JAPANESE AMERICAN VETERANS ASSOCIATION
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 12, 2005
CONTACT: Terry Shima (301-987-6746); ttshima@worldnet.att.net)
FOR PHOTO: Go to JAVA website, www.javadc.org. Scroll down left side to Press
Release. Click on Press Release, this subject.
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SEATTLE HONORS NISEI VETERANS IN GRAND TRIBUTE. SENATOR INOUYE KEYNOTE SPEAKER.
FORMER CHAIRMAN OF JCS AND GOVERNOR GREGOIRE PARTICIPATE.
Seattle, Washington. One hundred twenty Nisei veterans, representing 33,000
Japanese American men and women who served in the armed forces in WW II, were
honored on Veterans Day, November 11, 2005, at the University of Washington’s
Meany Hall in Seattle, Washington. Over 1,100 ticket holders, including many
from across the nation, braved the rain to honor the Nisei, including 814 who
were killed in action, and to listen to Senator Daniel K. Inouye’s keynote
address. The organizer was Densho, the Japanese American Legacy Project.
Prominent military, government, business and community leaders, including
Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire, participated in this event.
Mr. Tom Ikeda, Executive Director of Densho, said this event, held 60 years
after the end of WW II, will share the experiences of Japanese American veterans
so “we will learn to be closer and work together.” Ikeda established Densho in
1996 to document oral histories but it has since expanded its mission “to
educate, preserve and inspire action for equality.” In spite of overt prejudice
and discrimination culminating in Presidential Order 9066 forcing an evacuation
from the West Coast, over 1,000 Japanese Americans volunteered from internment
camps for combat with the US Army to prove their loyalty to their country. Ikeda
believes that the majority of Americans are unaware of the Japanese American
experience during WW II.
The Nisei veterans, including Inouye, wearing their medals, walked together onto
the stage. They were accorded a prolonged standing ovation. General Richard B.
Meyers, recently retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said “I can’t
imagine being anywhere else than in Seattle with these great men”.
(left to right) General
Meyers (USAF, ret)
and Senator Inouye (Right) at Densho's
Tribute to Veterans. Photo credit: Densho.
Inouye, a Medal of Honor holder and Honorary Chair of the Japanese American
Veterans Association, spoke of his parents leaving Japan to settle in Hawaii,
the impact on Issei and Nisei of Japan’s attack of Pearl Harbor, the distrust of
Japanese Americans by their government, the response for volunteers from
internment camps to serve in the segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the
amelioration of the discord between mainland and Hawaii Nisei, and the
experience of witnessing discrimination in southern United States.
Senator
Inouye, following his keynote address, acknowledging the applause.
Photo credit: Ann-Marie Stillion/Northwest Asian Weekly
Inouye graphically described the ferocity of combat, the sufferings caused to
the civilian population, the human side of the enemy soldier and battle
formations. He discussed his final day of combat on April 21, 1945, when he was
wounded and required 17 transfusions of blood, provided by soldiers of the
African American 92nd Infantry Division, to which the 442nd RCT was attached.
“So when the civil rights legislation came up, I believe I was the only African
American in the Senate. … Thanks to them, I’m here today, and I’m always
grateful to them.” Inouye talked of the discrimination at Oakland, California
where he walked into a barbershop in full dress uniform with four rows of
ribbons and was told, “We don’t cut Jap hair.”
Inouye said the United States is a great country for admitting its mistakes in
the forced evacuation and internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans. He said the
monetary compensation of the redress was important, but the acknowledgement of
and apology for the mistake demonstrates the greatness of America. “Well, I
served in a great country, I’m proud to do so.” Inouye concluded his remarks by
thanking all the veterans, not just those of WW II, because “if it weren’t for
the veterans, I don’t think this nation would be as great as it is today.”
The full text of Inouye’s powerful speech can be found in www.javadc.org and
www.densho.org/tribute. 30