translator. While Hason was quite fluent in the Japanese language, many Nisei servicemen were not. When the U.S. military realized that many second-generation Japanese Americans had not maintained their parent’s fluency in the Japanese language, because they were raised speaking English, they set up the official training school for linguists. Going through training was demanding, as many days included 10 hours of classes, some going past 11:00 p.m..[10]

Luckily, as the war had ended while Hason was in training, the Army had shortened his training cycle, and he was quickly sent to Tokyo, Japan via the USS Marine Lynx in November 1945. Hason does not have many fond memories of his travels to Tokyo, as the waters were so rocky and he and his comrades would have to lie on their backs in lifeboats and look at the sky to keep from getting seasick. After their harrowing journey across the sea, he and 300 other translators arrived in Tokyo. Hason served at General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters as an interpreter for the military intelligence branch of the Army.[11] Hason and other translators were participating in the translation of Japanese documents, aiding in communication between U.S. military and Japanese officials, and possibly interrogating Japanese Prisoners of War.[12] During Hason’s career, one of his assignments was cataloging the small arms weapons at a Japanese Army depot, crating them, and then sending them to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, where they would be researched and evaluated to better understand the Japanese military’s weaponry and technology.[13]

While serving in Tokyo, he had time off, which allowed him to travel throughout Japan. He somberly remembered his travels to Kyushu, Japan during April,1945, as the stark difference between the damage in Tokyo from napalm bombing and the quiet, picturesque streets of Kyushu shocked him. Hason felt very sorry for the people of Japan, as many “had very little to eat” and “rags of clothing to wear.” He clearly remembered how, after the atomic bombs had been dropped, many Japanese citizens “would raid military trash cans for food.” He recalled feeling like he was watching a country on the verge of collapse.[14]

Along with processing the inhumane conditions of Japan, Hason personally struggled during his service in the Pacific as many Japanese individuals did not accept Nisei, seeing them as cultural traitors. Despite this, Hason made efforts to reach out to and meet with his family members that were living in Japan during the war. He was eventually able to meet with both paternal and maternal family members who were still located in southern Kyushu. While he never returned to Japan after the war, he was glad to have met his family members and gain an understanding of his family origins.[15]

After over a year of being stationed in Japan, Hason, who was now a Private First Class, returned to Seattle, Washington, in November 1946 after a 10-day journey on the USS Wheaton Victory. From Seattle, he took a train back to Fort Lupton, Colorado, to reunite with his family, including his two older brothers who had also returned home from service in the 442nd unit of the U.S. Army.[16] Not only was Hason reunited with his family following the war, but he also met his soon-to-be wife, Florence Endo, whom he married on July 2, 1950, in Colorado.[17] Hason and Florence eventually had three daughters – Valerie, Denise, and Naomi.[18] Becoming a family man kept Hason quite busy; however, this did not stop him from furthering his education. During the Second World War, many U.S. leaders and the U.S. Department of Labor recognized that the large portion of American men and women who were serving would not have jobs after the end of the war. Hoping to lower that number and decrease the potential for postwar depression, they designed an Act that would offer federal aid to veterans. The final product was the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, more commonly known as the G.I. Bill, which was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944. The goal of the G.I. Bill was to supply veterans with resources for a smoother transition into civilian life post-service. In order to accomplish this, it focused on providing access to higher education, home ownership, and employment.[19] While the bill was and is still extremely successful in providing many veterans with these services, it was not always providing equal services for all who served. Minority veterans, including veterans of color, female veterans, and veterans of the LGBTQ+ community faced severe discrimination after the end of World War II. Although the bill had been federally funded, it was often locally implemented in communities, which often caused unequal allocation of the funds. Because of this, compared to white veterans, many minority veterans received access to lower-quality higher education and impoverished living environments.[20] Despite this, Hason was able to join the eight million veterans who used the G.I. Bill within the first seven years post-war to attend college and university. Hason studied at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado where he earned his BA and MA in Education. He served as a reading specialist for K5 through 6th grade and supervised the high school reading lab in the Denver Public School System for 32 years.[21] Hason was an impactful teacher whose kindness resonated with students for years to come. One of his former 5th grade students from John Amesse Elementary in Montbello, Colorado fondly remembers Hason’s “gentle calming approach to teaching.”[22]

After retiring from teaching, Hason had a secondary career in security and as a police volunteer, as well as volunteering with the Aurora Human Rights Commission. In his older age, he enjoyed bowling, playing on a senior softball team, playing tennis, and continuing his passion for nature by gardening. Hason also continued honoring his veteran identity as a member of the Denver branch of The American Legion organization, whose purpose is to provide veterans with a supportive community and a way to engage with their local communities.[23] In October 2011, 65 years after Hason had returned from his service in Japan, he, along with 10 other Japanese-American veterans, was awarded the highest civilian honor of the U.S. Congress, the Congressional Gold Medal.[24] The honor is given to those who have displayed long-lasting or major impacts on the history of America and the culture of our country. The circumstances by which Hason earned this medal were even more rare, as a bill was unanimously passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate on August 2, 2010, that stated the award be given to every member of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and Military Intelligence Service, almost all of whom were Nisei.[25]

For another ten years after he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, Hason lived a full life in Colorado with his wife, Florence. Unfortunately, on February 16, 2021, Hason passed away. Hason’s life was full of hardship and adventure, love and indifference, but most importantly, Hason displayed everlasting resilience. His legacy will live on through the countless individuals he impacted and uplifted through his compassion and tolerance. And, hopefully, like his favorite song states, he is enjoying a place where “the cool summer breeze in the evergreen trees softly sings where the columbines grow.”[26]

Footnotes ↓

[1] “Obituary for Hason F. Yanaga at Monarch Society,” Monarchsociety.com, 2021, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.monarchsociety.com/obituary/hason-yanaga.; “Tom T. Yanaga,” Dignity Memorial, 2017, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/kimball-ne/tom-yanaga-7921767.

[2] “Obituary for Hason F. Yanaga at Monarch Society,” Monarchsociety.com.

[3] Audrey Duman et al., “Hason Fujio Yanaga Collection,” The Library of Congress, 2015, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.15668/#item-service_history.

[4] National Park Service, “A Brief History of Japanese American Relocation during World War II (U.S. National Park Service),” Nps.gov, 2016, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.nps.gov/articles/historyinternment.htm.

[5] Brian Niiya, “Japanese Americans in Military during World War II | Densho Encyclopedia,” encyclopedia.densho.org, October 9, 2024, accessed August 22, 2025, https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Japanese_Americans_in_military_during_World_War_II/.; National Archives, “Japanese-American Incarceration during World War II,” National Archives (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, March 22, 2024), accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/japanese-relocation.

[6] Audrey Duman et al., “Hason Fujio Yanaga Collection.”

[7] “Obituary for Hason F. Yanaga at Monarch Society,” Monarchsociety.com; Ancestry, “Hason Yanaga in the U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” Ancestry Library , accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/2238/records/5056966?tid=&pid=&queryId=bec2f9f5-40f4-4d65-80df-0add3caa8852&_phsrc=kvt25&_phstart=successSource&_gl=1.

[8] Audrey Duman et al., “Hason Fujio Yanaga Collection.”

[9] Audrey Duman et al., “Hason Fujio Yanaga Collection.”

[10] “Military Intelligence Service Language School | Densho Encyclopedia,” encyclopedia.densho.org, accessed August 22, 2025, https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Military_Intelligence_Service_Language_School/.

[11] “Obituary for Hason F. Yanaga at Monarch Society,” Monarchsociety.com.

[12] Ruth Quinn, “Allied Translator and Interpreter Section Activated 19 September 1942,” www.army.mil, September 12, 2013, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.army.mil/article/111236/allied_translator_and_interpreter_section_activated_19_september_1942.

[13] Audrey Duman et al., “Hason Fujio Yanaga Collection.”

[14] Audrey Duman et al., “Hason Fujio Yanaga Collection.”

[15] Audrey Duman et al., “Hason Fujio Yanaga Collection.”

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ancestry.com, “Hason Yanoga in the Colorado, U.S., Select County Marriages, 1863-2018,” Ancestry Library, 2025, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/61846/records/2573?tid=&pid=&queryId=81b5fcba-22b4-4cac-ba18-227848402d52&_phsrc=kvt23&_phstart=successSource&_gl=1.

[18] “Obituary for Hason F. Yanaga at Monarch Society,” Monarchsociety.com.

[19] U.S. Department of Defense, “75 Years of the GI Bill: How Transformative It’s Been,” U.S. Department of Defense, January 9, 2019, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/1727086/75-years-of-the-gi-bill-how-transformative-its-been/.; National Archives, “Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944),” National Archives (National Archives, September 22, 2021), accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/servicemens-readjustment-act.

[20] Rachel Horvath, “Not All WWII Veterans Benefited Equally from the GI Bill,” heller.brandeis.edu, November 7, 2023, accessed August 22, 2025, https://heller.brandeis.edu/news/items/releases/2023/impact-report-gi-bill.html.

[21] Audrey Duman et al., “Hason Fujio Yanaga Collection.”

[22] “Hason F. Yanaga,” Legacy.com, February 17, 2021, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.legacy.com/funeral-homes/obituaries/name/hason-yanaga-obituary?pid=197788394&v=batesville&view=guestbook.

[23] “Organization,” The American Legion, 2024, https://www.legion.org/about/organization.; “Obituary for Hason F. Yanaga at Monarch Society,” Monarchsociety.com.

[24] Tina Griego, “Griego: Special Honors for Japanese-American WWII Veterans’ Two-Fronted Battle against Discrimination,” The Denver Post, November 5, 2011, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.denverpost.com/2011/11/05/griego-special-honors-for-japanese-american-wwii-veterans-two-fronted-battle-against-discrimination/.

[25] “The Congressional Gold Medal,” Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal, 2024, accessed August 22, 2025, https://apa.si.edu/cgm/honors/congressional-gold-medal.html.

[26] “Obituary for Hason F. Yanaga at Monarch Society,” Monarchsociety.com.; “Where the Columbines Grow,” State Symbols USA, April 26, 2014, accessed August 22, 2025, https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol/colorado/state-song/where-columbines-grow.