Overview

Roy Hiroshi Matsumoto was an American soldier of World War II. A Nisei, Matsumoto was born in Laguna, California. When he was 8 years old, his parents sent him to live with his grandparents in Hiroshima, Japan. He returned to California nine years later, attending and graduating from Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 1933. He remained in Long Beach when his parents took his brothers and sisters back to Hiroshima. Matsumoto was interned with other Japanese-Americans in the Jerome, Arkansas concentration camp at the beginning of the Second World War. In 1942, he volunteered for the United States Army. He served as a Japanese-language intelligence specialist with Merrill's Marauders in the Burma Campaign during World War II, earning a Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit. Matsumoto remained in the Army for 20 years, retiring after a career in military intelligence as a master sergeant in 1963. At the time of his death he lived with his wife on San Juan Island, Washington.