Go For Broke (www.goforbroke.org):
World War II Japanese American veterans
Japanese American Veterans Association at www.javadc.org
2/22/09 San Francisco Examiner: "Filipino veterans see justice in stimulus
bill,"
by Katie Worth
Redwood City
– Alfredo Carino looked young for his nearly
18 years, so when he joined the U.S. Army on New Years Day of 1943, he was
picked out to be a spy.
Each day, he’d take eggs, fruit and vegetables to the
garrison the Japanese military had recently established in his town, a seaside
province of the
Philippines
, and sell them to soldiers, all the while carefully observing how much
equipment was flowing through the garrison, how many soldiers, how many bodies.
Later, he was armed with a gun and fought those Japanese soldiers, side by side
with American troops.
Carino said he and his comrades “fought hard for the U.S.
Army” and that he was proud of his
service, which is why years later, when he learned the U.S. Congress had passed
an act denying veterans’ benefits to the Filipinos who had fought for the U.S.
Army during World War II, he was shocked.
“I just felt so,” said Carino, pausing as he struggled to
find the right word, “disgusted.”
Last week, some of
that injustice felt so deeply by Carino — now a
Redwood City
resident — on behalf of the 450,000 Filipinos who had fought in that war was
finally acknowledged — at least in part — by the federal government.
The economic stimulus package signed by President Barack
Obama on Tuesday included a program to provide every Filipino who fought for the
U.S.
during World War II with a lump-sum grant, in exchange for those veterans
dropping any further pursuit of compensation or benefits.
Many of those still living — including Carino — have
mixed feelings about the provision passed into law in the stimulus package. As
the law is written, Filipinos living in the
U.S.
will receive a payoff of $15,000, while veterans in the
Philippines
will receive $9,000. The families of the soldiers that have already died will
receive nothing.
Loreto Dimaandal, whose father was a World War II veteran,
said she promised her father before he died that she’d keep fighting for the
money that he felt should go to his widow. She said she saw the deal as a
partial victory.
The $15,000 is just over one year’s pension for service in
the U.S. Army; and the provision included a stipulation that those that accept
the lump sum can no longer pursue further benefits from the government.
Carino said he plans to accept the funding, even though he
felt the payoff did not restore dignity to his service.
12/6/08 Associated Press: “Rumsfeld nemesis Shinseki to be named VA
secretary,”
by Hope Yen
Washington
– President-elect Barack Obama has chosen retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to be
the next Veterans Affairs secretary, turning to a former Army chief of staff
once vilified by the Bush administration for questioning its
Iraq
war strategy.
Obama will announce the selection of Shinseki, the first Army
four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry, at a news conference Sunday in
Chicago. He will be the first Asian-American to hold the post of Veterans
Affairs secretary, adding to the growing diversity of Obama's Cabinet.
"I think that General Shinseki is exactly the right
person who is going to be able to make sure that we honor our troops when they
come home," Obama said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the
Press" to be broadcast Sunday.
NBC released a transcript of the interview after The
Associated Press reported that Shinseki was Obama's pick.
Shinseki's tenure as Army chief of staff from 1999 to 2003
was marked by constant tensions with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, which
boiled over in 2003 when Shinseki testified to Congress that it might take
several hundred thousand
U.S.
troops to control
Iraq after the invasion.
Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, belittled the
estimate as "wildly off the mark" and the army general was ousted
within months. But Shinseki's words proved prophetic after President George W.
Bush in early 2007 announced a "surge" of additional troops to
Iraq
after miscalculating the numbers needed to stem sectarian violence.
Obama said he selected Shinseki for the VA post because he
"was right" in predicting that the
U.S.
will need more troops in
Iraq
than Rumsfeld believed at the time.
"When I reflect on the sacrifices that have been made by
our veterans and I think about how so many veterans around the country are
struggling even more than those who have not served — higher unemployment
rates, higher homeless rates, higher substance abuse rates, medical care that is
inadequate — it breaks my heart," Obama told NBC.
Shinseki, 66, is slated to take the helm of the government's
second largest agency, which has been roundly criticized during the Bush
administration for underestimating the amount of funding needed to treat
thousands of injured veterans returning from
Iraq
and
Afghanistan.
Thousands of veterans currently endure six-month waits for
disability benefits, despite promises by current VA Secretary James Peake and
his predecessor, Jim Nicholson, to reduce delays. The department also is
scrambling to upgrade government technology systems before new legislation
providing for millions of dollars in new GI benefits takes effect
next August.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee, praised Shinseki as a "great choice" who will make an
excellent VA secretary.
"I have great respect for General Shinseki's judgment
and abilities," said Akaka, D-Hawaii, in a statement. "I am confident
that he will use his wisdom and experience to ensure that our veterans receive
the respect and care they have earned in defense of our nation. President-elect
Obama is selecting a team that reflects our nation's greatest strength,
its diversity, and I applaud him."
Obama's choice of Shinseki, who grew up in
Hawaii, is the latest indication that the president-elect is making good on his
pledge to have a diverse Cabinet.
In Obama's eight Cabinet announcements so far, white men are
the minority with two nominations — Timothy Geithner at Treasury and Robert
Gates at Defense. Three are women — Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security,
Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador and Hillary Rodham Clinton at State.
Eric Holder at the Justice Department is African American, while Bill Richardson
at Commerce is Latino.
Shinseki is a recipient of two Purple Hearts for
life-threatening injuries in
Vietnam.
Upon leaving his post in June 2003, Shinseki in his farewell
speech sternly warned against arrogance in leadership.
"You must love those you lead before you can be an
effective leader," he said. "You can certainly command without that
sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it. And without leadership,
command is a hollow experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and
arrogance."
Shinseki also left with the warning: "Beware a
12-division strategy for a 10-division army."
7/30/08: “House passes resolution honoring
the contributions of AAPI soldiers during the U.S. Civil War”
Washington
,
DC
- The
U.S.
House of Representatives today
passed a resolution honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander soldiers who
fought in the U.S. Civil War, culminating a five-year battle by Rep. Mike Honda
(D-CA) to help correct the historical record.
U.S.
Citizens. Honda said this resolution was the least that could be done to honor
their memory.
7/18/08 Dallas Morning News: “For Texans in 'Lost Battalion,' real heroes were
Japanese-American,”
by David McLemore
After more than 60 years, they remember the cold rain and the
ferocity of combat in a fog-shrouded forest straight out of a fairy tale. Most
of all, they remember the shared joy of survival.
In October 1944, 270 soldiers of a battalion of the 36th
Division of the Texas National Guard were trapped by a much larger German force
in the
Vosges
Mountains
of
France
. Desperately low on food, water and ammunition, the Texans resisted for six
days. On the seventh day, help came from an unexpected source.
Members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed of
Japanese-Americans, many whose families remained locked up in relocation camps
in California, fought a grinding battle inch by inch up the mountains to reach
the "Lost Battalion." They did so at a terrible price, suffering as
many casualties in the relief effort as they saved.
Today and Saturday, the
Texas
Military
Forces
Museum
at
Camp
Mabry
in
Austin
will exhibit newly found artifacts and hear talks by veterans of the battle. It
is a reminder, said museum director Jeff Hunt, of how bravery and dedication to
duty triumphed over intolerance on a cold, miserable battlefield 64 years
ago.
"It is a story of courage, dedication and
sacrifice," Mr. Hunt said. "It shows that for soldiers in combat, skin
color, religion or ethnicity doesn't matter. Whatever residual animosity some
may have held against Japanese-Americans was wiped away by the 442nd's
performance on the battlefield."
In late 1944, the 36th Division spearheaded a drive through
the forests of the
Vosges
as part of a planned strike into the German Rhineland. The 1st Battalion, 141st
Infantry – the Alamo Battalion – was at the spear's tip.
The battalion's push eastward toward
Colmar
was supposed to be fast and well-supported. It wasn't. When a much larger
German force encircled them Oct. 24, the Texans had food and ammunition for only
a few days. The only water they carried was in their canteens.
1st Lt. Martin Higgins took command, ordering his 270
soldiers to dig in and prepare to fight.
"Dad had been an accountant before the war and was an
intensely modest man," said his son, Michael Higgins. "He suddenly
found himself part of something that is the stuff legends are made
of."
Spit and spirit
Erwin Blonder, then a young lieutenant serving as a forward
observer, remembers that the Germans began firing tree bursts – artillery
shells set to detonate in the treetops that sent steel shrapnel and needle-sharp
wood fragments down on the Texans, sounding like so many angry bees.
"We dug in and then we dug some more, covering our holes
with tree branches," he said. "At 6 feet, 4 inches, I had to dig a lot
longer than most."
Lt. Blonder had the only working radio in the battalion. Its
batteries normally lasted two days in combat. He made them last six days as he
sent out cryptic messages for help and to coordinate targets for headquarters
artillery.
"It was a matter of prayer and an old Boy Scout
trick," said Mr. Blonder, 87, of
Palm Beach Garden
,
Fla.
"I remembered that if you spit on the batteries, you could get a little
more electrical charge."
Each day, the Lost Battalion underwent probing infantry
attacks and more artillery shelling. Lt. Blonder's messages were brief: Send
food. Send ammo. Send help.
"We had no idea what would happen," he said.
"We were told help was coming. So we kept waiting."
The Army attempted to send them food and supplies packed into
dummy artillery shells and fired into their position. Those that made it into
their lines contained chocolate bars.
The 405th Fighter Squadron got the mission of attempting
supplies by air. 1st Lt. Eziel "Arch" Archilla and other P-47
Thunderbolt pilots would have to fly through bad weather and drop spare fuel
tanks filled with food, ammo and medicine to the beleaguered Texans.
"The weather was foul. We had to find them through the
fog and trees, then dive-bomb the supplies at low altitude under intense German
fire," said Mr. Archilla, 84, of
Dallas
.
"We were thrilled to be the squadron to do the
job," he said. "We were all in our 20s and didn't think much about the
danger. That kept us going."
Two attempts to reach the besieged Texans failed. The 36th
Division commander then ordered the 442nd Regimental Combat Team to try.
'The heroes of this story'
The Japanese-American unit had already experienced a hard
war. Some were kicked out of the Army after
Pearl Harbor
as security risks. Many others were moved with their families to
U.S.
relocation camps.
When the Army accepted volunteers for a 4,000-member
regiment, about 1,500 volunteered from the camps. The 442nd fought in some of
the hardest combat during the invasion of
Italy
and had just come off months of combat when ordered to rescue the Texans.
On Oct. 25, 1944, the 442nd set off in a cold rain,
encountering fierce German resistance all the way. German artillery rained down
constantly, and the 442nd suffered heavy casualties.
Kenneth Inada, 85, remembers as a young sergeant the
intensity of the combat.
"We fought from tree to tree. It was really hell.
Afterwards, you'd just shake, wondering when it would end," he said.
"But in war, you take care of the guy next to you. We couldn't leave the
Texans behind."
On Oct. 30, the exhausted 442nd broke through to the Lost
Battalion. Pvt. Matsuji Sakumoto approached the stunned Texans and asked,
"Do you guys need any cigarettes?" The Japanese-Americans were
suddenly swamped by dirty, bearded GIs who hugged them and shook their
hands.
Lt. Blonder sent one last message to headquarters:
"Patrol from 442 here. Tell them we love them!"
"I can't describe the feeling," Mr. Blonder said.
"We owed them our lives. As bad as we had it, we didn't suffer like those
guys. They're the heroes of this story."
'The price we paid'
Terry Shima, 85, a veteran of the 442nd and executive
director of the JapaneseAmerican Veterans Association, recalled the prejudice
and distrust the unit encountered.
"You'd think we'd be bitter," Mr. Shima said.
"But we did it because we were soldiers and because we wanted to prove
loyalty to a government that had disowned us."
In the five days of the rescue effort, the 442nd had 54
soldiers killed and 156 wounded. One company was reduced to 17 men, while
another had only eight still standing. "That was the price we paid,"
Mr. Shima said.
The 36th had three killed and 66 wounded.
For the 442nd, there was a reward, too. The rescue helped
change attitudes about Japanese-Americans.
"That one battle showed that Japanese-Americans were
simply American soldiers, beyond bigotry and suspicion," Mr. Shima said.
"It helped level the playing field for future generations."
After the war, 442nd veterans asked Martin Higgins to help
obtain citizenship for their parents who had been detained. He did, lobbying
Congress successfully.
"Dad never forgot the men who helped save his life and
the men of his command," Michael Higgins said. "All his life, he
cherished them."
When Martin Higgins died last year at age 91, he was buried
in
Arlington
National
Cemetery
with full honors. The floral tribute at his grave was bright crimson Hawaiian
anthuriums from the 442nd veterans.
5/28/08 AsianWeek.com: "FilVets House Vote Postponed,"
By: Rodel Rodis
It was an emotional roller coaster ride for Filipino World War II
veterans this past week as they rode high hopes that the House version of S.1315 - which incorporated the Filipino veterans’ equity bill
approved by the US Senate - would come for a floor vote in the House on May 21. The timing would have been perfect coming the week just
before Memorial Day when Americans traditionally remember and honor veterans.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan, they were told, was to present the
House version of S.1315 for a floor vote under a Suspension of the Rules call which requires 290 House votes (two-thirds of 435 members)
to get the bill considered without killer amendments that would only delay if not defeat the bill. This would also ensure that the bill
would be veto-proof.
As the veterans huddled in the halls of the Capitol anxiously waiting for the vote, they heard the news from Pelosi’s office that there
would be no vote on the veterans’ bill that day. The veterans wondered what could have caused the vote to be postponed.
Was Speaker Pelosi worried that there were not enough Republicans
willing to support the bill? Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Ben Gilman, the former Republican chair of the House International Relations
Committee and currently a Philippine government lobbyist for the bill, had assured Pelosi that there were 74 House Republicans who would vote
for the bill. The American Coalition for Filipino Veterans confirmed
earlier the solid commitment of 27 Republicans.
Was Speaker Pelosi worried that she and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
(D-Maryland) did not have all 230 House Democrats in lock step behind the bill especially among the 51 member conservative Blue Dog Caucus
whose members have echoed Republican concerns about “giving money to foreigners”?
Just the day before on May 20, Speaker Pelosi had addressed Democratic
House members to firm up support for the bill, telling them “I’m very committed to it because it is the right thing to do and we do not want
any more time to pass by.”
But was there another reason for the delay perhaps?
Could a letter from San Francisco Veterans Affairs Commissioner
Regalado Baldonado to Speaker Pelosi denouncing S.1315 have played a role in the vote delay?
The Baldonado letter urged the introduction of a House companion bill
that would provide “full recognition and benefits to Filipino WW II veterans residing in and outside the United States.” It declared S.
1315 to be ”woefully insufficient” as it would provide the 14,000 Filvets in the Philippines with $300 a month pension while the 6,000
Filvets in the US would be entitled to $900 a month.
“We cannot waiver in our position or tolerate any deviation from equal treatment for all of our Filipino WW II veterans,” the Baldonado
letter asserted.
Speculation about the role of the Baldonado letter in postponing the
vote caused a number of veterans in Washington DC to call fellow WW II veteran Baldonado in San Francisco and to ask him about his letter.
The DC veterans pointed out to Baldonado that the Veterans Federation
of the Philippines, which represents the 14,000 vets in the Philippines, fully backs S.1315, which would provide $375 a month
pension to Philippine based veterans who have dependents, $300 a month to those without
dependents and $200 a month to their widows.
Baldonado explained to his comrades that he did not write the letter,
that it was prepared for him to sign by leaders of the Filipino Veterans Equity Center in San Francisco and by an activist group
called Students Action for Veterans Equity. He said he did not know that Rep. Filner had abandoned his HR 760 in favor of S.1315.
Delfin Lorenzana, head of the Veterans Affairs Office of the
Philippine Embassy in Washington, was among those who spoke with Baldonado. “The danger here is that if his letter has been widely
circulated,” he told the other veterans, “it may have influenced the decision of Pelosi to postpone the vote on S.1315 yesterday, despite
the fact that there are more than enough Republican support, because of the conflicting signals she is getting from the Fil-Am community
especially in her home district.”
As the veterans were gathered in Washington DC to ponder the fate of
the veterans’ bill, on May 21 over 100 community leaders in San Francisco gathered at the Philippine Consulate to hear former
President Fidel V. Ramos urge the community to support S.1315 as the best chance to get
the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill to pass the US Congress.
In the Open Forum that followed his speech that was moderated by Ben
Menor, attorney Lourdes Tancinco, chair of the Veterans Equity Center, informed Ramos that her group did not support S.1315 because it did
not cover all the veterans and at the level they should be entitled to.
Ramos replied that we cannot get everything we want from the US
Congress, not even Pres. George W. Bush can do that, and that we have to be realistic about what is possible and take what we can get. He
said we should build on the momentum of 96-1 vote in the US Senate for S.1315 to get a House version passed.
But Jaymee Sagisi of the Students Action for Veterans Equity voiced
her disagreement with Ramos’ position, asking him “How can you advocate that Filipino veterans in the Philippines should receive only
one third of what US veterans get?”
Ramos reiterated his position that we have to be realistic about what can be expected from the US
Congress.
“Filipino veterans in the Philippines getting $300 a month, and
another $200 a month in widows’ benefits, that realistically will happen under S. 1315 is better than a $900 a month dream that will
never come,” commented veteran Lucio Dimaano.
In the discussions that occurred among members of the audience, it was
explained that Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), the principal sponsor of the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill in the Senate, recognized that the
Filvets bill could not pass if it went out on its own, as the anti-immigrant sentiment in the Republican Party was too strong. The
only chance of passage was to fold it into an omnibus Veterans’ Benefits Enhancement Bill which would affect several veterans
programs, including disability compensation, housing, pension, burial, life insurance, and readjustment benefits.
Akaka’s advocacy for the Filvets stand alone bill was met with
vociferous opposition from Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), Sen. Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) and Sen. David Vitter (R-Alabama). They
opposed offering benefits to non-US citizen veterans who, Craig said, ”are taking money away from our veterans. That is the ‘Robin Hood in
reverse’ effect. At least Robin Hood, when he took money, left it in Nottingham. He spread it out amongst his own. Here we are taking money
from our own and sending it all the way to the Philippines.”
Filipino veterans expressed concern that if Baldonado and his group
succeed in stalling passage of the veterans’ benefits enhancement bill, the other non-Filipino veterans groups may likely junk the
Filipino veterans equity provision in the bill and move on with their omnibus bill.
Filipino veterans groups are hoping that the Filipino community,
including Commissioner Baldonado, will unite to support passage of the House version of S.1315 if and when it comes for a vote probably on June 3.
Members of the Filipino community are urged to email Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and their representatives in Congress to express support for S.1315 by logging on to the website: www.house.gov.
5/24/08 Northwest Asian Weekly: “‘The Battle for Hearts and Minds’ goes on
for Asian American veterans,”
By Ann-Marie Stillion
Tony Chan’s DVD collection of four related documentaries
concentrates on personal stories to tell the tale of war and the impact of
racism.
“Asians in the West” begins with Don Lau, who served as
an army journalist, turns to the combat experiences of Cole Lew, and ends with
the story of combat nurse Lily Lee Adams, who returned to the
U.S.
to become a veterans advocate.
Although not explicitly stated in the work itself, all three
have struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s not clear how the
interviewees were chosen for the story, but it is clear that each one
experienced not only the battles in war, but the racism of fellow soldiers and
the system they found themselves in, along with a lack of understanding from
their peers at home and in everyday life. In the end, whether due to lack of
services or an indifferent society, each was forced to come to terms with the
demons left behind.
In training, Lau was used as a stand-in for the enemy,
dressed in a coulee hat and pajamas because he was Asian American. Authorities,
attempting to train soldiers unfamiliar with Asians, pointed to him and said,
“This is what the enemy looks like.”
Now, decades later, Lau — who was nominated for a Pulitzer
for his photography of Patty Hearst while working for the
San Francisco
Examiner — twists in his chair as if restrained by an invisible tether as he
speaks. “If I ever see that guy again — ” his voice trails off.
Lau describes the terror of walking the streets with the
constant threat of being detained as the enemy or worse. In the interview, the
decades-old pain is palpable.
Lau says that even though he was a journalist, the intensity
of his memories have remained despite the fact that he did not fight.
In another interview, Lew, who eventually received his
doctorate from the
University
of
Hawaii
, talks about the value for him of being close to other soldiers. He says he
went into the army to find out who he was.
“If you talk to
Vietnam
veterans, this was the first time they ever became close, you talk about
intimacy, having friends you could call buddies in a short period of time … it
was beautiful in that way, it was nice … now in civilian life, nobody is that
close anymore.”
Along with the others, he relived war memories for a long
time, refusing to sit with his back to the door, suddenly believing that the
enemy was nearby. Trained as a psychologist and working with vets now, he says
that many Asian Americans don’t even know they have PTSD.
Issues of shame complicated their seeking help. They had to
face the possibility of shaming the family, and at the same time, getting help
from the Veterans Administration was inadequate as Asian Americans were
frequently not viewed as Americans, Cole says. “What are you doing here?”
some administrators said.
Producer/director Tony Chan, who also teaches at the
University of
Washington
, began the series with “American Nurse” in
1992 and finished that last one, “Lily Goes Home”, in 2007.
The two other stories, “Sweet Heat,” 1998, and “The
Insanity of It All,” 2002, cover the interviews with Lau and Lew.
For
Adams
, nursing was one of the logical choices of a career for women in that era.
Inspired by Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you” speech,
she decided to serve in
Vietnam
.
The young combat nurse came to hate what she was doing in
Vietnam
. “When I first saw war injuries, I couldn’t move,” she recalls.
Stationed in the southern part of
Vietnam
near the border of
Cambodia
, she gradually came to see the face of racism in the war, that the people
America
was fighting were her cousins.
“Although most of our lives, we were told that we were
inferior to men, by the time we hit
Vietnam
, we had realized that we were very strong emotionally,” Lee said.
Produced independently on a shoestring budget, these spare
DVDs with nothing more than gunfire at times for a sound track are full of human
treasure, of lives examined in the light of personal insight and history.
What rings true are the sounds, sights and smells of an era,
and the shape of the lives left behind in the wake of the war.
“American Nurse” aired on KCTS Seattle in 1993 and
received an award at the
Hiroshima
Film Festival on Peace. “American Nurse” and “Sweet Heat” were screened
at the Vietnamese Film Festival in
Toronto
.
Documentaries are available separately from distributors
Video Out, www.videoout.ca, and Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre,
www.cfmdc.org.
2/22/08 Asia Times Online:
"Speaking Freely: Asian American soldiers of conscience,"
by Gina Hotta
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing.
When Major General Antonio Taguba steps on-stage, his shoulders are pulled back and he stands straight while addressing the audience at the University of California, Berkeley. He smiles at the warm reception he receives at a university known for being at the center of anti-war and left-wing students movements. A man in the audience holds up a sign saying "Mabuhay General", expressing a warm welcome in Tagalog, a language of the Philippines. It also reflects the pride that Filipinos in America feel
when they see this man - the son of immigrants to Hawaii, whose father was a survivor of the Bataan Death March - talk about his investigation that revealed systematic abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
"Torture is un-lawful", are the first words of his keynote address, part of the "War on Terror" lecture series presented by the Human Rights Center at Berkeley. In 2004 Taguba was lead investigator into conditions at the US military's Abu Ghraib facility in Iraq. His highly critical report was publicized throughout the world. The 6,000-page report gave evidence of torture, prisoner abuse, and a failure of leadership and responsibility at the highest levels of authority. The report was hailed as a thorough investigation completed in only 30 days. But in January 2006, Taguba received a phone call from the Army's Vice-Chief of Staff who offered no reason but said, "I need you to retire by January of 2007." This Taguba did after 34 years of active duty.
The war in Iraq has thrust American soldiers of Asian ancestry into the limelight as no other US conflict has ever done before. Aside from their Asian heritage there is yet another tie that these men have. It reflects another on-going battle - one that is being fought in the halls of Congress and in countless debates throughout the world. Asian American soldiers have found themselves front and center in these fights over the use of torture, questions of wartime ethics and conduct and even over the legality of the Iraq war itself.
In my interviews with war resistor First Lieutenant Ehren Watada; James Yee, the former captain and Muslim chaplin at Guantanamo Bay Prison; and Taguba, they all remain strong believers in the US constitution, its principals and the ability of the US military to protect them. Despite the different ways they acted on their beliefs and despite differing opinions, what remains is their commitment to a firm set of ideals and their willingness to pay a price for it.
I asked Taguba if he felt that the immigrant experience had something to do with their stance that put them in the line of fire. His response was that it was more a matter of taking responsibility and of giving leadership when called to duty as any American should do. Yet Taguba's parents and their experience during World War II are the sources of his greatest inspiration. His father is a survivor of the Bataan Death March and fought Japan's occupation of the Philippines. His mother helped prisoners at a Japanese POW camp in Manila. Taguba still remembers his mother's stories about the atrocities committed in the prison.
However, the road has not been easy for his family. It was only through Tagubas efforts that his father finally received recognition for his heroic efforts during the war. Taguba also cites instances of
discrimination: of being refused service in a restaurant and - although he holds three masters degrees - being accused of not speaking English well.
Yet his response was to double his efforts and to leave bitterness behind, his integrity intact. Watada and Yee also speak with pride about their service in the military. Both have fathers who were in the service and cite their families as a source of strength. Like Taguba, a sense of dignity and of duty towards a just cause still infuse their words, even though their beliefs took them on a path contrary to the prevailing norm.
Yee wanted to improve conditions at Guantanamo Bay through providing religious guidance and education about Islam. However, when rumors of spying at the prison arose, Yee was charged with espionage, the most serious of several charges. He was arrested, hooded, shackled and subjected to sensory deprivation; the same kind of treatment that prisoners at Guantanamo received. Throughout his ordeal, Yee's wife was questioned and his character was smeared. Even after all major charges were dropped and the others reduced to mishandling classified information, Yee remained under FBI surveillance.
Watada's refusal to deploy to Iraq underscored the Bush administration's determination to go to war, with Truth being its first casualty. Watada argues that the President misled the public and that the reasons for going to war were based on false premises. Watada states that he will not fight an illegal war. He now faces a possible court martial.
The stand Watada took remains a source of controversy.
Yet support for him is strong, with a group of Asian Americans supporters driving several hundred miles to his trials in Washington State. Support for Yee first came from Muslim Americans. But as events surrounding his case were revealed, Chinese and Asian Americans rallied to his cause.
I compare this situation to that of the war in Southeast Asia. When I documented stories of Asian American Vietnam Veterans, I was told of an Asian American soldier being signaled out by a squad leader.
He then told the squad, "This is what the enemy looks like." The contributions of these Asian Americans in the armed forces were no less than those of Asian American soldiers today. But too often racial stereotyping and derogatory attitudes reserved for the Vietnamese were also pointed at Asian Americans. The sense of isolation, the mental and emotional scars inflicted upon these men and women remained apparent years after returning to civilian life.
When I ask Taguba about the role of de-humanizing the enemy, his pace slows and his voice seems to loses its brightness. "It's about usurping your power over somebody who's desperate. It has been a part of how we handle prisoners. But it doesnt have to lead to torture or inhumane treatment."
Minorities in the US military bear a double duty: one to serve their country and one to prove to the very same country that they are equal human beings. This contradiction and its pressures are hard to bear without supportive networks and methods of dealing with racial discrimination. But over the years, Asian Americans have distinguished themselves in the armed service, have nurtured organizations and role models as well as developed broad networks of political and social support beyond what existed during the war in Southeast Asia. Perhaps all these factors contributed to the present phenomenon of Asian American soldiers with high profiles in issues of war, the US constitution and human rights. (Although all would have preferred to remain out of the spotlight.)
Other Americans have asked me if Asian Americans have a dual loyalty: one to their Asian ancestral home and one to their American home. An underlying question is:
does this pose a danger to the US if they serve in its military? One only has to look at people like Taguba, Watada and Yee to find answers. Yet, these soldiers do not subscribe to a blind loyalty or patriotism. In his opening remarks, Taguba says he saw the importance of the Free Speech Movement and the struggles of minority students for a better education. Rather, these men are informed by beliefs tested by obstacles that they and their families had to overcome and by the sacrifices of those who took a stand for justice and equality.
These soldiers of Asian ancestry do not have to take on double duty. And yet many do. It's as if it comes with the uniform, with their heritage. And it is not a light burden to bear.
Gina Hotta is a radio producer and writer with a focus on the Asian Pacific Islander Diaspora. She has won awards such as from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Asian American Journalist Association. She also works on CBS radio's Science Today.
(Copyright 2008, Gina Hotta)
1/22/08 Asian Week: "Nisei Veterans Postage Stamp Campaign Gains Momentum,"
by Lisa Wong Macabasco
Postal Service committee meets next week to consider proposed stamp honoring World War II Japanese American vets
The U.S. Postal Service Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee will meet on Jan. 24 and 25 to formally consider a proposal to honor American World War II servicemen and women of Japanese heritage with a commemorative postage stamp.
President Truman said it best Nisei soldiers fought prejudice at home and on the battlefield, and won,
Sen. Daniel K. Akaka said. A stamp in their honor would be a fitting tribute to these uniquely American heroes.
Started four years ago as a grassroots project supported by the Japanese American Veterans Association, the postage stamp campaign hopes to honor the estimated 25,000 Japanese Americans who served in the U.S. armed forces overseas and at home, including the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, whose courage under fire distinguished them as one of the most highly decorated units in U.S.
military history.
Other Japanese American soldiers joined the Military Intelligence Service, the U.S. Army Womens Army Corps and Nurse Corps, or became gunners in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Many of these soldiers were Nisei, or American-born sons and daughters of Japanese immigrants, who faced discrimination and internment during the 1940s following Japans attack on Pearl Harbor.
Wayne Osako, the chair/coordinator of the California-based campaign, said these veterans are now in their 80s and 90s, and the campaign aims to get the stamp approved while they are still living and have it be released by 2010.
A declining number of Japanese American World War II veterans are alive today, including Don Seki, who lost an arm in the campaign to save the 1st Battalion, 141st Regiment, 36th (Texas) Infantry Division, which was trapped and appeared doomed for annihilation by German forces in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France in 1944. Seki said the postage stamp would convey the message of how the Nisei fought the enemy abroad and battled prejudice on the home front.
A commemorative Nisei postage stamp will signify Japanese Americans commitment to preserve freedom,
said Grant Hirabayashi, a resident of Silver Spring, Md., Ranger Hall of Fame inductee and member of the famed Merrills Marauders, who fought behind enemy lines in Burma.
Commemorative postage stamps have previously been issued to other minority veterans. In 1984, a stamp was issued honoring Hispanic American veterans, and a decade later, the 92nd Infantry Division, a segregated unit of African American soldiers who fought in World Wars I and II, was also recognized with a postage stamp. A proposal to issue a stamp commemorating the Tuskegee Airmen is currently under consideration by the Postal Service as well.
Fictional characters have their own stamps, so Japanese American veterans certainly deserve them as well, said Hawaii state Rep. John Mizuno, D-Alewa Heights-Kalihi. We already have a stamp of Yoda, a character in Star Wars. I dont think its too far-fetched to honor our Nisei veterans, said Mizuno, the son of a World War II Nisei veteran.
The Nisei veterans stamp proposal is just one of tens of thousands of requests the Postal Service receives each year. The Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, comprised of 15 appointed individuals, meets four times a year and can either reject the proposal or keep it under consideration. Each year the committee recommends about 25 commemorative stamp selections to the postmaster general that are both interesting and educational.
The California-based campaign has so far collected more than 10,000 written petitions and more than 7,000 signatures online, in addition to letters of support from members of Congress, veterans and civic organizations, and resolutions from city legislatures.
The state legislatures of Hawaii, California and Illinois will soon be considering resolutions of support this winter. A congressional letter of support for the stamp is currently circulating in Congress, and 26 members have signed on.
Resolutions supporting a Nisei stamp will be introduced in both the Hawaii Senate and House. We believe they deserve their rightful place in history,
Lt. Gov. James Duke Aiona said. You question why they even did what they did. I believe it was purely out of honor and commitment to our country.Stamps recognize the highlights of our American story, said Hawaii state Sen. Les Ihara, D-Kahala-Palolo.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
To support the campaign, visit niseistamp.org, call (714) 534-5139 or e-mail
info "at" niseistamp.org.
Letters of support and petitions may be sent to: Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, USPS Stamp Development,
1735 North Lynn St., Suite 5013, Arlington, VA 22209-6432.
Please send a copy to: JACL Headquarters, ATTN: Nisei Stamp Campaign, 1765 Sutter St., San Francisco, CA 94115
12/21/07
Los Angeles Times: A stamp of approval for Japanese American veterans?
Supporters press for a postal honor for more than 30,000 who volunteered
during WWII despite family and friends' internment.
By Teresa Watanabe
Months after
Japan
attacked the
United States
at Pearl Harbor, the
U.S.
government imprisoned Robert Ichikawa behind barbed wire in a desolate World
War II internment camp. But the
Torrance
resident volunteered for the
U.S.
military anyway. He wanted, he said, to prove his loyalty to his American
homeland over his ancestral
land
of
Japan
.
More than 30,000 Nisei, or second-generation Japanese
Americans, did likewise by volunteering for military service during World War
II. Many of them joined the mostly-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team and 100th
Infantry Battalion, whose valor under fire made it among the most highly
decorated units in
U.S.
military history.
Others joined the Military Intelligence Service as
interrogators, translators and interpreters, crucial roles credited with
shortening the war by as many as two years. About 300 Nisei women served in the
Women's Army Corps and Cadet Nurses Corp.
Now, as Japanese American World War II veterans rapidly
dwindle in number -- most are in their 80s -- their supporters are pushing for a
commemorative postage stamp in their honor.
And they have attracted support from an unexpected quarter:
the Jewish community.
At a
Los Angeles
news conference Thursday, the
Simon
Wiesenthal
Center
and
Museum
of
Tolerance
pledged support for the campaign and called on the U.S. Postal Service to
approve the proposal when its commemorative-stamp review committee meets next
month.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper said his
Wiesenthal
Center
has had a long relationship with the Nisei veterans, stemming from an initial
friendship with one of them, the late Clarence Matsumura, who helped liberate
Holocaust survivors from the
Dachau
concentration camp.
Last month, Port Hueneme City Councilman Murray Rosenbluth
successfully sponsored a city resolution supporting the campaign. He, too, was
moved by the mostly-Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion's aid in liberating
Dachau
. It was a "good deed that resonated with me," Rosenbluth said at the
City Council meeting.
Rabbi Shmuel Novack of Chabad Southside in
Jacksonville
,
Fla.
, joined the campaign because his grandfather, Lt. David Novack, commanded many
of the Nisei soldiers as an officer in the 100th Battalion.
The younger Novack traveled to a
Las Vegas
reunion of Nisei war veterans last month, hearing for the first time their
stories of his grandfather's bravery, including shattering his leg on a land
mine.
Now, Novack said, he is a passionate supporter of the stamp
campaign.
"They have stamps for flowers and animals and Elvis
Presley and Superman," Novack said in a phone interview. "But these
guys are living Supermen. They did so much despite all of the adversity they
faced at home."
The campaign was launched four years ago but has just begun
to pick up steam. It has attracted support from more than 50
California
cities and 10,000 petition signers.
Community organizations, such as the American Jewish
Committee and Japanese American Citizens League, have endorsed the campaign. So
have numerous federal and state lawmakers, including Sen. Daniel Inouye
(D-Hawaii), a 442nd veteran who lost an arm in battle. Proposed resolutions are
pending in Congress and in several states, according to Wayne Osako, stamp
campaign chair.
Osako said the Postal Service has issued commemorative stamps
honoring minority veterans in the past. It issued a stamp in 1984 honoring
Latino veterans and another a decade later recognizing the African American
Buffalo Soldiers, Osako said.
The Nisei veterans stamp would be the first to honor an Asian
American military group, he said.
The Postal Service's citizens' stamp advisory committee is to
begin formally reviewing the proposal next month in a selection process that
usually takes about three years, Osako said. The stamp could be issued in 2010.
But that is a race against time for many of the aging
veterans and their families.
Gardena
resident Chizuko Ohira, one of the three Nisei
women who first launched the campaign, said her husband, Ted, a veteran, was an
avid stamp supporter. But he died in March, she said, before seeing his dream
realized.
9/26/07 Asian Week: Hmong Labeled Terrorists, Denied Green Cards,
by: Sandy Cha
Fresno
,
Calif.
Its an endless process of waiting, of not knowing why or how, but
thats often the way it is, applying for
U.S.
citizenship. Many can relate, but in particular, the situation has become
tenuous for the 4,000 Hmong with backlogged applications.
During the Vietnam War, the
United States
recruited more than 40,000 Hmong men in
Laos
to fight communism on behalf of the American government in a covert operation
known as the Secret War.
They rescued American pilots who had been shot down, guarded
the Ho Chi Minh trail, gathered intelligence, provided information about the
landscape and suffered enormous casualties, dying at a ratio of 10 to one in
comparison to their American allies.
Hundreds of thousands of Hmong immigrated to the United
States in the decades following the Vietnam War, but it was not until December
2003 that the State Department made the decision to resettle 15,000 Hmong
refugees my grandparents among them from Wat Tham Krabok, one of the
last Hmong refugee camps in Thailand, to the United States.
But decades after assisting the
United States
under the principles of democracy and freedom, many Hmong may be stranded
without the opportunity to obtain full citizenship.
The broad provisions of the Real ID Act, signed into law by
President Bush in 2005 as an attachment to the Patriot Act, affirm that groups
of two or more individuals who have taken up arms against a government will be
deemed a terrorist organization, and are therefore prevented from gaining
full citizenship or refugee status even while facing possible deportation.
Anyone who provided material support, meaning food,
shelter, money or any related assistance to a terrorist group, faces equal
risk as well.
The Hmong who fought alongside the Americans in
Laos
are considered terrorists under this definiton and are therefore ineligible for
asylum or green cards.
My grandparents recently resettled in the
United States
from
Thailand
, but my grandfather does not have full citizenship.
It has been over a year since he applied for a green card. He
currently works part-time in an entry-level position for an electrical company
and is learning English as fast as he can.
He is trying to assimilate into this new culture, taking ESL
classes, working and paying taxes.
Yet, he has not received an answer as to why his green card
application has been backlogged while everyone else in the family has received
theirs.
Many Hmong would like to think that the
U.S. government did not intend to apply the Real ID provisions to the Hmong
community, especially since Hmong soldiers took up arms on behalf of this
country; since thousands of Hmong soldiers died to save American lives; and
since the
United States
deserted the war in 1975, leaving thousands to fend for themselves against
increasing communist attacks.
Young Hmong Americans have a civic responsibility to speak up
for the Hmong community. A group of 11 from
Fresno
recently carried this history and these stories to
Washington
in meetings with the offices of legislators.
In these meetings, the stories and struggles of parents,
elders and recent refugees, all back home thousands of miles away, resonated
heavily, and some participants could not hold back their emotion.
Our government is responsible for ensuring democracy for
everyone, especially for these Hmong who now struggle to become active citizens.
Relief may be near if the Foreign Operations Bill passes this fall with its
provision that would exempt the Hmong from the Real ID Act.
American citizens, young Hmong Americans and other
communities, should challenge themselves to be critical of how legislation
affects the history of immigrants in this country and especially of how this
history is coming back to impact many families today.
Article by Sandy Cha, as told to Mai Der Vang, a youth media
coordinator in
Fresno
.
FYI: MATERIAL SUPPORT UPDATE provided by The Hmong National
Developments News Flash for the week of October 01, 2007 .
What is Material Support? Due to provisions containing
broad definitions of terrorist activity and terrorism in the Patriot
Act of 2001 and the REAL ID Act of 2005, the activities of Hmong and Montagnards
who fought alongside the
U.S.
during the Secret War in
Laos
and the Vietnam War unintentionally fell under these broad definitions. The
material support bar impacts individuals who have provided material
support, such as food, water, shelter, money, and etc. to individuals who are
classified as terrorists. Material support is an issue that affects not
only the Hmong and Montagnards, but thousands of refugees and asylum seekers
from all around the world.
Current Legislation and Next Steps: Language addressing the
material support issue for the Hmong and Montagnards (and other refugee groups)
was recently passed in the Senate as an amendment to the Senate Foreign
Operations Appropriations Bill. What next? Within the next few weeks, the Senate
Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill will go to conference, where a number of
selected Senators and Representatives will convene to work out the differences
in the House and Senate versions of this bill. Once the bill is finalized and
agreed on, it may be sent to the president to be signed into law. The President
has threatened to veto the Senate Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill due to
issues unrelated to material support.
Misperceptions about Material Support: While we are excited
about the passage of material support language, it does NOT mean that there
isnt more to be done! The language still has to go through conference, during
which it could possibly be changed and there is still a threat of the President
vetoing the bill. Many in the community perceive that if and when the material
support issue is resolved, this will automatically allow thousands of Hmong
refugees from
Laos
and
Thailand
to resettle in the
U.S.
While resolving material support issues for the Hmong would take care of a huge
barrier, the refugee issues of the Hmong in Laos and Thailand are very complex
and its resolution WILL NOT open the floodgates for Hmong to resettle
in the U.S. This update was adapted from the Material Support Community Update
Call hosted by Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) and Hmong National
Development (HND) on Friday, September 14, 2007.
For more information, please contact Srida Moua, Policy
Advocate, at (202) 463-2118 or smoua@hndinc.org. You may also contact Helly Lee,
Advocacy Initiative Director, at (202) 667-4690 or helly@searac.org. To receive
further updates, please subscribe to hndflash@hndinc.org.
Vivanxai Moua on Oct 01, 2007
9/6/07 Dallas Morning News: "Show profiles Japanese-American war
hero,"
by Esther Wu
PBS will present "Most Honorable Son," a profile on
Ben Kuroki , one of the first Japanese-American war heroes. The show will air at
8 p.m. Sept. 17 and can be seen locally on KERA-TV (Channel 13).
During World War II, more than 120,000 people of Japanese
ancestry were interned in makeshift camps surrounded by barbed wire and armed
guards. Suspected of being enemies of the state, they were forced to leave
behind their homes, businesses and most of their belongings to live in
relocation camps. They were allowed to bring only what would fit in one
suitcase.
Many of the internees were elderly and young children, and at
least 62 percent were
U.S.
citizens. Despite the hardship of the camps, many young Japanese-American men
voluntarily joined the
U.S.
armed forces the only way they felt they could prove their loyalty to the
U.S.
Some were sent to
Japan
, a country many had never seen before.
Against this backdrop, Mr. Kuroki, a Japanese-American born
in
Nebraska
, volunteered to join the Army Air Corps after the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor.
He was the lone Japanese-American in the corps. He flew
bombing missions throughout Europe and
Japan
. But Mr. Kuroki also had to endure racial discrimination from his fellow
servicemen on the ground.
In the documentary, Mr. Kuroki explained his experience
simply: "That was what my whole war was about. I didn't want to be called a
Jap."
Mr. Kuroki, now 90, is a Nisei, a first-generation American
of Japanese decent. He is believed to be the only Nisei to fly raids on
Japan
, surviving 28 missions in a B-29 bomber.
During the war, he was assigned to visit the internment camps
to recruit other men to join the armed forces.
"The armed guards were wearing the same uniforms I was
wearing," Mr. Kuroki said. "I was really quite shocked to see my own
people in those internment camps like that."
Controversy followed Mr. Kuroki, who was considered by some a
"tool of the government," while others considered him a hero. And
through it all, he continued to fight racial discrimination.
The documentary also includes interviews with some of Mr.
Kuroki's fellow crewmen, including retired Lt. Col. Edward "Red" Weir
of
Denton
.
Mr. Weir flew multiple combat missions with Mr. Kuroki,
including a massive raid on Hitler's oil refineries in
Ploesti
,
Romania
, on Aug. 1, 1943.
Last month, the two men were reunited in
Lincoln
,
Neb.
, on the anniversary of that raid to celebrate the premiere of "Most
Honorable Son".
Mr. Weir told newspaper reporters that during a chance
meeting with Mr. Kuroki shortly after the war, he asked his former crewmember
how things were going.
"He said, 'Well, I still can't get a haircut downtown.'
And he had medals; his uniform over on the left side was covered with the
Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal and many other medals, but those
were his words to me, 'I still can't get a haircut downtown.' "
"Most Honorable Son" explores Mr. Kuroki's journey
from facing racial discrimination to being a decorated war hero and the issues
of cultural identity, patriotism and commitment to one's convictions issues
we still face today.
9/5/07 Pacific Citizen: National JACL Board
Strengthens Support for Watada: After much debate within the organization, the
board issues a statement calling for a fair and impartial trial and reinforces
Watada's right to be protected from double jeopardy.
By Caroline Aoyagi-Stom, Executive Editor
SAN FRANCISCO
For two and a half hours over a lunch of curry Floyd Mori, JACL's national
director, got a chance to hear about 1st Lt. Ehren Watada's upcoming court
martial and why he's against the current Iraq War - in person.
It was the first time Mori had met the 29-year-old Japanese
American with the notorious distinction of being the first Army officer to
refuse deployment to
Iraq
.
"I respect the process he went through, the conclusion
he came to - a personal, moral decision that took courage to do so," said
Mori. "He is a forthright, intelligent, sound person of integrity."
Mori's impressions of Watada set the tone for the Aug. 18
national JACL board meeting where board members were once again asked to
increase their support for the first lieutenant, this time focusing on the issue
of double jeopardy, a fifth amendment right.
With Watada's second court martial on charges of missing
troop movement and conduct unbecoming an officer set for October, community
activists and civil rights attorneys spoke out in support of the resolution
brought to the table by the NCWNP district.
"Look to the heart of the resolution," urged Andy
Noguchi, NCWNP civil rights co-chair.
After a lengthy debate, which included two time extensions, a
slightly watered down version of the resolution was eventually passed - almost
unanimously.
With a vote of 13 to 1 the national JACL board agreed to
increase their support for Watada, calling for a fair and impartial trial
including the right to have a trial presided over by an impartial judge and the
right to be protected from double jeopardy.
"In my mind I am satisfied their appeal for double
jeopardy is within JACL's purview," said Mori. "Double jeopardy goes
to the issue of a fair trial."
Community Debate
In June of 2006 Watada announced his life changing decision
to refuse deployment to
Iraq
because he believes the war is not only immoral but illegal. Since then the JA
community has been vehemently divided into two camps: those who staunchly
support his constitutional rights and those who believe Watada's oath as a
soldier requires him to obey direct orders from his superiors.
The same division continues to permeate the JACL.
Elaine Akagi, PNW district governor, was the lone dissenting
vote on the national board. She cast her vote because her district - which
includes
Fort
Lewis
where Watada currently serves in an administrative position - told her to vote
down any resolution calling for increased support for the officer.
"We have a lot of former military people living in the
PNW, since
Fort
Lewis
and
Bremerton
are here in
Washington
. The message I get from them is that Watada was wrong to not deploy when
ordered to, and as an officer of the U.S. Army, had a duty to go," she
said. "They feel he must face the consequences of his decision, and that
the Army's form of trial will be fair and just."
The original resolution - which included stronger wording and
a call for JACL to write letters to the courts - did not sit well with some of
the national board members.
"There are several things that trouble me about this
resolution," said Kristine Minami, EDC governor and an attorney. "This
is military law. It is inappropriate to try to sway a judge's decision in any
way. JACL was not there."
But in the end, a diluted version of the original resolution
seemed to satisfy the majority of the national board.
A Civil Rights Issue
"[The JACL's] role to me as a Japanese American is to be
a voice ... for civil rights. To stand up for what's right."
As a member of the renowned coram nobis legal team, Karen Kai
brought a lot of credibility to the national board debate on the Watada
resolution. She reminded them that when she and her fellow attorneys asked for
the national JACL board's support in the 80s they did not know all of the legal
issues but they did what was right.
She asked the current national board to do the same.
"This statement calls for justice for Lieutenant Watada."
Last July in response to the community's call for JACL to
take a position on the Watada controversy, then national director John Tateishi
issued a statement of concern over some of the charges he currently faces.
Ever since the statement was issued, some JACL chapters and
members have pushed for a stronger show of support for Watada including the
Watsonville-Santa Cruz chapter. It was this chapter that urged the NCWNP
district to bring the resolution to the national board's attention.
"Today we are at a crossroads. What kind of organization
are we going to be?" said Mas Hashimoto, of the Watsonville-Santa Cruz
chapter. "We need to take a stand, a firm and dedicated stand."
Alan Nishi, NCWNP governor, echoed the same sentiments:
"We should take a more solid stance than we have in the past."
Double Jeopardy
On Oct. 9 Watada is scheduled to head back to court for a
second trial. At his original court martial the judge declared a mistrial. If
convicted of all charges, Watada faces up to seven years in jail.
Watada's attorneys are currently arguing that a second court
martial constitutes double jeopardy, a fifth amendment right that protects
individuals from being charged with the same crime twice.
"Double jeopardy is an important constitutional right to
protect all citizens from oppression. This is the issue presented here,"
said Robert Rusky, who with Kai was a part of the coram nobis legal team.
The JACL national board has already begun to disseminate
their decision to strengthen support for Watada and the resolution also calls on
the organization to help educate other groups on the controversial issue.
"Our belief ... is this will define JACL's continued
effectiveness for future generations," said Paul Kaneko, a board member of
the Watsonville-Santa Cruz chapter.
National JACL Resolution on Watada (adopted Aug. 18, 2007):
"The National JACL Board believes that all American citizens have the right
to a fair and impartial trial, which includes the right to have a trial presided
over by an impartial judge and to be protected from double jeopardy.
"The National JACL Board shall generate a strong public
statement supporting 1st Lt. Ehren Watada's right to a fair trial. It shall
engage in activities including, but not limited to, disseminating this statement
through letters of support to the appropriate officials as necessary and
directing our National Director to educate other organizations on this civil
rights issues to raise awareness.
7/5/07 New York Daily News:
Pol honors the 'forgotten': Rookie legislator wins fight for state Korean War
Veterans Day,
by Lynsey Johnson
As the daughter of a Korean War veteran, Queens Assemblywoman
Ellen Young knows how important it is to honor veterans of the "forgotten
war."
The rookie legislator, who grew up hearing about the war from
her parents, helped pass a resolution last month that made June 25 Korean War
Veterans Day in New York.
"We always want to give recognition to those unsung
heroes, it's very important," said Young (D-Flushing) at a special
commemoration last week on the steps of
Flushing
Town Hall
.
"We will do this every year, right here on these
steps," Young added, noting that her Assembly district boasts the borough's
highest Korean-American population.
For veteran Sok Kang, president of the Korean War Veterans
Association of Greater New York, the measure is long overdue. Kang, 75, insists
the war, fought in the 1950s, is overlooked because it came on the heels of
World War II and was soon overshadowed by the Vietnam War.
"Recognizing the Korean War veterans is an honor,"
he said. "I was shot in the ear and the leg. They call the Korean War 'the
forgotten war,' and the youngsters who didn't experience the war, they don't
know of the atrocities."
Donning his
Air
Force
Academy
uniform from 22 years ago, David Lee, president of the Korean-American Public
Affairs Committee, called
New York
's inaugural Korean War Veterans Day "very meaningful."
"It's great. It's a victory," added Lee, whose
father fought in the war.
John Park, president of the Korean-American Community
Empowerment Council, expressed the same sentiment.
"This is a great honor because the Korean War is a
symbolic war. They fought for us and without them there would be no us," he
said.
6/5/07 San Francisco
Chronicle: Ex-general called father of Hmong in
U.S.
,
by Matthai Chakko Kuruvila
More than 30 years ago, Vang Pao led a guerrilla army of
Hmong tribesmen fighting to keep communist forces from taking control of his
native
Laos
. When the
United States
staged its final retreat from
Vietnam
in 1975, Pao fled to the
United States
and helped other Hmong to do the same.
The former general is now 77 years old and living in
Orange
County
, but federal authorities said Monday that he hadn't given up the fight. They
accused him of leading a ring of conspirators that was raising money and weapons
to launch an attack against the communist government in
Laos
.
The Hmong are an ethnic and linguistic group native to a
region that includes southern
China
,
Vietnam
and
Cambodia
in addition to
Laos
. Pao, a Hmong, was a general under the Laotian royal government.
Laos
' neutrality during the Vietnam War meant the
United States
could not send its own troops to fight communist forces. But
U.S.
officials feared that if
Laos
fell to the communists, so too would
South Vietnam
and
Cambodia
.
So the CIA enlisted the Hmong as proxy warriors in
Laos
, an effort often referred to as the secret war.
Hmong forces, led by Pao, rescued downed
U.S.
pilots and blocked the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which served as a supply line to
communist
North Vietnam
.
The communist takeover of
Laos
prompted an exodus of tens of thousands of Hmong refugees, many of whom wound
up in the Central Valley and
Minnesota
. Pao settled in the
United States
and led Neo Hom, an organization also known as the United Laotian National
Liberation Front. But his influence spread far beyond any one organization.
"Vang Pao is the father of the Hmong people," said
Cheu Vue, a coordinator for Hmong Lao Radio in St.
Paul
,
Minn.
, center of the largest concentration of Hmong
Americans.
Pao encouraged the Hmong to educate themselves, to start
businesses and become successful in their new country, said Vue, breaking into
tears during an interview. Hmong people would often give jewelry, fine clothes
or other presents in gratitude for his help, Vue said.
"Vang Pao has been a central figure -- the central
figure -- in Hmong life for a very long time," said Anne Fadiman, who
wrote an account of a Hmong family in the
Central Valley
, "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down." But, she said, "he
has always been controversial."
For those who have immigrated to the
United States
, the war sometimes creates a generational gap, Fadiman said. Pao is a hero to
many older Hmong who long to return home, she said, but many younger Hmong are
less taken with him and have little desire to leave the
United States
, where they were born.
Fadiman said about 80 percent of the Hmong in the
United States
donated to Pao's organization in the early 1980s. Even then, Pao told her that
the money was to be used "to carry out guerrilla activities and the
eventual overthrow of the communist government presently controlling
Laos
," she wrote in an e-mail to The Chronicle.
Vue insisted that Pao is a peaceful person interested only
in helping the Hmong.
"I don't believe he's the person who would attack the
Laotian government," Vue said. "He always says peace comes first. He
doesn't want war."
April 2007 http://asiancemagazine.com/apr_2007/in_pursuit_of_a_dream
In Pursuit of a Dream
by Edmund Moy
On November 10th, 1944, pilot Hazel Ying Lee reported to Bell
Aircraft factory at
Niagara Falls
,
New York
. She was given orders to pick up a new P-63 fighter and fly it to
Great Falls
,
Montana
.
As one of 132 female pilots trained to "fly
pursuit," Lee was qualified to pilot the super-fast and powerful fighters
of the era, including the P-51s, P-47s and P-39s.
Lee and other pilots delivered over 5,000 fighters to
Great Falls
as part of the
United States
link in supplying Russian allies with planes during World War II. From
Great Falls
, male pilots flew the fighters on to
Alaska
, where Russian pilots waited to fly the planes home.
For Lee, keeping arduous schedules, working six or seven days
a week with only eight hours between shifts was common practice. Pilots like her
were often stuck in small towns for up to a week because of bad weather.
And on this mission, weather problems would force Lee to stop
in
Fargo on her way to
Great Falls
. It took until the morning of November 23, 1944 for her to arrive in
Great Falls
.
LEARNING TO FLY
Born in
Portland
,
Oregon
, on August 24, 1912, Lee was the daughter of Chinese parents who had raised
eight children during a time of widespread Anti-Chinese bias.
Following graduation from High School in 1929, Lee found a
job as an elevator operator at Liebes Department Store in downtown
Portland
. It was one of the few jobs a Chinese-American woman was allowed to hold at
that time.
In 1932, after a friend let her ride with him at an air show,
Lee, was hooked on flying. She already had a reputation as a tomboy, growing up
playing handball and running races with the boys, and immediately began saving
money for private flight lessons. Despite opposition from her mother, she just
"had to fly," even though at that time, less than one percent of
pilots in the
U.S.
were women.
The allure of flying was too powerful for Lee to ignore. She
was known to love and enjoy danger -- and doing something that was new to a
Chinese girl at that time was exciting. And so she began her pursuit of the
dream of flying.
Lee eventually enrolled in a flying program sponsored by the
Chinese Benevolent Society and joined the Portland Flying Club. She took flying
lessons with famed aviator Al Greenwood.
By October 1932, Lee had become one of the first
Chinese-American women to earn a pilot's license. She became one of only a
handful of other Chinese-American women pilots.
At the time, flying was considered a relatively new daredevil
sport dominated mostly by men. Lee
was seen as a rebel for breaking the stereotype of the passive Chinese woman and
was acting in a manner that was "unladylike."
Soon after, Lee traveled to
China
and volunteered to fight against the Japanese invasion as part of the Chinese
Air Force. But because she was a woman, Lee was forced to take a desk job with
the Chinese military and flew only occasionally, for a commercial company
operating out of
Nanjing
.
Sweetwater
,
Texas
for an arduous six-month training program. Lee
was accepted into the 4th class, 43 W 4. At that time, she became the first
Chinese-American woman to fly for the
United States
military. During training, Lee
was forced to make an emergency landing in a farmer's field after her aircraft
developed engine problems. The farmer mistook her for a Japanese pilot and held
her at pitchfork point, believing he was being invaded. His son called Avenger
Field and let them know one of the WASP trainees had made a forced landing at
their farm, and soon she was back at the base with a story to tell.
Mich.
She primarily flew trainer and liaison type
aircraft until April 1944 when she was sent to instrument school as part of an
upgrade program designed to prepare her for flying advanced aircrafts.
Candidate
School
in June because of the belief that the WASPs
would soon be militarized and commissioned as Lieutenants in the Army. She
completed her training by attending
Pursuit
School
in September 1944.
Pursuit
School
qualified her to fly all the Army's
single-engine Fighter aircraft, including P-39, P-40, P-47, P-51 and P-63. She
graduated on October 2, 1944 (with six other WASPs and 27 men) and returned to
the 3rd Ferrying Group to resume deliveries of aircraft. She was prepared for
almost anything and worked hard to keep up with her schedule. Although, the P-63s
that were sent through
Great Falls
arrived in
Russia
too late to see much action in Europe, they
were used at
Konigsberg
-- and in the final drive on
Berlin
at the end of the war. The planes were also main assets in the
USSR
's "Operation August Storm," also referred to as "The Battle of
Manchuria," in 1945, when the Soviet's liberated
Northeastern China
. It was a fitting close to the circle of Hazel
Ying Lee's brief, but heroic life.
Arlington
,
VA
22209
Attention: Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee A
salute to Hazel Ying Lee and other Asian American women who fought for their
country will take place in Winter 2007 at the
Museum
of
Flight
in
Seattle
.
4/3/07 Filipino Veterans Equity
Act Included in House Budget Resolution for the First Time
Washington, DC- The National Alliance for Filipino Veterans
Equity (NAFVE)
applauded the United States House of Representatives for passing a resolution
that included a marker for the Filipino Veterans Equity Act (HR 760). It
ensures that the Equity Act will be part of the ongoing budgetary process
and that funds are specifically set aside for our veterans in the House
version of the bill. The Senate version, S 57, is currently in the Senate
Veterans Affairs Committee, with hearings scheduled for April 11. HR 760
would amend current law to consider Filipino World War II veterans as U.S.
veterans for purposes of eligibility for programs administered by the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs.
2/15/07 National Alliance
Mobilizes Around Congressional Hearings to Pass
the Filipino Veterans Equity Act
Washington, DCThe newly formed National Alliance for
Filipino Veterans
Equity ("the National Alliance") announced its support for
Congressional Hearings for HR 760, the Filipino Veterans Equity Act. The
bill was introduced on January 31, and would provide U.S. Veterans status for
Filipinos who fought in World War II for purposes of benefits. Congressman
Bob Filner (D-CA) announced February 15 hearings for the bill as Chairman
of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
"The Alliance has brought together a broad base of
support from the community to support passage of the Filipino Veterans
Equity Act," said Jon Melegrito, Co-Chair of the Alliance. "We
are pleased that Congressman Filner has continued to be a champion for this
bill and has called for hearings. We are thankful to all of the members in
Congress who have supported this important issue, notably Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, Rep. Mike Honda, who heads the Congressional Asian Pacific American
Caucus, and Sen. Daniel Inouye who have consistently introduced an equity
bill in the Senate. We applaud their leadership in keeping the Filipino veterans
cause alive."
"This month marks the 61st anniversary of passage of the
1946 Rescission Act, which took away the veterans status that was
originally promised to Filipino veterans when President Roosevelt
conscripted them to help in the Pacific theater during World War II,"
said Lilian Galedo, the other National Alliance Co-Chair. "With many of
this bill's champions in Congress now holding key positions to help move this
bill, the time is right to restore justice for our veterans and reaffirm
America's commitment to all those who bravely served the U.S. in times of
war."
The National Alliance represents over 20 local, national and
international
organizations committed to securing full equity for Filipino World War II
Veterans. All the groups have been part of a 60-year campaign to restore to
Filipino WWII veterans their rightful claim to U.S. veterans status and
recognition for their bravery in defending the United States during WWII.
The National Alliance's sole purpose is to pass the long overdue Filipino
Veterans Equity Act.
2/7/07 press release from
Congressman Mike Honda (CA-15), Chair of the
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC):
There are approximately 328,000 veterans of AAPI descent, and
62,378
AAPIs who are currently on active duty in the military.
12/27/06
San Jose
Mercury News: Chung: Victories mark
veteran's life:
Paving Way
for Those Who Followed
By
L.A.
Chung, Mercury News Columnist
In his 103 years of living, he was variously known as Asha
Schutz and Peter King, but it didn't matter to Peter Chang Sr., whose steady,
small victories helped pave the way for others during an era when the
``Orientals'' were viewed mostly as house servants.
The retired Navy man's life will be celebrated Thursday at
the
Avenidas
Senior
Day
Health
Center
in
Mountain View
, a place that was almost his second home in recent years. He died Nov. 26.
``He's so special to us,'' said Lenny Park, head of the
health care center, who'd thrown a birthday party for Chang, complete with a
live banjo group, when he turned 100. ``He was here every day. It was a big part
of his life.'' Avenidas president Lisa Hendrickson will personally open the
center that day, when it is normally closed.
Chang could be remembered at Avenidas mainly as the courtly
and meticulous military vet with a penchant for current events and
U.S.
history, if it weren't for the oral histories taken by his grandchildren and a
scholar at UC-
Los Angeles
.
Reflected in Chang's 100-plus years are glimpses into the
history of Korean immigration to
America
, Korean-Japanese history, and how Chang persevered, despite discrimination in
the
U.S.
military, to become a chief warrant officer and running the Navy's torpedo
school during World War II.
The centennial of Korean immigration, beginning with the
arrival of 102 contract workers aboard the USS Gaelic to
Hawaii
in 1903, was an event marked by the Smithsonian and the Korean-American
population. Among the passengers was Chang's mother, who had not come as a
contract laborer for
Hawaii
's sugar cane fields, but as the wife of a diplomat. Chang was born in
Oakland
in October of that year, and some scholars believe he was the first baby born
of Korean nationals on the
U.S.
mainland.
He carried the name ``Asha Schutz'' while living his first 10
years with family friends, the Schutz's, who took him under their care while his
mother joined her husband at the struggling mission in Washington, D.C.
As the son of a diplomat, Chang's life might have turned out
quite differently. But in 1910,
Japan
annexed
Korea
, and the Korean mission was dissolved.
Unwilling to return to occupied Korea, Chang's multilingual
father moved the family to Shanghai, China, an international base from which he
could conduct a ginseng import business with Australia, which did not allow
Asians to immigrate.
Shanghai
was also a place where his children could get a good education in the
international settlement and hopefully do more than ``wear a white jacket.''
``My father had seen in
Washington
and other places that all the hired help and household chores were done by
`Orientals' and they all wore white jackets,'' he told oral historian Sonia
Shinn Sunoo at UCLA. ``He (said he) will not have his children do that.''
So international was Chang's upbringing that he never learned
much of the Korean language. He enrolled, after much haggling, he said, in the
British-run
Thomas
Hanberry
School
. He had to change his name for the school roster to ``Peter King,'' to avoid
trouble from benefactors in
England
.
On his own
When his father died aboard ship en route to
Shanghai
in 1922, Chang was suddenly on his own, at age 18. He used his English skills
to get a job as maitre d'hotel in
Tientsin
, frequented by traveling diplomats. One, it turned out, had known his father.
Through that connection, he had an opportunity to work his way back to the
United States
on a five-masted barkentine ship. He learned the sailing craft so well that he
was able to avoid the galley jobs where Asians were exclusively channeled.
When he made it to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1922, he
signed up for the U.S. Navy through a recommendation from another contact from
Tientsin
. ``We don't have many Orientals,'' his friend reportedly said. ``Most of them
are servants but I'll see if we can break the ice with my recommendation.''
In the interview with oral historian Sunoo, the question of
barriers arose in a different context. Chang did so well on the naval exams, he
was recommended to the
Naval
Academy
in
Anapolis
,
Md.
, but his application was rejected because superiors did not think men would
work under an Asian officer. Supportive superiors recommended Chang to one of
the top training schools for torpedoes instead. He served first on the USS New
York in
Norfolk
,
Va.
Even in uniform, Chang was refused service at restaurants while stationed in
Norfolk
, and at the barber shop in the city's YMCA.
The torpedo knowledge in World War II became crucial when he
was stationed in
Pearl Harbor
, because of Japanese success in destroying American warships.
Move to
Peninsula
After the war, with education their priority, Chang's wife,
Helen, wanted to settle near
Stanford
University
. But back on the mainland, race again was an issue. ``A lot of people didn't
want to show them houses in College Terrace,'' grandson Jonathan Korty said.
They got lucky when one woman was willing to sell her home on
Yale Street
.
``I guess it worked because both his children went to
Stanford,'' Korty said.
Son Peter Chang Jr., who died of cancer in 2004, was a
precocious trumpet player who had a chance to play with Louis Armstrong when he
was 13. He made his name, however, when he pulled off an upset in
Santa Cruz
County
at age 26, becoming the first Asian-American and youngest district attorney
when elected in 1966. Dubbing Santa Cruz ``the murder capital of the world'' he
presided over the prosecution of the era's most notorious serial killers and
mass murderers, from Herbert Mullin, who killed 13 people, to Edward Kemperer,
who butchered eight women, many hitchhikers, and his own mother.
Daughter Beulah married her graduate school classmate,
filmmaker John Korty, and established a successful interior design business in
Marin. Among their three children is David Korty, a well-known
Los Angeles
artist and Bay Area musician Jonathan Korty, whose band, Vinyl, has five
albums.
Grandson Peter Chang III became a naval engineer and another
grandson, Christopher Chang, works in high tech. Granddaughter Katherine Chang
works in construction management.
Korty vividly remembers one day when his grandparents'
history ``came home to me.''
He was attending the prestigious
Branson
School
, a
Marin
County
prep school in the town of
Ross
, when he made a customary trip to
Palo Alto
to take his grandmother out to Korean lunch. They were talking, as they often
did, about her experiences as a young woman, how she worked as a house girl for
a wealthy
San Francisco
family, and how they sometimes wouldn't pay her on time. That meant on her day
off she could not afford the nickel fare for the bus, or a dime to see a movie.
What was this family's name, he asked that day? Sutro, she
said.
He stopped to absorb that. As in Mount Sutro.
Sutro
Tower
. As in the descendants of San Francisco Mayor Adolph Sutro. He told his
grandmother he went to school with a whole branch of the Sutro family and they
played in the same soccer games.
``I think she got a kick out of that,'' Korty said. ``Because
of all their hard work and sacrifices, her grandson was going to the same prep
school as their grandsons.''
That's what can happen in far less than 103 years in
America
. Even if you have to change your name a couple times.
12/13/06 Go For Broke Receives $100,000 From Paul & Hisako Terasaki
(Torrance, Calif.) The Go For Broke National Education Center has received a $100,000 gift from Paul and Hisako Terasaki to help further its efforts to preserve the story of the World War II Japanese American veterans, whose decorations and record of service is unparalleled in military history, it was announced today.
Dr. Terasaki is a noted researcher who served as Professor of Surgery at UCLA from 1969-99. In 1964, he developed the micro lympho-cytotoxicity test that was adopted in 1970 as the international standard method of tissue typing. He and his corporation, One Lambda, have played a central role in the development of tissue typing and transplantation surgery.
11/9/06 Belleville News
Democrat: Duckworth says future run for office a possibility,
By Megan Reichgott
Chicago
- Tammy Duckworth has dinner plans with her
former Army buddies. Then she wants new prosthetic legs, flying lessons and a
Ph.D.
After that, she'll consider running for Congress again.
Two days after losing a nationally hyped race to Republican
State Sen. Peter Roskam, Duckworth, an
Iraq
war veteran, said she is disappointed that she came up short in her bid for the
seat held by retiring Republican Rep. Henry Hyde.
"It was definitely hard; I'll admit my heart aches
today," Duckworth said Thursday in a telephone interview. "But you
know what? I've been through so much more and I'm alive."
Duckworth said another run in 2008 was a
"possibility."
"I would consider running for office again,"
Duckworth said. "Serving your country as a public servant is an honorable
thing."
By now the former Army helicopter pilot's story is well-known
outside of the 6th Congressional District in
Chicago
's northwest suburbs.
The 38-year-old, who lost her right leg and most of her left
leg after a rocket-propelled grenade attack north of
Baghdad
in November 2004, was recruited by the Democratic Party to run for Congress.
Alternating between a wheelchair and prosthetic legs,
Duckworth surprised many people by mounting a competitive campaign in the
traditionally Republican district. Unofficial results showed Roskam with 51
percent of the vote while Duckworth had 49 percent, with 96 percent of precincts
reporting.
Democrats were eager to showcase the bubbly, smiling Illinois
Army National Guard major who gave them more credibility on security issues.
Duckworth got noticed: Reporters from
Japan
and
England
captured the closing days of the campaign; she even won a 2006 "Woman of
the Year" award from Glamour magazine.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who helped recruit Duckworth even
though she lived just outside the district, said her loss "broke my
heart."
"She couldn't have done a better job," said
Durbin
,
Illinois
' senior Democrat. "She was a fantastic candidate - strong, courageous
throughout, as she has been her entire life. I was so proud of her, and I wish
she would have won."
Duckworth, a political novice before the campaign, said
negative television ads and "robocalls" - automated, recorded
telephone calls from the National Republican Campaign Committee - cost her the
race.
"The sheer volume and nastiness of the negative mail
pieces and TV commercials, they surprised me," she said.
Before Duckworth decides whether to run again, she has an
important anniversary coming up: her "Alive Day."
That's what she calls Sunday, the two-year anniversary of the
day her helicopter went down. Duckworth plans a reunion dinner in
St. Louis
with her crew, including Chief Warrant Officer Dan Milberg, whom she credits
with saving her life.
"I can choose to spend the day feeling bad about my
injuries ... or just be thankful for the people who saved my life," she
said.
Duckworth, who has degrees in political science and
international affairs, plans to finish a Ph.D. at
Northern
Illinois
University
and work to raise awareness of veterans' issues.
And after a campaign that took a physical toll, she also has
some simpler goals.
She wants her prosthetic legs adjusted so she can get a
pilot's license for fixed-wing aircraft.
"For now, I'm looking to get some legs and just getting
in shape again," Duckworth said.
11/3/06 Washington Post: VFW Passes Over Veteran in
Illinois
,
by Don Babwin The Associated Press
Chicago
-- The Veterans of Foreign Wars' political action committee Friday endorsed a
Republican congressional candidate with no military experience over a Democrat
who lost her legs in combat in
Iraq
.
The endorsement of GOP state Sen. Peter Roskam over Tammy
Duckworth angered some
Illinois
veterans, as well as national figures such as former Sen. Bob Kerrey, a veteran
who lost a leg in
Vietnam
.
"They should be ashamed of themselves," he said.
"They have some explaining to do to their members."
Duckworth is a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot with the
Army who lost her legs when her aircraft was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
A spokesman for the VFW political action committee did not
immediately return calls for comment. The endorsement was announced by the two
campaigns.
Flanked by more than 20 veterans at a news conference,
Duckworth said she was never contacted by the organization or asked to fill out
a questionnaire, as typically happens when organizations are deciding which
candidates to endorse.
"I think it's unfortunate they did this," she said.
Duckworth has said that invading
Iraq
was a mistake but now that American troops are there, withdrawal should be tied
to an aggressive training plan for Iraqi forces.
Roskam has repeatedly said the military needs to "finish
well" in
Iraq
. He caused a stir during a debate when he said the district wasn't a
"cut-and-run district" _ something Duckworth supporters called
inappropriate, given her injuries.
Tammy Duckworth (D)
Candidate for
U.S.
House
Illinois
- District 6 (Lombard)
disabled veteran of
Iraq
war
http://duckworthforcongress.com/
2006 election results:
Duckworth: 49%
Roskam: 51%
8/30/06 Sacramento Bee: Filipino vets ask for full WWII honors,
by Stephen Magagnini
Raymundo V. Seva survived the hellish Bataan Death March at
the hands of his
Japanese captors. Seva, 85, lived long enough to become a
U.S.
citizen -- a privilege granted to thousands of Filipino World War II veterans
ordered to serve under Gen. Douglas MacArthur's Far East Command.
But Seva, who now resides in downtown
Sacramento
with his wife, Fe, wonders if he'll live to see the day he and his fellow
Filipino warriors will finally be recognized as
U.S.
veterans.
"The Japanese bullets did not distinguish between
U.S.
and Filipino people," said Seva. "It's about fairness and justice. It
was President Roosevelt who called Filipinos to serve in the
U.S.
armed forces."
Seva and about a dozen Filipino World War II veterans came to the
state Capitol on Tuesday to fight for HR 4574 -- the Filipino Veterans Equity
Act of 2006 -- being pushed hard by
California
congressmen Bob Filner, a Democrat, and Darrell Issa, a Republican.
Similar bills have died in Congress. Meanwhile, thousands of
Filipino war vets have been claimed by old age long after they helped the
United States
win the war in the Pacific and MacArthur made good on his famous promise,
"I shall return."
Issa's press secretary, Frederick Hill, said a 2003 law authored by
Filner did grant Filipino veterans disability benefits for war-related crimes,
and access to VA hospitals and nursing homes.
But laws that would grant them benefits equal to U.S. World War II
vets have been a tough sell, said Filner, D-San Diego.
"This is a bill I've been working on for 14 years,"
Filner told The Bee. "The 2003 bill took care of part of the problem for
the population living in the
U.S.
, but my bill gives full benefits and a pension to all Filipino veterans."
Filner said the cost would be about $200 million a year for the
roughly 30,000 to
50,000 Filipino veterans still alive, a third of whom now live in
America
.
Filner said the bill is stalled in the Veterans Committee.
"If I got it to a vote on the floor of Congress, it
would pass," Filner said.
"We spend $1 billion in
Iraq
every 2 1/2 days. So several hundred million a year is not a lot of money. We
can afford it, and it's a historical and moral necessity to right this wrong
before they all die."
Filner added, "There is still racism that led to this problem
to begin with. We don't think of these Asian people as somebody we ought to be
helping."
The plight of the surviving Filipino warriors has galvanized young
Filipino Americans like no other issue.
Student Action for Veterans Equity, a Bay Area-based
coalition of students with a strong contingent at UC Davis, is spearheading the
fight.
"It's definitely the most important issue facing Filipino
Americans," said SAVE
spokeswoman Erin Dawn Passaporte. "We recognize we're here because of the
World War II veterans who fought for the freedoms we're sort of tasting right
now."
Passaporte, 27, has been working with Filipino veterans in
San Francisco
for years and sees their daily struggle for better housing and medical care.
Most live on $776 a month Supplemental Security Income.
In the Capitol basement, alongside Rick Rocamora's photo exhibit of
the lives of
Filipino war veterans, Seva and his compatriots shared war stories.
Seva, a sergeant with the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, recalled
April 10, 1942, the day the Japanese marched more than 70,000 Filipino and
American POWs about 70 miles in blistering heat without food or water.
"My God, it was hell," Seva said. "If you tried to
go out of line to buy food or drink
from villagers they just stabbed you with bayonets. Those who couldn't go on,
they just killed them." As many as 11,000 didn't make it to the prison
camp.
Seva became a judge after the war and moved to the
United States
in 1993 after receiving a letter qualifying him for
U.S.
citizenship.
Bert Arcaya, who was captured by the Japanese on the southern
Filipino
island
of
Mindanao
, gave an impassioned speech to his comrades at the Capitol:
"After we have fought so many battles we still have a last one
to fight," said Arcaya, 84, who lives in a
Sacramento
retirement home.
"We were regularly organized military units ordered to enlist
by the president of the
U.S.
" Arcaya said. "We were required to take the Pledge of Allegiance and
the soldier's oath to defend the Constitution of the
United States of America
, not the Constitution of the
Philippines
."
Arcaya, an engineering student when he was called to active
service, said he and many other Filipinos joined the guerrillas in the hills.
"We used to sing 'God Bless
America
' and '
America
the Beautiful' -- we considered
America
the mother country."
Many Filipinos saw their wives and daughters raped or bayoneted,
Arcaya said.
"My father-in-law and father were captured, tortured and finally
beheaded."
Nearly 100,000 Filipino veterans gave their lives during World War
II, Arcaya said. "Telling us we are not
U.S.
veterans after we have suffered dishonors all Filipino people.
"It's not a matter of money or benefits," Arcaya said.
"It's a matter of justice and
integrity."
Sorcy Apostol, a Filipino American professor at
Sacramento
City
College
, said the 2.3 million Filipino Americans -- half of them Californians -- don't
have the political clout to get the bill passed, but time is of the essence.
"In five or six years from now almost all of them will be
gone," she said, "and you
want them to really taste the victory they fought for."
5/18/06 Dallas Morning News: Monumental contributions deserve a moment,
by Esther Wu
I've often been asked why there is a need for an Asian
Pacific American Heritage Month or, for that matter, Black History Month and
Hispanic Heritage Month. My response is that these special months were created
because the public needs to learn more about these groups.
The struggles, achievements and contributions of many people are
often overlooked. Learning about our diverse society about people who look,
speak and eat differently than we do may help us gain a better understanding
of one another. And we can only hope that will lead to more tolerance.
So just for the record, here are a few Asian-American
"firsts" that helped shape the world we live in today.
Col.
Young Oak Kim: first Asian-American to command a battalion during war. He led
the 1st Battalion, 31st Army Infantry Regiment during the Korean War. During
World War II
,
Col.
Kim was a member of the 442nd/100th Regimental Combat Team, one of the most
decorated units in
U.S.
military history. The "Go for Broke" segregated Japanese-American
battalion was created while an estimated 120,000 people of Japanese descent were
interned in this country.
Gen. Eric K. Shinseki: first Asian-American to be named chief
of staff of the Army, in 1999. Before the war in
Iraq
, he was the first to tell the Senate Armed Services Committee that it would
take several hundred thousand soldiers to maintain order in that country after
the war. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld disagreed with Gen. Shinseki, who
retired shortly afterward.
1/4/06 Los Angeles Times:
Young O. Kim, 86; World War II and Korean War Hero, Uniter of L.A. Asian
Communities,
by Myrna Oliver
Retired Army Col. Young O. Kim, one of the most celebrated
heroes of World War II and the Korean War, who later became Los Angeles' elder
statesman and link among Korean, Japanese and other Asian American communities,
has died. He was 86.
Kim died Thursday of cancer at
Cedars-Sinai
Medical
Center
in
Los Angeles
.
Kim was a major co-founder of Los Angeles' Japanese American
National Museum, Korean American Museum, Korean Health Education Information and
Research Center, Korean American Coalition, Korean Youth and Culture Center, and
Center for the Pacific Asian Family.
He also led efforts to build the Go for Broke monument in
Little Tokyo, completed in 1999, which honors the primarily Japanese American
members of World War II's combined 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental
Combat Team. The monument and a related Educational Foundation that Kim chaired
were named for the book "Go for Broke," which chronicled the combined
units' exploits in
Italy
and
France
.
"He's a bridge-builder. He's part of an elite group that
has a scope beyond his or her own ethnic community," Stewart Kwoh,
executive director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern
California, told The Times in 1987, when Kim was honored by the Japanese
American National Museum board.
"Especially for someone of his generation, that's fairly
unique," Kwoh said. "His efforts have served ethnic communities beyond
the Korean and Japanese American communities. He's vitally concerned about other
Asian groups as well."
Born in
Los Angeles
in 1919 to immigrant Koreans, Kim grew up on Bunker Hill, where his parents ran
a grocery store at
Temple
and Figueroa streets. He worked in the store as a boy in the 1920s and '30s, an
era when Asian groups were not on good terms with one another, particularly
Koreans and Japanese because of
Japan
's occupation of
Korea
.
Yet Kim, who saw himself foremost as an American, overcame
those ethnic prejudices.
"I welcome the new immigrants of all countries,"
Kim told The Times in 1987. "By having that attitude, I think I'm faithful
and true to the American dream. I'm proud of my ethnic roots. I've always
been proud of my ethnic roots.
"But at the same time, I feel I'm basically American. I
fought for
America
. I also fought for the Korean people."
When World War II broke out, Kim was drafted and assigned to
the Army's 100th Infantry Battalion one of only two Koreans in the outfit.
He said the assignment occurred because his superiors at
officer candidate school in
Ft. Benning
,
Ga.
, "didn't know the difference between Korean, Japanese and Chinese."
When he reported to duty at
Camp
Shelby
in
Mississippi
as a newly minted second lieutenant, his battalion commander offered him a
transfer, saying: "The men here are all Japanese, and Koreans and Japanese
don't get along."
"But we're not Japanese and Korean," Kim replied.
"We're all Americans. And we're all fighting for the same thing."
At
Camp
Shelby
, he talked with Japanese American officers from
Hawaii
about changing many Americans' negative view of Asians.
"We realized we had to do well in combat. Only by doing
well in combat would we be in a position to try to effect some of these
changes," Kim told The Times in 1987.
The units did better than well.
"In hindsight, we were wildly successful," Kim told
The Times. "I'm talking about as a combat unit, and in effecting the
changes that we wanted to nationally."
Kim became the only Korean American to earn the Distinguished
Service Cross during World War II.
On June 26, 1944, in
Italy
, Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark awarded Kim the prestigious medal because of his
efforts in obtaining intelligence that helped the Allies break through at
Anzio
Beach
and eventually capture
Rome
.
As United Press reported when Clark pinned the medal on him,
Kim "went behind German lines at Cisterna captured two Germans and
brought them back past several enemy outposts to obtain information needed by
the Allied command."
He was accompanied on the daring daylight mission by Japanese
American soldier Irving Akahoshi.
Some of Kim's wartime exploits were illustrated in the 1997
documentary about the 100th/442nd and interned Japanese Americans, "Beyond
Barbed Wire," in which he is "the Korean lieutenant."
Wounded several times, Kim earned so many medals in his two
wars that he lost count.
The 20 or so decorations he stored in a box in his garage
included two Silver Stars, three Purple Hearts, a French Croix de la Guerre and
an Italian Cross of Valor.
Last February,
France
presented Kim with its highest award, Officer of the National Order of the
Legion of Honor, for his efforts to liberate French towns toward the end of
World War II.
When Kim returned to
Los Angeles
on April 9, 1945, The Times headlined the story "Korean Hero of Italy
Home."
During the Korean War, Kim became the first Asian American to
command a regular
U.S.
combat battalion, and led his unit in pushing enemy forces back from the 38th
parallel. Their efforts helped create a strategic buffer between North and
South Korea
.
In October,
South Korea
authorized awarding Kim its highest military honor, the Taeguk Order of
Military Merit.
After
Korea
, Kim spent another 20 years in the Army, posted in the
United States
, Europe and
South Korea
, until 1972, when he retired to
Los Angeles
. He earned a degree in history from Cal State Dominguez Hills and worked for a
time as chief executive of Fine Particle Technology in
San Diego
.
Married and divorced twice, Kim is survived by three
stepsons, Jerry and Tom Surh and Corey Covert; a sister, Willa; and two
brothers, Jack and Henry.
Funeral services are scheduled Monday at
Santa Monica
United
Methodist
Church
,
1008 11th St.
Kim will be buried at the
National
Memorial
Cemetery
of the Pacific in
Honolulu
.
Instead of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Go
for Broke Educational Foundation or the Center for Pacific Asian Families.
10/5/05 Los Angeles Daily
Breeze: Veterans 'Go for Broke' in honoring fallen soldier. WWII Nisei
troops pay tribute to
Torrance
's Medal of Honor winner, Ted Tanouye,"
by Doug Irving
The old soldiers gathered in the morning sun, greeting each
other with hands that trembled with age, snapping pictures of a granite monument
to a fallen comrade.
They were Nisei, second-generation Japanese-Americans who
fought in
Italy
and
France
while their parents waited behind the barbed wire of relocation camps. They had
fought alongside Ted Tanouye, the
Torrance
farm boy who earned a Medal of Honor in World War II.
They came to
Torrance
this week to visit his memorial, and to assemble once again as a company. Their
voices are shallower now, but they pulled together and belted out their old
fight song anyway:
"Fighting for dear ol' Uncle Sam, 'Go for Broke,' we
don't give a damn."
That was their motto, 'Go for Broke.' They were all of Japanese ancestry,
assigned to a segregated combat team with a few white officers at a time when
suspicion and prejudice ran high.
Many mailed their letters home to bleak internment camps,
where the federal government had sent their families shortly after the outbreak
of war with
Japan
.
They talked about finishing the war, finding their way home
and getting their parents out of the camps.
"That's the way it went in those days," said
Kiyoshi Yoshii, now 87.
He was drafted a few months before his parents were sent to a
Utah
camp; he later lost his arm at the elbow to a German mortar.
"We couldn't do
anything to prevent them being taken."
Ted Tanouye enlisted from
Torrance
shortly after the Japanese bombed
Pearl Harbor
.
He led an infantry platoon into
Italy
in July 1944, and was ordered to seize a rocky hillside where the Germans had
dug in machine-gun nests.
He fought even after
an explosion ripped through his left arm. He fired into a German trench until he
ran out of bullets, then crawled to get more. He refused first aid until his
platoon had captured the crest of the hill.
His actions that day
earned him the Medal of Honor -- a recognition bestowed decades after his death.
He remains the only soldier from
Torrance
to win the nation's highest military award.
He was killed in a
mine explosion a few months after fighting up the hill.
A foundation formed in his honor dedicated a monument of
stone and bronze outside
Torrance
High School
last year.
That's where the 24 veterans gathered on Tuesday in white
short-sleeve shirts with "Go for Broke" stitched onto the chest.
Most had come from
Hawaii
, where they still meet for breakfast once a month. But others had come from
Illinois
and
Colorado
; their last surviving white officer had come from
Ithaca
,
N.Y.
James Yanagida was
shot in the shoulder on the same hill where Tanouye fought.
He remembers ducking for cover behind small boulders,
crawling in places where the hill was too steep to stand, the air crackling with
bullets.
"We fought
together," he said Tuesday.
"Once you get together as a company, it's very hard to
forget each other."
The old soldiers, most of them now in their 80s, placed
wreaths near Tanouye's monument and unveiled a new memorial plaque. It tells his
story in white block letters cut deep into the black granite.
Later in the day, they
planned to watch an award-winning documentary about Tanouye called "Citizen
Tanouye."
"There was nothing they were asked to do that they
couldn't," said Robert Foote, the platoon commander who came from
New York
.
"We were a family. It wasn't this kind of unit" --
he snapped to attention -- "we were family. It was everybody for everybody
else."
8/16/05 Seattle
Post-Intelligencer: Japanese American vets' service to
U.S.
hailed. In
intelligence, they acted as translators, interrogators, code breakers,
by John Iwasaki
Less than a
year after
Japan
attacked Pearl Harbor, Howard Minato -- whose parents emigrated from the
country waging war against the
United States
-- received his draft notice in
Seattle
.
Once inducted, his loyalty was immediately challenged.
"An intelligence officer asked me, 'What would you do if
you were confronted by your brother and he was in a Japanese uniform?' "
the 86- year-old Minato recalled Monday.
Minato replied that the supposition was off base because his
brother was an American. But to answer the hypothetical question, "I said,
'I'd do what you'd do: I'd shoot.' The officer stopped right there and walked
away."
Sixty years after the end of World War II, Minato and other
local veterans, nearly all of them nisei, or second-generation Japanese
Americans, were recognized Monday in resolutions approved by the King County
Council and Seattle City Council.
They served in the Military Intelligence Service, translating
enemy documents and radio transmissions, breaking codes, interrogating prisoners
of war and interpreting during war crime trials. They also played a significant
role in the American occupation of
Japan
and in rewriting
Japan
's constitution.
Other nisei, members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and
100th Infantry Battalion, were highly decorated for fighting the Nazis in
Europe
.
By comparison, the 6,000 men and women who served in the MIS
are lesser known. Their military exploits were classified information and kept
secret for nearly 30 years after the war.
"It was a hush-hush organization," said Tak Matsui,
88, who helped found the Military Intelligence Service Northwest Association in
1980.
Unlike members of the 442nd or 100th, the MIS soldiers did
not have their own unit, another reason for their relative anonymity, said
association President Arthur Yorozu, 78. He said the MIS was always on temporary
duty, attached to
U.S.
and allied units.
Toshio Taniguchi, 84, volunteered for the MIS, serving in
Burma
and
India
.
"I'd listen to (enemy) telephone calls," he said.
"As soon as I'd start listening, they'd cut it off."
It was far more complex than that, according to James
McNaughton, command historian for the Army, who is writing a book about the
history of Japanese Americans in the MIS.
"The MIS nisei used their knowledge of Japanese language
and culture to provide Allied commanders with vital intelligence in every major
battle and campaign" in the Pacific theater, he said.
"Their foremost legacy will remain the Allied victory
over
Japan
, which was achieved in less time and at lower cost than would otherwise have
been possible."
The nisei's service came "while many of their own
families languished behind barbed wire," McNaughton said. More than 110,000
Japanese Americans on the West Coast were incarcerated in desolate camps after
the bombing of
Pearl Harbor
.
Even the Japanese POWs saw the irony.
"When we were in the
Philippines
, they couldn't quite comprehend that there were people of Japanese ancestry in
the U.S. Army," Minato said.
Their MIS duty erased doubts about nisei loyalty and service,
said Hiro Nishimura, 85, another vet recognized Monday. He quoted Maj. General
Charles Willoughby, intelligence chief for Gen. Douglas MacArthur: "The
nisei saved countless allied lives and shortened the war by two years."
That was when they were young men. The 14 silver-haired vets
who showed up Monday are mostly in their 80s, with some leaning on canes.
The Military Intelligence Service Northwest Association once
numbered about 200 men, most of them in the
Seattle
area. Now it's less than half of that locally, with many of them inactive
members.
In December, the association started the legal process of
dissolving their non-profit organization. In July, members voted to divide their
financial assets between the Nisei Veterans Committee, Nikkei Heritage
Association and Densho, the Japanese American Legacy Project.
Not all the MIS vets are nisei. Among those honored Monday
was Olaf Kvamme, a native of
Norway
who grew up in
Fife
. ("He looks white, but he's half-Japanese," quipped one of the other
vets.)
Before reading a resolution honoring the vets, King County
Councilman Dow Constantine summed up their contribution:
"They are a tremendously important group that helped us
in the winning of that war and the winning of that peace."
8/11/05 Lincoln (NE)
Journal Star: New honor for Japanese-American hero,
by Joe Duggan
He remembers the day, but not if it was cloudy or clear.
Doesn't matter no one could discern sky through all the
antiaircraft shells blasting around them.
"You couldn't believe how black it was with all the
explosions," says Ben Kuroki, recalling the World War II bombing mission
over
Munster
,
Germany
, that occurred nearly 62 years ago.
The farm boy from
Hershey
,
Neb.
, saw it all from a B-24 gun turret on his 30th mission. But he never saw the
shrapnel hit the Plexiglas dome above his head.
Suddenly he fell into darkness as thick as the sky around
him.
Then a deafening rush of air.
The feel of an emergency air mask on his face.
Finally, as the B-24 heads back to base, the radio operator
offers to lightly injure Kuroki. It's a gesture of goodwill between brothers in
arms.
"He wanted to pinch my cheek and get blood running down
my face so I'd get a Purple Heart," Kuroki recalls.
Kuroki completed 28 additional bomber missions and in the
process became the only Japanese-American who flew over
Japan
during the war. While he did earn the Distinguished Flying Cross, he never
suffered so much as a scratch in combat, so he never got that Purple Heart.
But this weekend in
Lincoln
, his legion of supporters hopes he will at last receive an even greater honor.
On Saturday, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will bestow
an honorary doctor of letters degree upon the 88-year-old UNL alumnus. On Friday
night, his friends and family hope the military will present Kuroki with the
Distinguished Service Medal, the third highest of the U.S. Army's decorations.
John R. Doyle, a
Lincoln
attorney and highly decorated World War II veteran, said Tuesday there's no
question Kuroki deserves the medal.
"It's just phenomenal he went on that many missions. He
was amazing," Doyle said. "And fighting prejudice all the way, that
was remarkable."
Sen. Ben Nelson has assisted Kuroki's supporters who
petitioned the U.S. Army to upgrade the decoration. W. Don Nelson, the senator's
Nebraska
director, said Tuesday that after several years of providing documentation and
filling out forms, the award has been approved by military authorities. They
remain hopeful they will receive the official certificate and the medal in time
for a presentation dinner at The Cornhusker hotel starting at 6 p.m. Friday.
Reached at his home in
Camarillo
,
Calif.
, Kuroki said Tuesday he feels humbled by the efforts of so many Nebraskans to
see that he receives the Distinguished Service Medal.
"Most importantly, I feel that it gives credence to the
word democracy', and it's Americanism at its very best. I feel that more so
than any personal glory it gives to me."
Kuroki's story of incredible courage is amplified by the
racial discrimination he had to overcome. In an era when the government locked
American citizens of Japanese descent in interment camps, Kuroki repeatedly had
to persuade superior officers to allow him to serve in combat. Along the way, he
manned bomber guns in 58 missions in Europe, North Africa and
Japan
.
He was born in 1917 in Gothenburg, one of 10 children of
Shosuke and Naka Kuroki, Japanese immigrants who later raised their family along
with potatoes and beets near Hershey. He grew up knowing he was different from
his white friends but never feeling the sting of bigotry.
After the attack on
Pearl Harbor
, Kuroki's father urged him and his brother to volunteer for service. He felt
racism for the first time when, despite passing a physical exam, recruiting
officials in
North Platte
refused to enlist the Japanese-American brothers. They had to drive 150 miles
east to find a recruiter in
Grand Island
who would sign up the brothers.
From then on, he had to "fight like hell to fight for my
own country." The technical sergeant proved himself at every opportunity,
and through sheer persistence and the help of those he befriended, he succeeded
in being assigned to a bomber crew.
After flying 25 missions a number that bought a crew
member a ticket home or a noncombat assignment Kuroki volunteered for five
more.
His missions included the harrowing raid on the Ploesti oil
fields in
Romania
a critical fuel source for Hitler's war machine. Flying just over the
treetops, the Americans took heavy losses. Of the nine planes in Kuroki's
squadron, only two returned from the mission.
After a brief time stateside, Kuroki requested to serve with
a 12-man crew on a B-29 bomber, which was being used in the Pacific Theater.
Because there were questions whether a Japanese-American soldier could fight
against the nation of his ancestors, he was flatly denied. But after repeated
requests and a review of Kuroki's stellar service record, Secretary of War Harry
Stinson granted an exception.
The atomic bombs fell after his 28th mission in the Pacific.
After the war, the man called "Most Honored Son" by
his crew mates returned home a hero.
He enrolled at the
University
of
Nebraska
, where he obtained his journalism degree in three years. He published a weekly
newspaper in
York
for a short time before moving to
Michigan
and finally to
California
, where he retired as the news editor of the paper in
Ventura
in 1984.
But he never has been able to walk away from what he calls
his 59th mission speaking against racial intolerance.
"It's definitely improved, but there are still
problems," Kuroki said. "And there probably will be as long as there
are humans."
This weekend, however, he will thank those who have fought
for him.
In addition to Sen. Nelson, the long list of people who have
worked to see Kuroki honored by UNL and with the Distinguished Service Medal
include Sen. John McCain,
University
of
Nebraska Regent Charles Wilson
and members of the 93rd Bomb Group Association. Carroll "Cal" Stewart
of Lincoln, who served with Kuroki in
England
, and his son, Scott Stewart, helped with much of the documentation necessary
for the award application.
"I'm just the luckiest man on the planet," Kuroki
said. "To have these
Nebraska
friends go to bat for me, I cherish that as much as I do receiving the
medal."
An incredible life
1917 Ben Kuroki is born in Gothenberg, one of 10
children of Japanese immigrant parents. He grows up on his parents' potato farm
and graduates from
Hershey
High School
.
1941 After a failed attempt, Kuroki enlists in the
U.S.
Army Air Corps. He's eventually assigned to the 93rd Bombardment Group.
1942 to 1945 He serves as a gunner on B-24 and B-29
bombers on 58 missions in Europe, North Africa and
Japan
. He is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak clusters and
receives an honorable discharge.
1946 Subject of the biography "Boy From
Nebraska
" by Ralph G. Martin.
1950 He graduates from the
University
of
Nebraska
with a degree in journalism. His long career in newspapers takes him from
Nebraska
to
Michigan
to
California
. Along the way, he and his wife, Shige, have three children and four
grandchildren.
1984 Retires from newspapering.
2000 Subject of PBS documentary "Conscience and
the Constitution."
2005 Approved for the Distinguished Service Medal and
honorary doctor of letters degree from UNL.
5/17/05
Hattiesburg
(Miss) American: Veteran of famed Japanese-American regiment dies.
by Janet Braswell
Herbert Sasaki first saw
Camp
Shelby
as a 23-year-old Japanese-American soldier who left his family in an interment
camp to fight with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
While the regiment trained at
Camp
Shelby
, he met Arnice Dyar, a girl from Purvis who worked in a laundry on base. They
married in 1943 and, after serving in Europe during World War II, Sasaki settled
in
Hattiesburg
. He died Friday at age 84.
"He always talked about how the Mississipp-ians
responded to them," Arnice Sasaki said Monday. "He said they took them
in as a family."
After serving in
Europe
with the 442nd and earning a Bronze Star, Sasaki made a living determining the
sex of chickens. He served another four years in the Army during the Korean War
and later became a broker for International Paper Co.
But it was the 442nd and its legacy as the most decorated
unit of World War II that was his life's work, said his daughter, Beverly
Yamamoto of Athens,
Texas.
"It was the most important thing to him - that the 442nd
was recognized for what they did," she said.
Sasaki served 12 years on the board of directors of the Armed
Forces Museum at
Camp
Shelby
.
"He was just an extremely interesting man, a real
'Southern' gentleman from
California
," said Betty Drake, retired museum director. "He was just a
remarkable person. It's a great loss."
Sasaki was active in the museum's evolution from a small
classroom building to a former theater and, finally, to the current $4.5 million
facility.
The 442nd Association, an organization of veterans of the
World War II regiment, is a major financial backer of the museum and paid for
air conditioning the old theater building.
"I remember him as a solid citizen of that board,"
said retired Gen. Mickey Walker of Jackson, chairman of the museum board and
former chief of the National Guard Bureau. "He was just a strong member in
everything we've attempted to do."
But Sasaki didn't push his ideas to the forefront.
"Herb was a man of few words,"
Walker
said. "He didn't have a lot to say. He was more of an action man than he
was a talker."
He was presented the Mississippi Distinguished Civilian
Service Medal for his work at the museum.
The 442nd was made up of Japanese-American soldiers from
California
and
Hawaii
, some of whom had been interned in camps following the start of World War
II.
The 442nd Association returned to
Camp
Shelby
in 1995 for an anniversary reunion. During an interview then, Sasaki remembered
the friction between the
California
soldiers and the natives of
Hawaii
.
"They didn't like to conform to anything," Sasaki
said of the Hawaiians. "They liked to fight. They fought even us because we
thought they were too obnoxious."
5/15/05
Twin Cities Pioneer Press: 'Secret war' echoes: In May 1975, the
U.S.
evacuated Hmong leaders from
Laos
as the
Vietnam
era climaxed. That exodus 30 years ago changed a people and a faraway city.
by Jim Ragsdale
America
's secret war was finally ending in chaos,
and in private.
Tens of thousands of Hmong fighters and their families waited
on a mountain airstrip in northern
Laos
. Gun-toting men, aged parents and mothers nursing babies, their belongings
stuffed into bamboo boxes and overflowing suitcases, all sat on the airfield in
the tropical heat.
They scanned the clouds nestled against the hills, waiting
for a miracle from above. They were hoping to be rescued by the
United States
government, which had surreptitiously armed and directed them since the early
1960s to hold back the communist tide in
Laos
.
The airstrip was as secret as the war itself a remote
U.S.
base not found on any map, in a picturesque town named Long Cheng, where the
headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency was known as "Sky."
Communist forces, bragging they would wipe out their Hmong enemies, had Long
Cheng surrounded.
It was May 14, 1975 30 years ago this weekend and Sky
was falling.
By day's end, the last
U.S.
airplane would lift off to safety in nearby
Thailand
, carrying a few hundred lucky refugees who had fought their way onboard. A
helicopter carrying Gen. Vang Pao, the revered Hmong military leader, also
departed, climaxing a five-day airlift of about 2,500 military officials,
soldiers and their families.
Most of those waiting
on the airstrip would have to leave on foot.
Neither the Hmong, nor an unlikely group of strangers 8,000
miles away, could have grasped the magnitude of the day. The distant and
mysterious war that would forever change the Hmong, and
St. Paul
, was finally over.
Back in
St. Paul
, the drama of Long Cheng was not news. The Pioneer Press carried stories about
the confusing turmoil in the Lao capital of
Vientiane
, a short chopper ride away, and of
U.S.
efforts to recover the
Mayaguez
, a ship seized by
Cambodia
a few days earlier.
A million anglers were expected for the upcoming fishing
opener. The Legislature was finishing work on a $5 billion biennial budget.
St. Paul
was 95 percent white, and Asian immigrants were a novelty. No one knew much
about the secret war in
Laos
. "Hmong" was not a word the city was familiar with.
The airlift would eventually put an estimated 130,000 Hmong
refugees in motion, filling up refugee centers in
Thailand
and resettling primarily in three immigrant-friendly states
California
,
Wisconsin
and
Minnesota
. No one could have imagined that 30 years later, the largest urban
concentration of Hmong refugees and their Hmong-American children would be in
the
St. Paul
area.
No one leaving Long Cheng would have thought to say,
"See you in
St. Paul
!"
The arduous trek to a new home was just beginning.
"THEY WERE THE WAR IN
LAOS"
A generation of war was behind those crowds on the airstrip
fighting Japanese invaders during World War II, helping the French against
insurgents in the 1950s and joining in the U.S.-led "secret war'' against
communists in the 1960s and '70s. Their role as guerrillas and "irregular''
forces meant few people outside of
Southeast Asia
knew who they were.
"They were the war in Laos,'' said Harry Aderholt,
a retired Air Force brigadier general who helped direct air support for Hmong
fighters and was involved with the Long Cheng airlift. "There wouldn't have
been a war in
Laos
if they hadn't been in it.''
Americans know that
U.S.
soldiers fought a long, unpopular and unsuccessful war in
Vietnam
from 1961 to 1973. They have touched the names of U.S. dead etched on the
memorial wall in Washington, D.C., and remember the famous photo of the chopper
leaving a rooftop during the frenzied, ignominious evacuation of Saigon.
Laos
was the war next door, the "other
theater,'' an off-the-books conflict involving thousands of indigenous fighters
who were supplied and directed by the CIA. Its dead are not memorialized
because, legally speaking, there was no war; there is no news photograph of the
frenzied pullout, because Long Cheng was secret, and journalists were kept away.
The Hmong people are an ethnic minority in
Laos
who settled the highlands in the northern half of the country. Their homeland
was central to the war, and critical to
America
's fight against communism.
The coastal strip of North and
South Vietnam
was where the
United States
sent its own troops.
Laos
, around which the two
Vietnams
were wrapped, was "neutral" by treaty but well-traveled by troops,
tanks and weaponry bound for
Vietnam
.
The North Vietnamese were in
Laos
in force, treaties be damned, moving men and material along the Ho Chi Minh
Trail and challenging Lao and Hmong fighters for control of the north. The
United States
decided it could not send in troops, but neither could it ignore
Laos
.
Imagine
Minnesota
at war with
Missouri
and agreeing never to set foot in
Iowa
.
"WE ARE ALLIES OF THE
U.S."
Enter the Hmong.
The Hmong fight for you! Your government,'' says Choua Thao,
a Hmong nurse throughout the war who now works with refugees in the Twin Cities.
"Your husband, your son, can stay here, and not die. But my people, they're
all dead over there.''
Recognizing their reputation as fierce, independent warriors
with a track record of fighting the communists, the
United States
and the Hmong formed a secret alliance, beginning in the late 1950s and coming
to full fruition in the early 1960s.
"They were our freedom fighters, if you will, in Laos,''
said Paul Hillmer, head of the history department at Concordia University in St.
Paul and director of the university's Hmong Oral History Project.
Yang Dao, a Hmong scholar who served in the Lao government at
the end of the war and now lives in
Brooklyn Park
, said it was a mutually beneficial relationship in which the Hmong were
fighting to protect their homeland from communist takeover.
"We are not mercenaries of the CIA,'' he said. "But
we are allies of the U.S.''
Other Lao groups joined in the war, but the Hmong, led by Gen. Vang Pao, were
most closely allied with the U.S. effort, and stood to suffer the most from
defeat. They were a guerrilla force that conducted hit-and-run strikes on
convoys and garrisons, supported by American air power, tying up enemy armies
that would otherwise be able to focus their attention on
Vietnam
.
"They put the pressure on
Laos
to such an extent that the North Vietnamese had to withdraw or withhold troops
from
Vietnam
,'' Aderholt said. "Some 10 or 15 divisions were employed in
Laos
against the Hmong, who would have otherwise been down in the (Vietnamese)
delta, killing Americans.''
It became an off-and-on war of guerrilla forays against the
relentless North Vietnamese Army, an air show of choppers, single-engine spotter
planes, screaming jets and pummeling bombers; of low-level searches for downed
U.S.
pilots, where Hmong fighters often assisted; of terrifying nighttime
bombardments, food drops from friendly American pilots and endless treks by
Hmong refugees hoping to find safer ground.
When Secretary of State Henry Kissinger negotiated a
U.S.
pullout from
Southeast Asia
in January 1973, Vang Pao's forces lost all hope of winning. By 1975, the
outmanned Hmong were pushed down from their mountain homes and into U.S.-run
outposts like Long Cheng.
By most estimates, the toll had been great. Yang Dao
estimates that 15,000 to 20,000 Hmong soldiers died in more than a decade of
fighting, and that total Hmong deaths, including civilians, were 30,000 to
40,000. With a population estimated at 300,000 to 400,000 at the time, that
would mean one of every 10 Hmong was killed during the war.
To put that number in context, consider that some 58,000
Americans were killed or listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War. Had
the
United States
suffered casualties at the same rate as the Hmong, the American death toll
would have exceeded 20 million.
And in those last days, it seemed likely the Hmong death toll
would continue to mount. Tanks of the communist Pathet Lao waited at the
entrance to the Long Cheng valley.
"YOU
COULD FEEL THE ABANDONMENT"
On April 17, 1975,
Cambodia
fell to the communist Khmer Rouge and the murderous Pol Pot.
Saigon
fell the the North Vietnamese on April 30.
"In
Laos
, the Politburo of the Communist Party changed the political tactics,'' said
Yang Dao, the Hmong scholar who was a member of the coalition government at the
time. "They said, 'It's time for us to take over.'''
They got rid of non-communists in the government and moved
quickly, Yang Dao said. "They took control all over the country, except
Long Cheng."
Long Cheng, once the bustling frontier town of swaggering
pilots, discrete CIA men, lifelong Hmong fighters and all manner of airborne
weaponry, was the last holdout. Panic traveled through the air with the rumor
that Vang Pao would be airlifted out.
The normal operations of the town ceased while all eyes
scanned the skies.
Lee Pao Xiong was there in the final days, a young boy whose father was a Hmong
artillery officer determined to push his family through the mobs and onto a
U.S.
transport.
"It was like a deserted town," said Lee Pao Xiong,
now director of the Center for Hmong Studies at
Concordia
University
. "You could feel the tension. You could feel the abandonment."
There was no formal announcement of an airlift.
"You have no idea whether it's going to happen or not,''
Lee Pao Xiong said. "You just hear this rumor there may be an airlift over
there, so you just blindly go over there by yourself, just be ready.''
"ONE
DAY, WE'LL SEE YOU"
Hmong who were elsewhere in
Laos
remember the day, because once their leaders' planes cleared the jagged peaks
protecting the base, their hopes, and their country, were gone.
Long Yang, a radioman and spy for the Hmong forces, gathered
extended family members around a table in his house to help him decide whether
to join the exodus.
"They said, 'We don't want to see you die.' And the
other thing, 'We're going to miss you,'" recalled Long Yang, who now lives
in
Cottage Grove
. "I say, 'Either way, you're going to miss me which way you want?'
"They told me, 'OK, if you die, we will never see you.
But if you leave, you move, and you're alive, one day, we'll see you.'"
Plane space was supposed to go primarily to military leaders
and their families those believed to be most at risk once
Laos
fell. But there were too many people on the runways to enforce that rule.
An estimated 2,500 would crowd onto the planes. According to
Gayle L. Morrison, whose oral history, "Sky Is Falling,'' is the best
description of the airlift, there may have been as many as 50,000 people moving
in and out of the base during the airlift. Most would have to find their own way
out of
Laos
.
For five days, from May 10 until May 14,
U.S.
planes made the trip from Long Cheng across the
Mekong
River
to
U.S.
bases in
Thailand
, according to Morrison. Once Vang Pao agreed to leave, the flights ended.
Pilots of camouflage-colored C-130s and World War II-era
C-46s were surrounded before they taxied to a halt. Crowds pushed their way into
the tail ramps while the planes were still moving. Families pushed children
ahead and aged parents fell in the crush. Guns were everywhere. Baggage
"kickers" shut the ramps against the masses, overloaded planes
lumbered to clear the rocky monolith at the end of the runway, and those left
behind scanned the skies for the next plane.
Lee Pao Xiong still is angry that the airlift was focused on
top military leaders.
"Their leaders left them, abandoned them, and they were
there to fend for themselves,'' Lee Pao Xiong said of those left behind.
But Morrison believes the airlift was a success and a turning
point in Hmong history a foot in the door for refugees who would follow
their leaders to
Thailand
and to the
United States
. The airlift established
Thailand
as a refugee center and avoided a final spasm of violence. A porous border
allowed thousands to follow immediately after the airlift.
"I
STILL RUN INTO PEOPLE WHO ARE RESENTFUL"
Within two days, the communist Pathet Lao took over Long
Cheng without a fight. They found detailed military records that would help
track down their Hmong enemies. Most of those remaining on the runway had to
flee for their lives.
Ahead of the refugees across the ridges above Long Cheng,
across the broad, muddy Mekong separating
Laos
from
Thailand
, across the Pacific to the well-meaning church congregations, resettlement
programs, public housing complexes and English-language night schools in the
nation of their patron lay the future.
Part of that future was Mee Moua, child of a medic in
northern
Laos
, who would find her way across the Mekong to the refugee camps in
Thailand
, to
St. Paul
, to the
University
of
Minnesota
law school and a seat in the Minnesota Senate the first Hmong refugee
elected to a state legislature.
Today, Moua says, Minnesotans are still amazed to learn the
details of the Hmong role in the war, and the direct link between that role and
their presence in
Minnesota
.
"I still run into people who are resentful their
perception is that the Hmong came here illegally,'' she said.
She said she believes the historic secrecy of the war in
Laos
, and of the Hmong role, makes it harder to be accepted as
U.S.
veterans. She sees one of her roles as telling the odd, amazing, heroic and
terrifying stories of her parents' generation.
Those stories, with bursts of nervous laughter replacing
gunfire, remind listeners that the
United States
chose the Hmong not the other way around. Today, we would do well to
remember the debt owed the Hmong people, and how a distant war changed us
forever.
2/25/05 Pasadena Star News:
Marine honored with tree planting,
By Jason Kosareff , Staff Writer
Rosemead
-- Officials, family and friends gathered Friday at
Bitely
Elementary School
to plant a tree in honor of a young Marine killed in
Iraq
during the attack on Fallujah.
Lance Cpl. Victor Lu, 22, of
Lincoln
Heights
, was praised as a courageous fighter and beloved relative by his family and as
a role model by state and local officials who came to pay respects.
Lu was killed by enemy fire Nov. 13. He was buried Nov. 26 at
the
Los Angeles
National
Cemetery
in Westwood. He is survived by his parents, four sisters and a brother.
About 100 community members and
Garvey
School District
employees watched as family and local dignitaries planted a roughly 8-foot-tall
evergreen sapling. Lu's mother, Nham Nu, cried as she looked on.
"The loss of Victor has not been easy,' said Lu's
sister, Jessica Lu, who works for
Garvey
School District
. "Victor was a loving son, brother and friend.'
Lu was a stocky guy with a shaved head and an easy smile.
Three poster boards were placed near the newly planted tree, each showing dozens
of photographs of Lu enjoying time with family and friends. A black marble
plaque marked the tree as dedicated to Lu.
Lu's father, Xuong Lu, of
Lincoln
Heights
, said his son wanted to be a fighter like his father. Xuong Lu fought for the
South Vietnamese army during that country's civil war.
"We all have an ache in our heart today,' said Sen.
Gloria Romero, D-East Los Angeles.
Lu was the first Asian American from
Southern California
to die in the war, Romero said.
Garvey board president Bob Breusch called Lu "an example
of the best this country has to offer.'
Assemblywoman Judy Chu, D- Monterey Park, praised Lu for his
sacrifice.
"He deserves our recognition,' she said.
"So strong was his belief in the American dream that he
was willing to join the armed forces to protect that dream,' said Garvey board
member Henry Lo.
2/10/05 The
Sunfire Group
Retired Col. Young O. Kim Receives French Legion of Honor Award from Government
of France
Los Angeles (February 8, 2005) - The Consul General of France
Los Angeles presented the highly decorated World War II and Korean War veteran
Colonel Young O. Kim (Ret.) with the National Order of The Legion of Honor award
("Lgion d'honneur") from the government of France on Friday,
February 4.
9/17/04
Associated Press: Sen. Inouye, Grandfather-in-waiting
By B.J. Reyes
Honolulu - In his office, significant honors over eight
decades - college diplomas, civic honors, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star and
other military awards for valor - overshadow the tiny scrap of yellowed paper
set off to the side.
"This I'm proudest about, above all else," Sen.
Daniel Inouye says, pointing out the "junior police officer"
certificate he received in elementary school.
His humor is part of the style that has helped the seven-term
Democrat and third most senior senator become arguably the most powerful
politician
Hawai'i
has ever seen.
On Sept. 7, the decorated World War II veteran known to
constituents simply as "Dan" did not take time off to celebrate his
milestone 80th birthday.
"I'll go to my office because we resume our session on
that day - it's a Tuesday," he says.
Inouye's work has kept him busy since he was elected as the
first U.S. House member from the new state of
Hawai'i
in 1959. He was elected to a full term in 1960 before winning his Senate seat
in 1962.
All of this after his distinguished service in World War II,
when he served with the Army's storied, "go for broke" 442nd
Regimental Combat Team made up almost entirely of Japanese Americans. The
experience cost him his right arm, which was shredded by a German rifle grenade
as he led an attack in
Italy
that killed 25 Germans and captured eight others.
It also earned him the Medal of Honor, further cementing his
popularity among
Hawai'i
residents who first voted him into the Territorial Legislature in 1954.
When he's not campaigning for his eighth term this year or
working, he's beckoned by an estimated 50 dinner or reception invitations a day,
especially to a man who has "never had a vacation in [his] life."
"But this may surprise you," he says. "I have
dinner with my wife - and we've been married for 55 years now - about six nights
a week."
Inouye is quick to thank his wife, Maggie, for her patience
and understanding through his five decades in public office.
"I know what she has been through. It's not an easy
life," he says.
That's part of the reason weekends at home in
Maryland
are more important to him than going on a real vacation. Whether it's just
spending time with his wife or their son, Daniel Jr., 40, who drops by once or
twice a week, that's just fine with Inouye.
But he hasn't let up in his fight for the Akaka bill or
funding scholarships on behalf of Native Hawaiians, a promise he made to his
mother, Kame, who died 13 years ago.
Orphaned at age 4 - Kame's mother died during childbirth, and
her father died working on a plantation near Lahaina - young Kame was taken in
by a Native Hawaiian couple.
"She always looked back [at it] as the happiest moments
in her life, and she always made me promise that I would do whatever possible to
show her gratitude to them. She says, 'I can't do it, but you can do it.'"
And before it's all over, he hopes to add the one title that
has eluded him, although it's not one that won't be his call. That will be up to
his son, who just got married in May.
"I'm looking forward," he says with a broad smile,
"to when I may have a new title to my name: grandfather."
6/23/04 Sacramento
Bee:
"Iraq death hits Willows: Hmong family mourns its loss,"
Chou
Vue's father and brother were killed in Laos as they fought for the U.S.
government during the Vietnam War.
On Friday, he lost his son.
Spc. Thai Vue died Friday in
Baghdad
when a mortar round hit a group of vehicles where he was working. The
22-year-old mechanic served with the U.S. Army's 127th Military Police Company,
709th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade.
Hmong leaders in
Sacramento
say they believe he is the first Hmong American to die in the
Iraq
war. There appear to be no Hmong names listed in a Defense Department
compilation of American casualties.
"Certainly
everybody's going to be saddened by this," said Terry Taylor-Vodden, mayor
of Willows, population 6,200, where Vue's family lives. The City Council planned
to note his death Tuesday, apparently the first fatality of the war from
Glenn
County
, Taylor-Vodden said.
Chou Vue, 50, sat in his house packed with grieving relatives
Tuesday and recalled how, after his family members were shot, he picked up a gun
at age 12 and fought until those in his village fled to Thai refugee camps.
There, Thai was born.
Grateful for being able to immigrate in 1984, Vue wanted his
sons to serve in the
U.S.
military.
"I like to help the American government," he said.
His eldest son, Thor, 27, served three years in the Navy.
Then Thai enlisted in the Army.
Alan, 19, the third of five brothers, is supposed to be next.
Chou Vue prefers that he stay in college for now, but still
wants him to serve.
"It's an honor to go fight for
America
," Vue said through a translator, a relative whose father also fought and
was wounded in
Laos
.
Vue is upset, though,
that the government isn't providing enough money to have a traditional three-day
Hmong funeral. Family members are already finding it difficult to wait for the
body to arrive, because Hmong funerals are usually conducted immediately.
At the Willows
residence, relatives have been eating a traditional pork stew, playing cards
late into the night, and trying to fit in the living room to sleep. Little
children ran through the house on Tuesday, fighting and playing with candy, as
Thai Vue's grandmother, Chue Lee, looked on stoically.
She had not wanted her
son, Chou Vue, to fight in
Laos
, just as Thai Vue's mother opposed his enlistment.
Since her son died, Chia Thao keeps close a framed photograph
of him in uniform. She sleeps with it, she said.
Thai Vue's high school grades were bad. He got in trouble for
ditching class and carving on his desk, said his girlfriend Nancy Lee, 21.
He told Lee he wanted
to join the military to turn his life around, so he could marry her and raise a
family. He enlisted after graduation.
On Friday, Thai Vue
called Lee from
Iraq
during his lunch break. It was 1:30 a.m. here and Lee was up studying for her
organic chemistry final at the University of the Pacific in
Stockton
.
"I told him that
he should be careful over there, and he should always watch his back," Lee
said, a tear streaming down from each eye.
She heard of his death
that night.
The last time she saw him was in April, just before he
shipped off to
Iraq
. He was crying.
"He said he was scared this might be the last time, he
might not be able to come back to me," she said.
Thai Vue, who loved SpongeBob SquarePants and pro wrestling,
was lonely in the military, so far away from his family, his brothers said.
But he had wanted to
follow in the footsteps of his father and brother. The brothers had been raised
on military videos.
"There's a sense
of duty," said Thor Vue, now studying at the
University
of
California
,
Berkeley
, Boalt Hall School of Law.
The parents had urged
Alan Vue to continue his education at
Butte
College
, but he wanted to enlist last winter.
His recruiter put on the pressure, he said.
But his brother Thai, on a visit, convinced him not to.
"Why don't you just go to school," Thai told him.
"I took his advice."
Now, though, he's itching to go, if only because it will make
him feel closer to
Thai.
A fresh, glistening tatoo on his shoulder reads "In Loving Memory of Thai
Vue."
"If I had the
chance right now to go, I would go in a heartbeat," he said. "But I
have to think of my parents, too."
6/3/04: ASIAN AMERICANS REMEMBER D-DAY: They also
ask that their contributions not be forgotten
By Sam Chu Lin
A visitor to Kenny Gong's home in Cleveland, Mississippi will
quickly notice a picture frame with World War II medals and photographs
prominently displayed in the living room. They are reminders that he was among
the thousands of paratroopers who dropped behind enemy lines in France on D-Day.
One photograph shows him proudly cradling a machine gun in his arms, a good clue
as to why his colleagues in the 101st Airborne nicknamed the 17-year-old
paratrooper "Machine Gun Gong."
In nearby Greenville, Jack Wong and his wife Fannie are
thumbing through an old newspaper acknowledging him as one of the city's three
honorary grand marshals in last December's Christmas parade and for his service
during World War II. Wong was in the Army Signal Corp and was among the tens of
thousands of soldiers who waded through the waters onto Omaha Beach only days
after the initial invasion took place.
Delbert Wong, a Los Angeles judge, is sitting in his Silver
Lake home, ready to watch the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Minnesota
Timberwolves in the final Western Conference championship game [Lakers' won.]. A
model of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber like the one he flew as a navigator sits
on a coffee table nearby. As a Lieutenant, Wong served in the 401 Bomb Group of
the 8th Air Force during World War II. He's thankful that he survived 30
missions over Germany and Berlin. Those raids, he says, helped to pave the way
for D-Day.
In Santa Barbara, Roy Fong is in the garage repairing a
drawer to an old refrigerator while his wife is preparing a salmon sandwich in
the kitchen for lunch. During World War II, he was a radio operator stationed at
Warmwell, a P-38 Lightning and Spitfire base in Southern England and helped to
guide fighter pilots home. He recently celebrated his 80th birthday. He soon
plans to call a friend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to remember D-Day.
On that fateful day, Gong says it was about 1:30 in the
morning when a C-47 dropped him and his fellow paratroopers near Saint-Mere
Eglise. As the men jumped from their plane into the dark night air, they were
greeted with a deadly 4th of July fireworks show. "There were plenty of
ack-ack guns," Gong recounted. "I was so scared. The man ahead of me
got shot through the stomach. I landed in a ditch near hedgerows with Germans
running all around me. It took me a day to get back to my unit."
The 80-year-old World War II veteran is proud of his military
service. He smiles as he wishfully thinks that perhaps one day a book might be
written including his wartime experiences. He notes that he has collected war
souvenirs including a German Luger, but his voice becomes serious when he talks
about those who made the supreme sacrifice on that fateful June 6 six decades
ago.
"When I think about that day," he related, "I
get sick all over. I think about all of the dead people. I don't want to watch
any television shows about D-Day. I went through the real thing."
In contrast, 82-year-old Jack Wong vividly remembers the many
bodies on Omaha Beach and his own close calls with German snipers, but he feels
differently about this 60th anniversary. "This D-Day anniversary means a
lot to me," Wong stated. "It brings back a lot of memories. I was
drafted to protect the liberty and freedom we so cherish in this country. In
boot camp, I met with men who came from all over the country. I learned a lot,
and I matured a whole lot."
Wong was with the 12th Army Group and on D- Day, he and other
troops were amassed on the southern tip of England. Fate dealt them a positive
hand. They were held in reserve and didn't go in on the first wave. When they
arrived, fierce fighting continued.
"We got off a transport ship into a landing craft,"
the Mississippi Delta veteran remembered. "Near shore we waded in knee deep
water. Many bodies were floating in the water. The Germans were firing artillery
and machine guns at us, and our battleships and troops fired back at them."
"Our main job was to intercept German radio messages and
to turn over that information to G2 intelligence," he continued on.
"They would decode those messages and feed it to headquarters to let them
know where the German armored divisions were deployed and what they were up
to."
Wong emphasizes all Americans --- especially Asian Pacific
Americans --- should appreciate the sacrifices that the veterans of World War II
and other conflicts have made for this country.
He is thankful that his city, which once denied Chinese
Americans the right to send their children to once segregated white schools or
to use the local hospital facilities, has recognized veterans like himself for
their contributions and honored them.
"We have more liberty and freedom than any other country
in the world," he commented. "Many people including Asian Americans
sacrificed their lives to protect that liberty and freedom that we enjoy. The
people who are new in this country should be educated about that history so they
too will appreciate the sacrifices that have been made, and they'll be
encouraged to do what they can to protect that liberty and freedom."
Judge Wong, who later became the first person of Chinese
descent to be appointed to the judiciary in the continental United States, says
that the Allied bomb raids over Germany helped to eliminate Hitler's air power
so an invasion could take place.
"There were few (German) airplanes flying over
D-Day," Judge Wong noted. "If there were more, they would have strafed
our troops and we couldn't have had the invasion."
The retired superior court judge had completed his 30
missions on June 2nd and was scheduled to go home just before the D-Day
invasion, but he and his fellow crewmembers were held in reserve just in case
they were needed. He says the bombers paid a heavy price to pave the way for
D-Day to happen.
"We flew the last hour to Berlin without fighter
cover," he recounted. "The city was surrounded by over 400 gun
batteries. We lost 60 bombers. At the same time, our division was credited with
400 enemy aircraft destroyed in one day. We didn't know what to shoot at because
there were so many fighters coming through. They came so close you could see the
pilots' faces as they went whizzing by."
On another mission, German fighters raked Wong's B-17 dubbed
the "Dry Run" with 17 direct hits. A waist gunner was killed and two
other crewmembers were wounded. The bomber limped back to England and crashed
landed at a British fighter base.
Judge Wong feels the media and historians should make more of
an effort to recognize the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans during World
War II, especially with the 60th anniversary of D-Day approaching.
"I think that the 100th Battalion / 442nd Nisei
Regimental Combat Team has not gotten as much coverage or attention that they
deserve," he cited as example. "They are the most decorated unit in
U.S. military history. We don't really hear about them except in the Asian
press, and they should get more coverage."
Roy Fong, who was a sergeant and radio operator in the 9th
Air Force of the Army Air Corps, says if anyone looked up at the sky on D-Day it
was clear an invasion was under way.
"With 10,000 planes up in the air ---- maybe more, some
going in one direction and others going in another direction," the retired
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employee noted, "you couldn't
count them. They were headed for Normandy and then coming back to reload. On
June 6th our squadron commander didn't come back. He was shot down."
There had been plenty of air activity going on for a solid
week. The former radio operator says he couldn't hear the machine gun fire, but
he knew when the pilots were in combat by listening to them on the radio.
"They'd say, 'Bandit at two o'clock high! There's one coming in at four
o'clock,'" he recounted. "When they finished their missions, the
pilots radioed us back. We set up homing beacons to guide them in."
Years later Fong was reminded of how important a role he
played. Several attendees at a veterans' reunion nonchalantly identified him as
a "cook." "I was the only Asian in my fighter group," he
said.
His wife Elizabeth quickly interjected, "Pilots that
knew Roy quickly said, 'No, No, he's not a cook! He brought us home safely.
That's why we're here at this reunion.'" Fong added, "It would be
great if more people realized that Asian Americans contributed much to help win
the war."