by Dan Hirano
When my family was forcibly removed from their Berkeley home in 1942, there were six family members–my two parents, obachan (grandmother), two brothers and my older sister. I was born later, in camp. However, only five of us were transferred from Tanforan to Topaz–one was left behind…intentionally. That was my oldest brother, Ronald, 9 years old at the time. He was totally deaf from birth.
Our brother, Bobby, was a year younger than Ronald and severely hard of hearing. Because of their shared hearing handicaps, the two young boys invented a sign language only they understood. They were inseparable. Ronald was attending the Berkeley California School for the Deaf and Blind when our family was about to be transported to Tanforan. Doubting a concentration camp would support or accommodate a deaf child, my Dad was in a mad scramble.
But he found a Berkeley public school teacher of the deaf. Her name was Dr. Delight Rice. She was a CODA – child of deaf adults. Dr. Rice agreed to be an approved guardian for Ronald during our incarceration. She was also open to taking Bobby; however, my dad declined. Perhaps giving up two of his only sons was too much for his Japanese pride; or maybe my parents thought Bobby was too young to be separated from the family. They may have declined from a sense of enryo–restraint, or hesitating to impose too much. To this day we can only guess.
With an FBI deferment, Ronald remained in Berkeley. He had to carry his deferment card wherever he went, visible at all times.
From the start, under Dr. Rice’s guidance, Ronald‘s entire world grew infinitely. For three years, Dr. Rice, a single woman, cared for him like her own. And Ronald grew immensely from her dedication to his upbringing. Seventy-five years later, Ronald spearheaded and almost single-handedly funded a successful international drive to erect a statue for Delight Rice, who previously had founded the Philippine School for the Deaf in 1907. There she is fondly referred to as Mother Delight Rice and Tia Mia. The statue sits proudly at the school today in Manila, Philippines.
This photo was taken when Dr. Rice brought Ronald to Topaz on a rare visit to his imprisoned family. Dr. Rice is holding me, Ronald is on her right. My mother holds my younger sister, Carol Aiko. To my mother’s right is my older sister, Janet Inako, and to her left is my second oldest brother, Bobby.
In honor of Dr. Rice, my parents named my youngest brother Gordon Rice Hirano. To those unknowing, the middle name raises questions. Did we like gohan (rice) that much? But to those who snicker, I caution that he could have been named Gordon Delight instead.
About the contributor: Dan Hirano’s family was “relocated” from Berkeley to Tanforan, then Topaz, UT, where Dan was born in 1942. The Hiranos were one of the last families to leave Topaz in 1945 and settled in San Francisco’s Japantown, where they lived until moving to Berkeley in 1951. Dan received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon and practiced as an architect until retirement. He has been happily married to Colleen Chun for 50 years.
Copyright 2025 by Dan Hirano. All rights reserved.