FOLSOM, Calif. — A U.S. Army veteran living in Folsom turned 100, Monday.
Shigeru Ochi, 100, who is also referred to by his nickname 'Shig' received a key to the city during his birthday celebration at Oakmont of Folsom, according to a city social media post.
“I don’t remember the details, but I am really happy to receive such an honor,” Ochi told ABC10 Tuesday.
Early life, army and school
Born on Feb. 26, 1924, Ochi was forced into Manzanar internment camp at age 18 due to his Japanese ancestry after the attack on Pearl Harbor, according to Ochi’s eldest son Jim. He was one of 10,000 prisoners.
He was released roughly one month after his 19th birthday on March 25, 1943.
“Shortly after release, he was drafted into the Army by the same government which had unjustly imprisoned him,” Jim said during a speech at his father’s birthday party. “Despite this irony, dad was eager to demonstrate he was a loyal American citizen by serving in the military.”
Ochi completed one year of higher education at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, before he was drafted into the U.S. Army, his son said.
He went to military intelligence school and trained to fight on the front lines. In two years of service, his son said he saw the tail end of World War II and visited Hiroshima, where the Ochi family originated, as part of his service.
Ochi visited after the atomic bomb detonated in August 1945, which is believed to have killed 140,000 in the blast.
“My father gathered up K-rations, which are compact high-protein meals, and other supplies and was able to find his relatives,” Jim said. “Those who survived were suffering from radiation sickness, burns and malnutrition and were very grateful to receive these gifts.”
Ochi went back to Macalester in 1946 and graduated in 1949, according to his son. He took the Graduate Record Exam, which was administered nationally for the first time in spring 1949, scored perfectly in math and got a full ride to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He was also accepted into Harvard, Brown and the University of Michigan. He graduated MIT in 1951.
Jim said when his father reached 40-years-old, he thought about applying to medical school, but he was told he was too old to start a medical education.
“His ultimate dream was to be a medical doctor,” Jim said.
Family life
Jim Ochi said his father was denied the opportunity to go to medical school, but that didn’t stop him and his wife, Virginia, from working to give their four children opportunities they never had.
Jim is the oldest of four children. From oldest to youngest, there is also Wendy, Bob and Steve.
Three of the four children became physicians, the field their father wanted to go in. The fourth child became a teacher.
“They were able to send all four of us to college, and three of us boys to medical school,” Jim said. “They paid for all expenses for a total of 28 years for all four of us. We didn’t have to go into debt one penny for the educations we got.”
When asked what advice the 100-year-old could share with younger people, Shigeru said family is the most important thing to consider, followed closely by community.
"The first thing you have to think about are things that are important to you, your family, how you're going to survive together,” Ochi said. “After that, it's the community. You represent a group of people that are your neighbors…friends and so forth. (You) have to always think about protecting them. So, it's really not about just yourself, but your community as a whole that you're protecting."
His first wife, Virginia, died 27 years ago. Shigeru is currently married to May, a 97-year-old woman in Orange County.
“She’s in independent living and he’s in assisted living,” Jim said. “They speak on the phone a fair amount, and they did FaceTime a lot over this weekend for his birthday.”
They used to be in the same facility, but when Jim decided to move to Folsom to be closer to his own son, the family thought it was in its best interest if Shigeru moved with them; May agreed.
Ochi moved to Folsom in May 2023 at age 99 to be closer to his 34-year-old grandson, who is also in the medical field completing a rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Davis, and his first great-grandchild, Naomi, who is five months old.
“You're still committed to somehow preserve the group, not just your family, but the whole people around you,” Ochi said. “You know that you will survive with them but not without them. You have to always think about what you can do to preserve your community."