Mary matsuda gruenewald biography of martin

American writer (1925–2021)

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald (née Matsuda; January 23, 1925 – February 11, 2021) was an American writer.

She is best known for her autobiographical novelLooking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps, which details her own experiences as a Japanese American in World War IIinternment camps.^[1]

Biography

Early life

Mary Matsuda was born in 1925 in Vashon Island, Washington to Heisuke and Mitsuno (née Horie) Matsuda, Japanese immigrants and farmers.^[2] She and her brother, Yoneichi, grew up in the small community of Vashon Island under idyllic circumstances.

Her family owned a strawberry farm and attended a local Methodist congregation.

Internment experience

Upon learning about the Attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, her family destroyed their Japanese possessions.^[3] In May 1942, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, she and her family