Hirabayashi Hitch-Hiked To Arizona Camp

The three-month sentence Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi received more than a year ago from United States District Judge Lloyd L. Black, after being convicted of violating Japanese curfew regulations here, was served this fall in a prison camp near Tucson, Ariz.

Hirabayashi, Auburn-born University of Washington senior, who challenged the evacuation of Japanese by going to trial, was compelled to hitch-hike to the camp, according to an article in the weekly publication of evacuees at Heart Mountain, Wyo. The paper reported that Hirabayashi had finished his term December 6 and was discharged to rejoin his family in Idaho.

When his conviction was upheld by the United States Supreme Court last June, Hirabayashi was working in Spokane for the American Friends Service Committee and the War Relocation Authority. He was given a choice between the Spokane County jail and the Arizona camp, and, in choosing the latter was to provide his own transportation, which turned out to be hitch-hiking.

Friends here who received letters from him while he was hitch-hiking the 1,600 miles from Spokane to Tucson, said Hirabayashi had not been expected at the camp and had to tell the authorities who he was. He will continue his work for the committee and War Relocation Authority in Spokane.