Go For Broke (www.goforbroke.org): World War II Japanese American veterans

Japanese American Veterans Association at www.javadc.org


4/25/08 Los Angeles Times: “Filipino WWII veterans win Senate vote on military benefits The measure would expand support for those who helped U.S. troops fight Japan . The House plans a similar bill.”
By Nicole Gaouette and Richard Simon
    Washington -- Sixty-three years after the end of World War II, an aging and dwindling group of Filipino veterans who fought alongside American forces against the Japanese is nearing victory in its long legislative battle for military benefits.
    The Senate approved a measure Thursday that would expand benefits to those veterans, many of whom live in California . The House is expected to take up a similar measure before the end of the year.
    "We have been waiting for this for the last 60 years; you can imagine how happy we are," said Faustino "Peping" Baclig, 86, a former guerrilla officer and survivor of the Bataan Death March who is now a U.S. citizen living in Whittier .
    Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), a World War II veteran and chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, sponsored the measure. "The Filipino veterans of World War II fought bravely under U.S. military command, helping us win the war," he said. "I commend my colleagues for supporting those veterans who stood with us."
    Republican opposition to creating a new pension benefit had blocked action on the Filipino provision until Thursday's vote. But debate over the measure, part of a larger bill to expand or extend benefits to all veterans, split along a generational divide, with WWII veterans from both parties backing the bill.
    "I see this as a matter of honor," said Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who noted that there were only five WWII vets left in the Senate. "I know some of my younger colleagues might see this as expensive. About 1 million Filipinos were killed in defense of our country. This bill restores their benefits . . . how long can that last? I appeal to the Senate."
    The Senate voted 56 to 41 to defeat an effort by Sen. Richard M. Burr (R-N.C.) to redirect the pension funds toward U.S. veterans.
    The veterans bill, which passed 96 to 1, would enhance life insurance benefits for disabled veterans younger than 65 and for veterans who have suffered traumatic injuries since 2001. It would also increase some housing benefits for veterans with severe burn injuries and augment some labor and education benefits for veterans.
    The bill is expected to cost less than $1 billion over five years, but is "budget neutral," meaning its cost has been covered with savings found elsewhere.
    The Filipino veterans provision creates about $250 million in new benefits over 10 years. Of that, about $84 million will go to Filipinos in the United States for such benefits as grants to modify homes for disabled vets. The other $166 million would pay pension benefits to Filipino veterans in the Philippines who fought under U.S. command but were not injured. There are about 6,000 Filipino veterans in the U.S. and 12,000 in the Philippines .
    The measure faces an uncertain fate, as the Bush administration has expressed concern about the cost of expanding the benefits to Filipino veterans living in the Philippines . 
    Filipino veterans, many now in their 80s and 90s, have waged a decades-long struggle to secure benefits they say were promised when they responded to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's call in 1941 to fight the Japanese. 
    Many fought as regular soldiers in the U.S armed forces and received regular benefits. But many more fought in Philippine forces that were under the command of the U.S. military. 
    A 1942 legal opinion by the Veterans Administration determined that the soldiers were eligible for benefits on the same basis as U.S. veterans. But many saw that decision as disproportionately benefiting Filipinos because of the lower cost of living in the Philippines . In 1946, Congress decided those soldiers would "not be deemed to be or to have been" in the military. 
    Over the years, Filipino veterans, many of whom survived the infamous Bataan Death March, chained themselves to the statue of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, their former commander, in Los Angeles' MacArthur Park, and to the White House fence to call attention to their cause.
    Senate Republicans argued that the $166 million that the pension provision is projected to cost would be better spent on U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan . They pointed out that the U.S. has invested heavily in the Philippines and that injured Filipino veterans get full benefits, including special burial rates and access to veterans hospitals.
    "I'm not sure anyone can say we didn't do our share," Burr said. His amendment would have used the money to help injured U.S. veterans modify homes and vehicles, as well as increase burial benefits for families of veterans who die in service or from related injuries.
    Burr said Thursday's vote "is quite frankly about our veterans today." He acknowledged the debt of WWII veterans, including his own 87-year-old father, who served in the Pacific, and the painful nature of the debate over the Filipino provision. "I hope this is the last time while I'm here that . .. the veterans committee brings a bill to the floor that does not have bipartisan support," he said. 
    The Senate's veterans delivered passionate speeches in favor of the measure. "This bill has a provision of honor," said Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), a cosponsor of the measure who lost an arm while fighting with the Japanese American 442nd Regiment in Italy . 
    Stevens gave younger members of the Senate a small refresher course in the war's history. "These people were the keys to the Pacific," he said. "Without them, we would have seen war for another few years. They gave us the time to survive."

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 Taguba’s 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 doesn’t 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 Women’s 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 Japan’s 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 Merrill’s 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 Hawai‘i state Rep. John Mizuno, D-Alewa Heights-Kalihi. “We already have a stamp of Yoda, a character in Star Wars. I don’t think it’s 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 Hawai‘i, 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 Hawai‘i 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 Hawai‘i 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. — It’s an endless process of waiting, of not knowing why or how, but that’s 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 Development’s 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 isn’t 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 it’s 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, DC—The 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 w