Perhaps some timely lessons can be learned from the harrowing and heroic experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II. In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt ignored the basic tenets of the U.S. Constitution and ordered 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast to 10 military-style camps in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas for the duration of the war.
While these thousands of Japanese Americans were being held against their will in these camps, others were serving their country heroically in the war. About 33,000 Japanese Americans served in World War II - 13,000 of them in the U.S. Army 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, commonly known as the "Go For Broke" regiment. Some enlisted, others were drafted from the camps.
For their size and length of service, the 100th and the 442nd were the most decorated U.S. military units of the war. The Go For Broke combat regiments earned seven Presidential Unit Citations, 21 Medals of Honor, 29 Distinguished Service Crosses, 560 Silver Stars, 22 Legion of Merit Medals, 15 Soldier,s Medals, 4,000 Bronze Stars and over 4,000 Purple Hearts.
Last week, a handful of these veterans, who overcame ridicule and discrimination to serve their country proudly, joined President Obama in the Oval Office, where he signed legislation awarding the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal to members of the 442nd and 100th, as well as the 6,000 Japanese Americans who served in the Military Intelligence Services (MIS) during the war.
"It's a huge honor for me," says Tokuji Yoshihashi, 87, who was sent to an internment camp in Arizona, then drafted out of the camp to join the 100th Infantry Batalion in September 1944. He says he saw heavy fighting in France and along the Gothic Line, the last defense for the Germans in Italy. "The camps weren't too much fun, especially for families. They were set up like an Army barracks with the latrines in the middle," he recalls. "I was treated reasonably well in the military. When I came home, however, even though I had just fought for my country, it was tough to find a job."
The Congressional Gold Medal is Congress, highest civilian honor and requires two-thirds of the House and the Senate to cosponsor the legislation before it can be voted on. The elite medal has been given selectively since 1776, when George Washington was awarded the first, and other honorees include Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Walt Disney and the Dalai Lama.
The legislation, which originated in the House (H.R. 347) and passed last year with nearly 300 cosponsors, was championed by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D- Burbank) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Schiff told the Los Angeles Times, "These are incredible heroes who fought for the United States in World War II when many of them had family members interned."
The movement really began in the late 1980s when Japanese American World War II veterans established the 100th/442nd/MIS WWII Memorial Foundation, now called the Go For Broke National Education Center, to build the Go For Broke Monument. Today the monument, which was unveiled in June 1999 and is located in downtown Los Angeles at Temple and Alameda streets, stands as an eternal tribute to the U.S. Constitution and unwavering patriotism of the segregated Japanese American unit. The Monument, the first of its kind on the mainland U.S., includes more than 16,000 names of Japanese American soldiers and officers who served overseas during World War II.
Yoshihashi, who lives in San Gabriel, still volunteers every Friday at the monument. "It's great to talk to people who visit the monument," he says. "So many Americans still don't know that there were any Japanese Americans fighting for the United States in World War II. They still think we were all in the camps. I'm very proud of my service to my country."
The monument's inscription, written by Ben Tamashiro, also a member of the 100th Infantry Battalion, reads as follows:
