Aloha SALUTE!
Originally posted: November 2, 2011
Today, proud, elderly, Japanese-American veterans
of World War II,
including 60 honorees from our Hawaii
finally
received
their Congressional Gold Medal.
received
their Congressional Gold Medal.
More than 400 Nisei veterans took part
in Congressional Gold Medal events.
Today's ceremony took place
in Emancipation Hall
at the U.S. Capitol.
The medal was awarded collectively
to the 100th Infantry Battalion,
click on the photos to be awed
and the Military Intelligence Service.
They served this country with much-noted heroism despite the fact that some had parents and siblings confined to internment camps at a time when Japanese Americans faced distrust unmatched by anything directed towards German Americans.
Jack Nakamura, 88,
who was wounded twice
told a reporter last week:
"That's one reason why I joined, volunteered, too.
They were calling me 'Jap' and stuff like that.
My mother said, 'No, don't join up.'
But I joined up anyway," recalled Nakamura,
a 100th Infantry Battalion veteran.
"After all that we went through and all that,
and to be recognized for what we did
and all that, I'm grateful to the government
for awarding us this medal,"
said Takashi Shirakata,
a 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran.
When these veterans arrived in Washington, D.C. this past Monday morning they received a special honor at the airport as their plane was saluted with jets of water from airport firefighters.
The medal itself will be archived at the
Smithsonian Institution.
Each Hawaii veteran will receive their own as well.
Many of these aging heroes aren't able to attend the Washington events, so a celebration is being planned
for them here in Waikiki in December.
I walk past this memorial on my way
to my Waikiki Post Office
If we
would put country and family
ahead of self
as these men did,
many losing their lives,
their companions,
then America
would be
America
again.
Amen.
Thank You for sharing in this.
YOUR comment is valued.
warmly, cloudia
