From the Archives I
t’s possible that Grant Hiroaki Henjyoji was the first MAC member of East Asian descent. Born in an internment camp for Japanese Americans in Minidoka, Idaho, in 1943, Henjyoji grew up in Portland after his family’s return to the city following the war. A talented wrestler at Cleveland High School, Henjyoji joined MAC as an athletic member in 1965, and was part of the club’s wrestling team that won the national AAU freestyle title and finished third in Greco-Roman wrestling that year.
70 | The Wınged M |
NOVEMBER 2020
His service in the army took Henjyoji away from Portland and MAC. First Lieutenant Henjyoji was killed in action in Vietnam in 1969 and was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart, among other honors. He was not a member at the time of his death, and no obituary was published in The Winged M, but his remarkable life story, accomplishments and sacrifice for a country that once treated him as an enemy merit recognition and respect. —Luke Sprunger, club archivist
