NVC Foundation Japanese American Memorial Wall

Haruo Kato, from Seattle, was a UW Mines sophomore when the government incarcerated him in 1942 in the Puyallup Assembly Center and then later at the Minidoka WRA camp. During the war he served as a member of the 442nd RCT and returned after it to the UW where he earned his degree in 1948 in Metallurgical Engineering. He married Kei Shigihara on June 13, 1948, in Seattle, WA, and they had two sons and two daughters. He was employed at the Boeing Aircraft Company but he moved to Albany, OR, to work with the U.S. Bureau of Mines for the next twenty-four years. He received a meritorious service award from the U. S. Department of Interior for his work as station Director and Research Coordinator and admitted as a fellow in the American Society for Metals. He was also responsible for the production of the first ductile chromium, which became a material used for cancer treatment implants and made contributions to the evolving technology for fabricating zirconium, a metal essential for atomic submarine reactors. He was member of the American Society of Metallurgical Engineers, American Institute of Metallurgical Engineers, active in the Albany Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce, and the Nisei Veterans Committee. In 1967, he was chosen as the Veteran of the Year of Linn County, OR. Kato was also the head coach for the Oregon State University Judo Club, and a member of United Judo Federation and Sigma XI Fraternigy. Haruo Kato died on September 27, 1973, in Oregon.