Japanese American Veterans Association

e-Advocate

Vol. 2, No. 33, May 1, 2021

President’s Message

Gerald Yamada, JAVA President

In celebration of National Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I want to share with you the lessons that all Americans can learn from the legacy forged by Japanese American soldiers who served during World War II. These lessons were the subject of my presentation last month to the Coalition of Veterans Organizations in the Chicago area.

I started with the prewar prejudice and resentment in America against persons of Japanese ancestry. Built on prewar overt discrimination, government officials used war hysteria to further their prejudice and political ambitions to disrupt the lives of 120,000 innocent persons of Japanese ancestry. I credited how Japanese Americans who served in World War II proved their loyalty and restored the freedoms and dignity of the Japanese American community.  I summarized the reasons why the governmental actions to forcibly remove 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast to military-styled prison camps were illegal and unjust.

I explained how Japanese Americans reacted when they were asked to serve in the military as the way to show their loyalty to America. Thirty-three thousand (33,000) Japanese American men and women decided to serve.  They kept their faith in America and its opportunities. 

Japanese American soldiers served beyond expectations, defeating America’s enemies and against prejudice at home. Their valor and sacrifices made them America’s heroes, and a grateful Nation has bestowed many tributes in their honor. Their service created a legacy for future generations.

In concluding my presentation, I pointed out that there are four lessons that all Americans can embrace from the legacy that was forged by the World War II Japanese American soldiers. It is not just a Japanese American story. It is an American story. 

First, the Japanese American soldiers’ willingness to put themselves in harm’s way to show their loyalty promotes patriotism, freedom, and equality as American values. 

Second, their legacy urges all Americans to keep faith in America and its values, as did the Japanese American soldiers during World War II, to overcome the hate and prejudice that divided Americans. 

Third, the Japanese American soldiers’ willingness to serve to overcome the public distrust of their ethnicity condemns racial profiling. Actions by governmental officials to promote fear, hatred, and prejudice based solely on ethnicity are not acceptable. 

Fourth, their legacy symbolizes the best of American democracy – America committed a wrong, admitted its mistakes, took responsibility, made amends, and affirmed its commitment to equal justice for all. 

As we begin May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, let us renew our commitment to JAVA’s mission to embrace the Japanese American soldiers’ legacy from World War II by promoting these lessons that are important for all Americans to follow. 

73rd Annual Memorial Day Service

Please Join Us* 

Sunday, May 30, 2021

10:00 am ET / 1:00 pm PT / 4:00 pm HT

Arlington National Cemetery Columbarium 

“Honoring the Legacy of the Nisei Soldiers”

LTG Michael K. Nagata, USA (Ret)

Distinguished Speaker 

 Japanese American Citizens League, Washington DC Chapter Japanese American Veterans Association

National Japanese American Memorial Foundation

Event to be livestreamed on JAVA Facebook

Click Here To Watch!

*ANC may have restrictions on the number of attendees. We will update event details once we are notified of ANC's policy. 

VA Adds New Features on Veterans Legacy Memorial Website in Time for Memorial Day

VA's Veteran Legacy Memorial website. Photo: Screenshot.

In time for Memorial Day 2021, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemetery Administration (NCA)  has upgraded the capabilities of the Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM) website (https://www.va.gov/remember).  The new VLM experience includes a complete redesign for a fresh look, better usability, and more ways to submit content. And for the first time, VLM visitors may upload photos and documents to a Veteran’s VLM page.

The Veterans Legacy Memorial website is the nation’s first digital platform dedicated entirely to the memory of the 3.7 million Veterans interred in VA national cemeteries. Launched in 2019, the site gives every Veteran interred in a VA national cemetery his or her own dedicated web page, with information such as dates of birth and death, military branch, highest rank held, conflicts in which the Veteran served, and significant military awards received.  The site also includes headstone photographs and mapped locations for most Veterans, with more being added every day. Last May, family, friends, and visitors gained the ability to leave “Tributes” or comments on a Veteran's personal page.  

Coming this May, visitors to VLM will be able to submit photos and biographical summaries of a Veteran’s life, along with historical documents such as award citations, letters, and newspaper clippings.  Another feature will allow visitors to follow their Veteran's page and receive email alerts when new content is posted. 

• In the past year, more than 9,000 tributes have been shared on Veterans’ VLM pages. The site has become a place for families, friends, and fellow Veterans to remember those who have gone before them. For many families, it has become a way to show the impact a Veteran has had on their lives long after their military service had ended, as we see in this tribute to a Veteran interred at Puerto Rico National Cemetery:

"Grandpa, thanks for everything. For providing for a family and bringing us so much happiness. For always taking care of us until your last breath. For always having a smile and laughing at your grandchildren. We love you and we thank you so much not only for your years of service to the country but to your family. Love you grandpa."

All content submitted to VLM is reviewed by Veterans Legacy Memorial administrators before being posted to the site to ensure dignity and decorum consistent with VA national cemetery standards. Visitors to the site can also flag any questionable content for further review by administrators.

The National Cemetery Administration operates 155 national cemeteries and 34 soldiers' lots and monument sites in 43 states and Puerto Rico. For Veterans not buried in a VA national cemetery, VA provides headstones, markers or medallions to commemorate their service. Information on VA burial benefits is available from local VA national cemetery offices, online at https://www.va.gov/burials-memorials/ or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 800-827-1000. To make burial arrangements at any open VA national cemetery at the time of need, call the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 800-535-1117.

March 29: National Vietnam War Veterans Day

Jack Seitoku Nakamura, Co B, 100^th Battalion, Writes Letter to his Children and Grandchildren

Jack Nakamura. Reprint approved per Ednote below.

[EdNote. This “Story of My Life”, dated September 26, 2014, is reprinted from the 100th Battalion Veterans Hawaii website. We thank Sandra Tanamachi, who provided the article and obtained approval from Ann Kabasawa, President 100th Veterans Hawaii, to reprint it. Kabasawa also obtained for Tanamachi the following information from Jack Nakamura who also approved the reprint of the Letter and provided the photos for our use.  Nakamura who is 98 shared that  his middle name is Seitoku. His wife is the late Alice Masuoka and they have two children. The Nakamura's resided in Pearl City followed by Aiea. Jack Nakamura was employed by H&R Block as an auditor and instructor. Finally, he worked for the Internal Revenue Service at Barber's Point as an auditor. Nakamura volunteered for the 442nd, was assigned to Co B, trained in Camp Shelby, MS, was shipped to Italy as a replacement to the 100th Battalion, and served in all 442nd campaigns. He was wounded twice.]

September 26, 2014

STORY OF MY LIFE by Jack Nakamura

To my children and grandchildren:

 I was born and raised in Ewa Village, a small sugar plantation, which was also called “B Village.” One day while playing kickball I heard drumbeats and somebody singing “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Climb, Climb Up Sunshine Mountain.” Later, I found out that it was Captain and Mrs. Sainsbery of the Salvation Army. This was my introduction to Christianity because I grew up in a Buddhist town and my mother and father were Buddhist. I never was a Buddhist, but I believe there are no bad religions. 

Mother and father were the most important people in my life while I was growing up. One day while playing in the street I got hurt and started crying and ran to my mother. Mother came out of the house and held me in her arms and it didn’t hurt anymore. Ironically, when I became a soldier and the enemy shell blew me 20-25 feet, I did not call for mother but called for God and did not find God. The second time I was wounded, I found myself calling for mom. Many other soldiers called for their moms when they were wounded or thought they were dying. 

Between the ages of 12 to 17 I was in the Boy Scouts of America. However, at about age 14 I was more interested in school, especially studying English and Japanese. I earned my Boy Scouts Star and Life Scout Badges and became an Eagle Scout about the time when war broke out between the Japanese and the United States. 

On December 7, 1941, a cold Sunday morning, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Barbers Point, Hickam Airfield and Kaneohe Marine Base. I heard bombs falling everywhere. At first I thought it was a maneuver, but minutes later realized that the bullets were real. When some bullets ripped by my feet and our outhouse, that was when I knew we were being attacked. All the neighborhood kids ran to their own houses. 

I was curious to see more of the action so I climbed up on the roof of our house. I saw a dog fight between an American plane and a Japanese plane. One plane burst into flames and dove into the ocean and the other one flew away. When the Japanese air force attacked our airplanes and ships, all of Hawaii was damaged and hurt. At that time many Japanese Americans were serving in the 298th and 299th infantry regiments of the Hawaii National Guard. As the initial shock of the attack wore off, loyalty of the Americans of Japanese ancestry (or AJA) came into question. For months Caucasian politicians and military leaders in Hawaii defended the AJAs and urged that they be given a chance to show their allegiance to America. 

Finally, in May 1942 the Army ordered the Japanese Americans of the Hawaii National Guard, the Army Reserve and regular Army to be formed into a provisional battalion. It would be organized, equipped [sic] and trained for future use as an infantry combat unit. The oversized battalion of 1,432 soldiers was designated the 100th Infantry Battalion. It did not yet belong to any regiment of a larger unit. From the beginning the 100th Battalion was distinctive because it was formed based on ethnicity. It was to serve America when the land of their ancestors was among the enemies of this country.

(The 99th Infantry Battalion of Norwegian ancestry, the 100th Battalion was Americans of Japanese ancestry and the 101st Battalion was of Austrian ancestry.)

Assigned to the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, the 100th Battalion landed in Salerno, in southern Italy on September 22, 1943. On September 29 it suffered its first casualties when Shigeo Takata and Keichi Tanaka were killed. The 100th crossed the Volturno River attacking the Winter Line of German defenses, participated in the battle for Mount Cassino and made an amphibious landing at Anzio. 

I volunteered in the Army and was placed in the 442nd Regiment, 1st Battalion. While still in training at Camp Shelby, there was a request for volunteers to join the 100th Battalion because they had lost many in combat. I volunteered along with several other members of the 442nd to replace those wounded or killed in action serving in the 100th Battalion. We were shipped to Anzio, Italy.1 There was no action for a week, after which the Germans started shooting in our direction. One of the blasts from their artillery hit the shack that three of us were were hiding in. The blast killed Yoshio (2), blew my buddy about 40 feet and blew me about 30 feet.

The explosion was so intense I couldn’t hear, feel, or see anything for a few minutes. I thought I was dead and was in heaven. I went looking for God or Jesus Christ and I saw lots of flowers and an angel flying around. Just then one of my buddies shook me and woke me up. I was not dead! Boy was I happy. I earned my first Purple Heart from that incident. 

After a bitter battle at Anzio, we had the enemy on the run. In May 1944, we made our move to Pian Marano. Under heavy enemy fire, we fought into Civitavecchia, Belvedere, Sassata, and onto Livorno just before the Arno River and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Before we got to Leghorn, we were to have two weeks of rest and recreation but before the two weeks were up, we had an urgent call back to duty. 

(Note from Puka Puka reviewer: Mr. Nakamura included two paragraphs about the battles in the Vosges Mountains of northwest France during October 1944 which included the liberation of Bruyeres and Biffontaine and the rescue of the “Lost Battalion.” However, his memory of the dates and sequence of these battles are not accurate. The 100th/442nd took part in a four-day battle to rescue the 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry of the 36th “Texas” Division which had been surrounded in the forest east of Biffontaine. His story continues of his experiences after participating in these battles during which the 100th and 442nd suffered a high number of casualties.) 

I was shocked when a Caucasian soldier we had rescued said, “I never thought I would be so happy to see Japs.” The nurse was so mad to hear that she looked at me and said you should have left him there in the woods. I don’t think it was meant to be discriminatory or derogatory. Everyone was well and happy. 

In the course of ten weeks in 1944, people of France and Japanese Americans became very good friends. After we helped liberate Italy and France, people in both countries were very friendly toward Japanese Americans. Even if they lacked provision, they invited me to their dinner tables. It broke my heart, but I refused their food. I stole some food from our kitchen and gave it to them. They loved our chocolate. I gave them mostly through the children, but I bet the adults took some from the children. 

(Note from Puka Puka reviewer: Mr. Nakamura wrote one paragraph that mentioned that the 100th/442nd “were battling our way to the German’s last stronghold, the Gothic Line.” After the rescue of the Lost Battalion, the troops were withdrawn to a rest camp at the beginning of November 1944, then to southern France for a period called the “Champagne Campaign.” General Mark Clark, commander of the 5th Army, requested Allied Command for the return of the 100th/442nd to Italy to participate in the final battles in March/April 1945 to break through the Gothic Line. For its part in this campaign, the 100th received its third Presidential Unit Citation. Mr. Nakamura story continues when the battalion was back in Italy.)

 I don’t remember what happened after that because I landed in the hospital. After about a week in the hospital I finally got to my senses and asked why I was there. I was not wounded. She smiled at me and said, “You are here because of battle fatigue.” In other words I went “nuts,” I said. She smiled again and said, “Look at all these guys. They are all in the same situation. All you need is some rest. You are ok.” 

Two days later I went back to my outfit. My first assignment on patrol was to reconniter [sic] the German stronghold. While on this recon patrol we were on a trail on a mountainside. As we made a turn towards the enemy location, a machine gun fire startled me and I fell about 12 feet head first down the mountain slope. I was unconscious for a few seconds, sliding down the slope. I found myself hanging on to thick grass or weeds. My buddies from above yelled, “Sargent, Sargent [sic], are you ok? I had blood all over my face but said, “Yes, I’m ok.” I looked down the slope about ten feet more, then after that a sheer drop of about 300 feet. Boy, was I lucky I didn’t slide further. I hung on to the grass and climbed to the ledge. My buddies lowered a rifle with a strap. I grabbed the rifle strap and hung on to the butt end and they lifted me to safe ground. I’m glad I’m still alive today. This was the incident that gave me the second Purple Heart. 

On the Gothic Line, the 34th Division and Unit of British and Canadians were on the frontal attack against the German army. The 100th and 442nd circled around the mountainside and attack their right flank and surprised the Germans. Soon after that they surrendered and the war ended. We were still on duty because we had about three months more before we could be honorably discharged. Because the American Air Force and our artilliary [sic] had damaged the water main, I was assigned to German prisoners of war to repair a section of the area.

That afternoon I went over to the German dining from where they gathered to drink beer and sing. When I entered the dining room, everybody stopped singing and were quiet. They looked at me and my M1 rifle on my shoulder. I took the rifle off and leaned it against the wall and spoke to them in English. “Anyone speak English?” Two Germans said, “yah.” I said, my name is Sergeant Nakamura. What is yours?” One said Erick. The other shy guy said Rudolph. I paused, then said to Erick: “Did you know me before today?” He said, “No, I don’t know you.” Then, I said “why are we trying to kill each other?” Erick and Rudolph said, “yah, I don’t know why.” I said, “Let’s keep on singing and drinking.” We drank and sang until almost dawn. I finally passed out. When I got up the next morning, I was on my bunk with my rifle next to me. My German war prisoners had carried me to my bunk and laid my rifle next to me. Boy, did I have a hang-over and I was dizzy. 

I had the Germans working on the detail fixing the pipeline while I laid down to take a nap. All of a sudden three German prisoners came running to me, yelling, “Officer, officer, coming.” I jumped to my feet, straightened my tie and stood at attention. The lieutenant said, “Everything seems ok.” I said, "Yes, sir.” He said, “Carry on Sergeant.”

Footnotes:

(1) Arrived April 4, 1944. He was in the second group of replacements from the 442nd.

(2) May be Albert Yoshio Nozaki.

To access letter online: https://www.100thbattalion.org/wp-content/uploads/Jack-Nakamura-Memoir.pdf.

Once a war refugee, Soldier rises through Army's ranks

Col. Danielle Ngo shares a laugh with Soldiers during training at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in 2018. Ngo is now the executive officer to the Army's inspector general in Washington, D.C. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Michael Behlin.)

By Joseph Lacdan, U.S. Army News Service

March 29, 2021 

Reprinted with permission.

WASHINGTON -- At Saigon’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport, 3-year-old Danielle Ngo sat in a terminal with her mother and infant sister. For hours they had waited for a plane that would take them out of Vietnam.

Then they felt a rumble.

The ceiling began to peel as the building shook. Debris fell onto terrified onlookers.

North Vietnamese had sent rockets crashing onto the sprawling airport on April 29, 1975, a day before the fall of Saigon.

Earlier, Danielle’s mother, Ngo Thai-An, learned that the North Vietnamese forces had been closing onto the city. A relative who worked for the U.S. embassy had acquired tickets for them to travel to the U.S. The young mother knew she needed to take her children and leave immediately. The commercial plane never arrived.

“What came to my mind was just get the kids somewhere safe,” Thai-An said.

Moments after the rockets landed, Danielle, her 1-year old sister, Lan-Dinh, and their mother were rushed to the tarmac. In the distance, Thai-An heard more rockets falling onto the airport as they stood in line to board a military aircraft. “I didn’t look back,” she said.

Thai-An said they likely became one of the last Vietnamese refugees to escape the airport, which served as a military base for South Vietnamese and U.S. aircraft. They and other South Vietnamese climbed into the back of one of the final U.S. military planes to leave the battle-torn nation.

The Ngos family left the war behind them as the plane climbed over the South China Sea.

Danielle, now the executive officer to the U.S. Army inspector general in Washington, D.C., remembers little of that day when she and her family fled their homeland and the war that embroiled it. She only knows what happened from her mother’s stories.

Ngo Thai-An with her daughters, Lan-Dinh, left, and Danielle, in their native country, Vietnam, in 1973. The family left the southeast Asian nation as Saigon's Tan Son Nhat Airport was under attack by North Vietnamese forces. The Ngos were among the last Vietnamese to evacuate just as the Vietnam War was coming to an end in 1975. Danielle is now a colonel in the U.S. Army. (Courtesy photo used with permission.)

The military plane eventually landed at a camp in the remote U.S. territory, Wake Island, about 2,300 miles west of Hawaii. They were officially refugees. There, they spent three months waiting for a country to accept them. Finally they learned that the U.S. would offer them sanctuary, her mother said.

With only a few bags of belongings, they boarded planes to camps in Hawaii and then Arkansas.

Throughout the trip, Danielle never let her sister out of her sight. At times, her mother had to carry the luggage that contained their change of clothes and diapers.

“She always [held] onto her sister’s hand,” Thai-An recalled. “She wouldn’t let go.”

They later spent several weeks in Dallas before an uncle agreed to sponsor them. All the while, her mother told her to hold onto her sister.

They finally moved into government housing in Melrose, a predominantly white suburb of Boston just north of the Mystic River.

When the Ngo family migrated to America, much of the U.S. still harbored anti-war sentiments and remained apprehensive toward accepting Vietnamese refugees.

During her early years, Danielle learned to take responsibility for her sister and to respect her mother’s wisdom. Through her mother’s strength, she said, she learned to become someone who could lead Soldiers.

The family of U.S. Army Col. Danielle Ngo poses for a photo in the early 1970s, during the Vietnam War. Pictured are, from left; Ngo's uncle, Son, her grandmother, Ho Ngoc Vien, aunt Thai Anh, her mom Thai An, aunt Nhu-Y, and her grandfather, Ngo Ngoc Tung. Danielle Ngo is being held by her aunt, Tuong Van, on the far right. (Courtesy photo used with permission.)

Distant memories

A brown and red oil painting hangs above the fireplace of Col. Danielle Ngo’s Fairfax, Virginia, home. The painting shows Thai-An as a young mother cradling baby Danielle in her arms after her birth in the South Vietnamese port town of Vung Tau.

It has been more than 46 years since the Ngos left their lives in Saigon. She only can recall the memory of her grandfather placing a dollar bill in the pocket of her blue shirt, and the name he gave her, Nhu-Nguyen, which means “wish came true” in Vietnamese. She has forgotten how to read and speak Vietnamese.

She didn’t know much about her father, except that he served as an officer in the South Vietnamese Army and trained with U.S. Special Forces. Northern Vietnamese forces eventually took him prisoner after his family left for the U.S. To this day, the family does not know his whereabouts.

In America, they lived in subsidized housing for eight years. The family had little money for new clothes and toys. For years Danielle rode a small bicycle that didn’t have a seat cushion.

First photo: Lan-Dinh, left, with her older sister, Danielle, in 1977. Danielle would go on to serve about 30 years in the Army and is now the executive officer to the Army inspector general in Washington, D.C. Lan-Dinh attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served seven years of active duty. Second photo: The sisters pose for a photo with their mother, Thai-An, in 1978. (Courtesy photo used with permission.)

When Danielle reached the seventh grade, the family moved to the affluent southern Boston suburb of Hingham along the Massachusetts Bay. As a single mother, Thai-An often could not be home to take care of her children. She had married young at age 17 and gave birth to Danielle at 18. Thai-An, still in her early 20s, had aspirations to attend college and build a career and better life for her children.

Despite only a 15-month age gap between the Ngo sisters, responsibilities often fell to Danielle, who watched over Lan-Dinh. She held her younger sister’s hand once again when they walked to school or the local YMCA, where they took swimming and gymnastics lessons. She always made sure that Lan-Dinh had something to eat when she became hungry.

In high school, Lan-Dinh played organized sports for the first time, competing in basketball and soccer before settling on joining the school’s dancing production. Danielle joined the choir and French clubs and even started her own volunteer group, where she served bread to Boston’s homeless and cared for the elderly.

“It was such an inspiration to watch her do that,” Lan-Dinh said. “I would say that was the first time she actually like led and organized something.

“Probably most of the leadership [skills] she actually learned came from the military, because in an Asian household, children did not really demonstrate any leadership. They are very obedient.”

Col. Danielle Ngo, then the commander of the 130th Engineer Brigade at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, shares a laugh with members of the People's Liberation Army of the Republic of China while on break during the U.S.-China Disaster Management Exchange's Expert Academic Dialogue Nov. 9, 2016, in Kunming, China. As a child, Ngo emigrated to the U.S. in 1975 as a Vietnamese refugee. She is now the executive officer to the Army inspector general. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Michael Behlin.)

In tribute

Although Danielle and Lan-Dinh cannot recall the fateful day in 1975, they listened to their mother’s words.

Her mother remembers seeing the uniforms of the U.S. Soldiers who welcomed them onto Wake Island. At each camp they traveled, they saw the Army fatigues. When Lan-Dinh became sick as in infant, Army nurses treated her at the island’s military hospital and learned she had been allergic to milk.

Danielle valued her life in the United States, so much that she had decided she would join the U.S. Army at 17 to repay the debt she felt she owed.

“I wanted to give something back to America, which was my country now,” Danielle said. “[America] had saved me from the war.”

At first her mother resisted. She didn’t want to risk the possibility of her eldest daughter going to war after she had sacrificed so much to escape one in Vietnam. She wanted Danielle to find a way to attend college.

Danielle, intent on enlisting, pledged that she would use the Montgomery G.I. Bill to get an education after active duty and eventually her mother agreed. With hopes of becoming a doctor, she had enlisted as an operating room technician in 1989.

She now wore the uniform of the Soldiers who gave her family safe passage.

In 1991, Danielle decided to return to her homeland alone after joining the Army. Her plane landed at Tan Son Nhat, the same airport where she and her family escaped the Vietnam War years before.

She visited her place of birth in the Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. And finally she sat with her grandfather in the family’s dusty art studio in Saigon, which the North Vietnamese renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

Each day her grandfather would ride his bicycle to the studio where they would sit inside and communicate by writing questions and answers on notepads. Her grandfather, Ngo Ngoc Tung, had taught himself English, but felt more comfortable conversing that way.

There she learned about her grandfather’s life in Vietnam, how he built his house with his own hands without the aid tools. He told her about how he taught his children how to paint and create works of art. He showed her the beautiful pieces her family had created through the years.

About a year after her visit, her grandfather died.

Thai-An shifted from job to job, first earning an associate’s degree while working as a caretaker for the elderly. She eventually earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree before finally finding work as a librarian.

Her mother instructed her children to only speak English in the household, so that she could teach herself through them. “It was a very stressful and trying time for her,” Danielle said.

By witnessing her struggle, it left an impact on her daughters.

“My mother," Danielle said. "is an incredible woman."

Then-Pvt. Danielle Ngo after graduating from basic combat training in 1990. Ngo is now a colonel and the executive officer to the Army inspector general. (Courtesy photo used with permission.)

Following her lead

Danielle enjoyed her time as an enlisted Soldier, but remembered the promise she had made to her mother. She left active duty briefly after two years to attend the University of Massachusetts Boston in late 1991 on a scholarship to study finance. She worked at the Veterans Affairs office at her school and she later joined Boston University’s ROTC program in her second year, all while helping to care for her youngest sister, Stefanie, at home.

Lan-Dinh, inspired by Danielle’s commitment, attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

In 1994 Danielle graduated from UMass Boston and earned her commission as a combat engineer officer.

As a young captain, she saw wars on fronts vastly different from the one she escaped in her childhood. She traveled to Bosnia in 1998 as a company executive officer. Then, 18 months after America watched the twin towers fall, she deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Being the lone woman in units dominated by men had its challenges, but fueled her to train harder. As she climbed the officer ranks, she kept a stern level of professionalism, but with humility.

The sisters’ military careers crossed paths in 1998 when both received assignments at Fort Hood, Texas, in 1998. They lived together for three years until Lan-Dinh left active duty in 2001. During unit dinners Lan-Dinh saw the impact her sister had on her troops. Danielle would even invite Soldiers to her house for Thanksgiving dinner.

“I just [knew] they loved her,” Lan-Dinh said. “When they're there with their families … You can see they have a huge amount of respect for her.”

Danielle listens to Soldiers’ concerns. She values the opinions of her non-commissioned officers, Lan-Dinh said.

Danielle had opted to become a female engineer, in part because she felt the career presented the toughest challenge for a female Soldier.

In 2001, prior to the events on 9/11, she became the first female company commander in a combat engineer battalion directly assigned to a combat brigade, which was 4th Infantry Division's 1st Brigade. In 2003, the brigade, originally designated to go into Iraq through Turkey, ended up following the 3rd Infantry Division into Iraq through Kuwait.

She spent the first sixth months as the brigade's logistics officer helping equip a combat brigade so it could convoy from Kuwait to Tikrit, Iraq. The length of the convoy spanned over 800 kilometers. Her unit often had to improvise as the U.S. military had not established any facilities yet and had to fight in austere conditions.

Males and females bunked together. They made makeshift showers and dug burn pits. During the days she endured sweltering heat while keeping a vigil for enemy fire. “It was almost impossible to sleep during the day,” Danielle said. “It got so hot.”

U.S. officials would later credit her unit, the 4th Infantry Division, with being among those who helped capture Saddam Hussein. Danielle would go on to deploy to Afghanistan to help plan the surge, command an engineering battalion at Fort Carson, Colorado, and work as a military assistant to the chairman of the NATO Military Committee.

She eventually became the commander of the 130th Engineer Brigade at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. There she provided combat and construction support across the Pacific, deploying Soldiers to 17 countries. For example, her team helped coordinate the civil service agreement between the U.S. and the government of Palau to bring teams of Army craftsman and laborers for crucial construction projects in the remote Pacific island nation.

Then and now. Left, then-1st Lt. Danielle Ngo in Bosnia in 1998 and her as a colonel in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy photo used with permission.)

Today she ranks as the highest active-duty woman of Vietnamese descent in the Army and the second highest only to Maj. Gen. Viet Xuan Luong. She has three children who she has raised with the values she learned from her mother and her late grandfather.

“As a role model to others … she is most proud of her roles as a wife, mother, daughter and friend to those around her,” wrote Lt. Gen. Leslie Smith, the Army’s inspector general. “It shows in her actions every day.”

Excellence runs in the family. After Lan-Dinh graduated from West Point and served seven years of active duty, she spent 18 years with Bank of America where she retired as a vice president. Now she teaches English in Thailand as the center director at the Bangkok location of Point Avenue, a company founded by West Point graduates.

Danielle’s uncle, Ngo Vinh Long, who sponsored the family so they could find refuge in Massachusetts, became the first student to attend Harvard University directly from Vietnam. He taught himself English before traveling to the U.S. by memorizing British novels.

Danielle hopes to inspire other Asian Americans to join the armed forces by her example. The colonel said Asian families prioritize education, which may contribute to underrepresentation in the U.S. military.

“The path for many Asians is to go to college, get an education, make something more of yourself than what your parents are,” Danielle said. “It's pretty strong in Asian culture. And then on top of that, if you look around the military, you don't see much of yourself.

“So the conversation is, we should have more African-American generals in the military, so other African Americans have someone to look up to and strive to become. But they're missing the Asian and Hispanic communities. Somehow, we've got to convince the Asian community that it's worthwhile to join the military.”

The colonel said she wants to encourage other Asian Americans to join the Army, the same way the efforts of U.S. Soldiers motivated her to serve decades ago.

To access the news story online: https://www.army.mil/article/244704/once_a_war_refugee_soldier_rises_through_armys_ranks.

Erika Moritsugu appointed to high White House Position

Erika Moritsugu

White House Press Release.  On April 14, 2021 the White House announced the appointment of Erika Moritsugu, US Senator Duckworth’s general counsel, as its Asian American and Pacific Islander liaison.  Moritsugu was an assistant secretary of housing and urban development during the Obama administration.

The Washington Post on April 15 reported that “Moritsugu is expected to report to Bruce Reed, Biden’s Deputy Chief of Staff, with the rank of Deputy Assistant to the President.   …  Moritsugu previously worked at the Anti Defamation League and served on the staffs of Senator Tammy Duckworth  and former Senator Daniel Akaka.  She has also held policy roles at the Democratic Policy Committee and at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.”

Senators Tammy Duckworth and Mazie Hirono criticized the administration last month for a lack of Asian American and Pacific Islander representation. Both lawmakers had threatened to block President Joe Biden's nominees, but they reversed course after they got reassurances from the administration. The country is also grappling with a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.

“I applaud President Biden for swiftly addressing my concerns and creating a new senior-level AAPI liaison position at the White House," Duckworth said in a statement Wednesday. "I know first-hand that President Biden will benefit from her counsel, policy expertise and strong relationship-building skills, especially as his Administration seeks to make sure AAPI leaders are present at the highest levels of government."

 Admiral and Mrs Harris Select Colorado for Retirement

Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr., USN (Ret)

JAVA Research Team

Colorado.  Having completed his two and one half years assignment as US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Admiral Harry Harris, USN (Ret) and his wife, CDR Bruni Bradley, USN (Ret), left Seoul on January 21, 2021, for their home in Colorado. The Seoul assignment was ADM Harris’ second assignment to the State Department, the first being in October 2011 as the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman’s representative to the secretary of state with “additional duties as the U.S. roadmap monitor for the Mid-East Peace Process”. 

Prior to his Seoul assignment in June 2018 for a period of 3 years, ADM Harris, a Japanese American, was commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, headquartered at Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Honolulu, responsible for the protection of U.S. security for about one half of the world. Apart from his official duties, Harris said he enjoyed his relationship with the residents. He said “we miss Hawaii and look for the opportunity to visit our friends there once Covid conditions permit.” Prior to that, from 2013-2015, Harris was Commander of US Pacific Fleet headquartered in Pearl Harbor. Except for a few who might have slipped in unnoticed and one who was protected by Naval intelligence, no Nisei served as regulars in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marines during World War II. Nisei were banned from entering Pearl Harbor during WW II. Nisei linguists who served in CINCPAC were assigned to JICPOA (Joint Intelligence, Central Pacific Ocean Area) and were given office space in a former furniture store in downtown Honolulu. In addition to translating documents, they were attached to marine and Navy island-hopping invasions in the Pacific. When the invading units returned to Hawaii, the Nisei reported to JICPOA.

CINCPAC received Nisei-produced intelligence from other sources such as the Japanese Navy Z Plan, their master plan to annihilate American naval power in the Pacific. The Z Plan was translated at ATIS (Allied Translation and Interpretation Section), a unit of General Douglas Mac Arthur’s headquarters in Australia and air couriered to CINCPAC, where it was retranslated into Navy-ese, and delivered  to naval commanders at Eniwetok where commanders had just ended their meeting for the forthcoming naval battle of the Philippine Sea. One copy was passed to Admiral Raymond Spruance who was still at port, another was passed to Admiral Bill Halsey’s staff, and the third was air dropped on VADM Marc Mitscher’s flagship on the high seas. The Z Plan provided detailed tactical plans and resources. RADM Edwin T. Layton, CINCPAC chief of intelligence, praised the acquisition of the Z Plan saying,  “Our biggest break came not from our reconnaissance flights or enemy radio transmission but from another batch of captured documents.”

ADM Harris was born in Japan and grew up in Crossville, TN and Pensacola, FL. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1978. During his naval career, ADM Harris received advanced degrees from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.  He also studied at Oxford University and was an MIT Seminar 21 fellow.  ADM Harris is the highest ranking Asia Pacific American in the U.S. Navy and one of the four Japanese Americans who have attained the four star rank in the U.S. armed forces.

ADM Harris held a variety of command and staff positions throughout his career. He has logged 4,400 flight hours, including more than 400 combat hours, in maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft. Designated as a naval flight officer (NFO) in 1979, his first assignment was Patrol Squadron (VP) 44. Subsequent operational tours included tactical action officer aboard USS Saratoga, operations officer in VP-4, three tours with Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 1, director of operations for U.S. 5th Fleet, and director of operations for U.S. Southern Command.  Harris commanded VP-46, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 1, Joint Task Force-Guantanamo, the U.S. 6th Fleet, Striking and Support Forces NATO, the U.S. Pacific Fleet and U.S. Pacific Command. Joint Task Force-Guantanamo, located at Guantanamo, Cuba, held prisoners captured in the Afghanistan War after September 11 attacks.

ADM Harris served in every geographic combatant command region and participated in major operations including: Achille Lauro terrorist hijacking incident, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and Odyssey Dawn. ADM Harris’ staff assignments included aide to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Japan; speechwriter for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS); three tours on the Navy staff, including Deputy CNO for Communication Networks (OPNAV N6).

ADM Harris’ personal decorations include 2 Defense Distinguished Service Medals, 3 Defense Superior Service Medals, 3 Legions of Merit, 2 Bronze Stars, the Air Medal (1 strike/flight), and the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award. He was awarded the Tong-il medal by the Republic of Korea in 2014 and Japan's Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in 2018.  Additionally, he has been recognized by the governments of Australia, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Singapore. He has been nationally recognized as a champion of diversity.

CDR Bradley and ADM Harris

Facing the Mountain Virtual Book Talk

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

5:00 pm PDT/ 2:00 pm HDT / 8:00 pm EDT

Densho is hosting the official book launch for Facing the Mountain, a new book about WWII incarceration and the 442nd RCT by Daniel James Brown, NY Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat. The May 11, 2021 virtual event will feature a conversation between Brown and Densho Executive Director Tom Ikeda, who has conducted previous oral histories with many of the men highlighted in the book. Facing the Mountain grew out of conversations Brown had with Ikeda in 2015. In his foreword to the book, Ikeda writes: “Facing the Mountain comes to us during a time of deep unrest, a time when our empathy for others is so needed to guide the choices we will make. This book will open hearts.”

Facing the Mountain is an unforgettable chronicle of war-time America and the battlefields of Europe. Based on Brown’s extensive interviews with the families of the protagonists as well as deep archival research, it portrays the kaleidoscopic journey of four Japanese American families and their sons. While some fought on battlefields as members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, others fought to defend the constitutional rights of a community. Regardless of where their battles played out, these individuals were exemplifying American patriotism under extreme duress by striving, resisting, standing on principle, and enduring. Facing the Mountain exemplifies the sort of far-reaching creative work that we dreamed would be possible when Densho was founded 25 years ago. The book draws upon the stories and words of Japanese American elders and ancestors to tell this history in a way that can reach vast audiences. Find out more information about the event and register at densho.org/mountain.

Founded in 1996, Densho is a trailblazer in the use of digital technology to preserve and share the first-person story. Today, Densho hosts the largest online archive of oral histories and family collections on the Japanese American experience, in addition to a wealth of educational resources to help every American know the history and understand the lessons of the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans.

[EdNote: Thank you to Dr. John McIlwain, Professor Emeritus, Brown University, and Vince Matsudaira through Sandra Tanamachi, for sharing with JAVA notice of the Densho virtual book talk.]

LTG Bostic’s Book Includes Use of Nisei to illustrate His Point

LTG Thomas Bostick, USA (Ret)

JAVA Research Team

Arlington, VA. LTG Thomas P. Bostic’s book, Winning after Losing, is recommended reading for executives interested in professional advancement.  His key ingredient to success is to develop a sound plan, adjust your tactic to changing situations, never give up, and stay the course until victory is realized. Bostick uses part of one chapter, pages 171-177, presented below, to describe the 100th Battalion and 442nd RCT discipline, courage, and “Go For Broke” spirit to illustrate his point.    

Chapter 13: The Power of Team Diversity

Every Memorial Day provides an opportunity for Americans to recognize and express profound gratitude for the bravery and courage of those members of the Armed Forces who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defense and support of our country.

These service  members who came from many diverse cultures had one thing in common—they fought and died for their country.

Today the U.S. Army is one extraordinary team. Today’s Army represents a cross-section of our country, a kaleidoscope of cultures, languages, and religions. Its strength lies in the bonds its members forged as a result of teamwork, duty, and mission. But that wasn’t always the case.

Many diverse cultures contributed to creating the powerhouse we know today as the U.S. Army. We see their contributions at every turn. Native Americans brought their warrior spirit, culture, symbols, and names like the Tomahawk, Black Hawk, and the Thunderbird, which became identified with missiles, helicopters, and jets in the military.

Japanese American soldiers fought with a team called the 442nd “Go for Broke” Regiment that became one of the most decorated units in American history. They fought as part of a greater team despite their families being confined at internment camps during the Second World War.

African-American soldiers fought for America in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the two World Wars—always in a segregated Army. In 1948 President Truman signed into law the Executive Order that ended segregation and created one team with diverse members.

Women contributed valuable service as nurses and spies in the Civil War. During World War II women enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps often becoming prisoners of war, as well as receiving medals andvcitations for their valor. In 1948 President Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, and women officially became part of the U.S. military. Then, in 2013 women could serve in combat units and now were integrated into the entire U.S. military team.

I had the opportunity to celebrate with two of those teams and their stories follow.

Our Japanese American Soldiers

On Memorial Day 2009, I had the honor of paying a special tribute to Japanese-American Military members who fought honorably for our nation’s freedom in World War II—while their own freedom and the freedom of their families were denied.

In our Army, we talk about the Warrior Ethos. It is an ethos that states, “I will always place the mission first, I will never quit, I will never accept defeat, and I will never leave a fallen comrade.” Although we use the words of the Warrior Ethos more often today, the concept of never leaving a fallen comrade behind is not new.

This Warrior Ethos is powerfully illustrated in a story of two soldiers and the legendary “Lost Battalion” of the Second World War.

One of the most ferocious battles of World War II was fought in late October 1944 by the Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France. It was a rescue mission. Two hundred and seventy-eight men of the famed 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, the “Lost Battalion” as it later became known, were trapped behind enemy lines. When Hitler was informed, he ordered that the entire unit be annihilated. His message was that these soldiers would not be permitted to fight on what was then occupied German soil. The German forces were relentless. They attacked the stranded soldiers again and again. And with each attack, the 141st Infantry Regiment lost more and more members of its team.

There had been several attempts at a rescue by other units, but each rescue mission had failed. And then the 442nd was ordered to launch one more rescue attempt.

It was now late October. The weather was cold and rainy. Conditions were miserable. But the 442nd made up of Japanese-American soldiers was undeterred. For five days they fought day and night. And then, on the fifth day they succeeded, reached the stranded men, and saved all two hundred and eleven of the men who had survived the carnage. The Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd did not leave a fallen comrade behind. Their team exemplified the true meaning of the Warrior Ethos.

With this story as background, I was honored when my friend Terry Shima, a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, asked me to speak on Memorial Day 2009 at Arlington Cemetery. I was doubly honored when we were able to bring together two of the veterans who had been, in France, under fire, on that deadly October in 1944—Astro Tortolano of the stranded 1 st Battalion, 141st Regiment, and Minoru Nagaoka of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team that undertook the successful rescue mission.

But this one act of bravery was not the only one. Japanese-American soldiers, initially part of the 100th Infantry Battalion, were absorbed into the 442nd Regiment Combat Team, the “Go for Broke” team that became one of the most decorated units in U.S. military history. The soldiers of the 442nd earned more than 18,000 decorations, including more than 9,000 purple hearts, 4,000 bronze stars, 559 silver stars, 21 Medals of Honor, and in less than a month of fighting they also earned five Presidential Unit Citations. Soldiers who served in the 442nd continue to earn medals and honors to this day for their past heroism. 

In a ceremony honoring over 33,000 Japanese American soldiers, President Clinton said, “As sons set off o war, so many mothers and fathers told them . . . live if you can, die if you must, but fight always with honor, and never bring shame on your family or your country,” adding that “rarely has a nation been so well served by a people it so ill-treated.” 

These heroes’ stories evoke inspiring patriotism, sacrifice, and courage. Their legacy continues to demonstrate to this day the great American ideals of liberty and equality for all. Terry and I would work on several important projects in the future. And one such project would have  profound importance and a very special place in Army history.

At the time, I was Director of Personnel for the Army. My duties included organizing the Boards to review combat medals, including the Medal of Honor as well as ensuring recognition of those groups of soldiers who may not have been properly honored for their achievements in the past. It was during this assignment as the Director of Personnel for the Army that Terry contacted me. He wanted to secure a Congressional Gold Medal for the Japanese-American Nisei. Japanese-American Nisei are second-generation Americans or Canadians who were born in the United States or Canada but whose parents had emigrated from Japan. 

The Congressional Gold Medal is the most prestigious award given to people from all walks of life. It isbestowed by the United States Congress for significant achievements and contributions to the nation. In 2010—after many months of tireless work by Terry, the Japanese-American Veterans, and the U.S. Army—Congress approved the Congressional Gold Medal to honor Japanese-Americans who served in combat. The Japanese-American veterans who were so recognized included soldiers from the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service.

Given my Japanese heritage because of my mother, it was such an honor to engage with the wonderful members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team families and friends. African-American heritage from my father has also been a source of strength for me and leads into this next story.

[EdNote: Chapter 13 from Winning after Losing is reprinted with permission.]

The 2021 GFBNEC Essay and Poetry Contest is Open!

Letters to Home

&

Lawson Iichiro Sakai Memorial Scholarship

Applications Due: June 30, 2021

Go For Broke National Education Center announces Letters to Home - an effort to collect written material: letters, diaries and journals both to and from Japanese American soldiers during WWII. By gathering these stories, GFBNEC hope sto illustrate and explore the individual humanity expressed through these correspondences. This project is the basis for a future documentary that is in partnership with ABC7 News Anchor and documentarian, David Ono, who is also a member of our Board of Directors.  Submissions and inquiries may be sent to takeaction@goforbroke.org.

GFBNEC also announces the “Lawson Iichiro Sakai Memorial Scholarship,” a new opportunity focusing on students’ engagement and commitment to their community. This scholarship is funded by the family and friends of Lawson Sakai, who served in the 442nd RCT during WWII.  Applications are in tandem with our 9th Annual GFBNEC High School and College Student Contest for which they are currently accepting essay and poetry submissions. First place winners from each category will be awarded $1,000 and additional monetary awards will be given to second and third place winners. 

Kisuke “Richard“ Kusaka Story

By Randall Kusaka, Puka Puka Parade, April 2021. No. 4/2021

[EdNote. Puka Puka Parade condensed the original article and we are condensing it even more but providing a link to the PPP version by pressing here.  This story is unique for the detailed description and effects of combat. We recommend you read the skillfully-written fountain pen story. It is difficult not to become emotional. We  thank Jayne Hirata, editor of PPP Parade and Randal Kusaka for approval to reprint.] 

Papaikou, near Hilo, HI,  Kisuke Kusaka was born into a family of sugar cane plantation laborers. His father, Kiichiro, and paternal grandfather, Okisaburo, worked in the fields around Kalaoa Camp, near Papaikou on the Big Island.  Kisuke was 12 when he started part-time work at the plantation to help feed the growing family. He dropped out of English school after the eighth grade for full-time plantation work. He continued Japanese schooling for two more years before dropping out. Some of his English school teachers could not pronounce his name and assigned him various names. He finally settled for Richard K. Kusaka or Kisuke R. Kusaka. 

He saw no future as a plantation laborer, so in 1939 he ran away from his Big Island home for what had to be a better life in Honolulu. He worked short stints at Pearl Harbor and a bakery in Palama. He was drafted into the Army on November 14, 1941. He was at Schofield Barracks when Japanese warplanes attacked Oahu on December 7, 1941. He put on his uniform and rushed to report for duty, but when the Caucasian soldiers looked at his face and name, they arrested him and locked him in the stockade, where he was joined by other Japanese American soldiers.

In 1942, Kusaka and other Japanese American soldiers formed the 100th Infantry Battalion, the famed "One Puka Puka" whose battlefield courage, heroism and sacrifices earned the nickname "Purple Heart Battalion. "He was wounded three times while fighting in Europe. The first time, shrapnel hit the bridge of his nose and knocked him to the ground. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked to find he could not see. For a moment he feared the shrapnel blinded him, but he quickly realized blood covered his eyes. After wiping away the blood, he was relieved he could see. The second wound was a minor left leg wound on November 30, 1943, near Scapoli, Italy. The third wound occurred in the vicinity of Seravezza, Italy on April 6, 1945 when he stepped on a landmine about a month before Germany surrendered. When he opened his eyes, someone was tying a tourniquet around his mangled left leg .

Kusaka said wartime soldiers had few personal items they carried in the field from battle to battle. Soldiers carried Zippo lighters, letters from home, Bibles, photographs and other small personal objects, but he possessed something few had: a fountain pen. After a hard-fought firefight, a wounded friend called his name. He knelt by his buddy's side as a medic patched his wounds. The friend asked to borrow his pen because he wanted to write a letter to his mother back in Honolulu. He promised that after he recovered he would find him and return it. He was reluctant to part with his pen because it was his cherished connection to his civilian life and he didn't know where or when he would find another. But this was his friend and for his friend's mother, so he took it out of his pocket and placed it in the man's and. His friend smiled and promised again he would give it back. 

But fate intervened. He stepped on a landmine a month before the European War ended. He went to a  hospital in Michigan, where he stayed a year, and transferred to another hospital for six months of rehabilitation. He returned to Honolulu and was discharged at Tripler Hospital in 1947. He remembered the friend who had his pen. The friend had probably recovered from his wounds and might be living at his family home. He didn't blame him for not returning the pen because war made such promises hard to keep. He found the friend's address and decided to visit. He walked up to the man's house. Behind the fence an elderly woman tended her flowers. He caught her attention and, speaking Japanese, asked if his friend was living there. The woman looked quizzically at him and questioned why he was asking for her son. He introduced himself and said he was a friend from the Army. Tears came to the woman's eyes and she beckoned him to enter her home. She said nothing as she led him into the living room toward the family shrine. Her tears made him suspect his friend had not survived. The friend's photograph in front of the shrine confirmed it. And in front of the photograph, on a small wooden stand, was his fountain pen.

The mother said her son's last letter mentioned how he borrowed a fountain pen from his buddy, Kisuke Kusaka, to write to her. He had promised to return it after his wounds healed. So when she found the pen among his possessions returned to her, she put it in an honored place awaiting the day she could fulfill that promise. Although it was one of the saddest days of his life, he felt some joy that his pen allowed the man to write a final note to his mother.

While he willingly shared some wartime stories, other stories upset him. For example, when asked how many men he killed, he reacted with an ice-cold glare, but after a moment, he answered he killed seven men. There might have been an eighth, but the soldier fell off a cliff and he could not see the body to confirm the kill. He was awarded Purple Heart Medals for his second and third wounds. His other decorations included the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Presidential Unit Citation, Good Conduct Medal, World War II Victory Medal, six Battle Stars, Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon, and European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon. 

TAPS

Yuka Fujikura, sister of Min Yasui, has Passed

Yuka Fujikura. Photo by Katelyn Elemad Photography.

Gaithersburg, MD. Yuka passed away peacefully on March 23, 2021 at the age of 94. Born in Hood River, Oregon she was the beloved youngest child of Masuo and Shidzuyo Yasui, sister to Yuki and Michi and her brothers Kay, Ray, Minoru, Roku, Robert and Homer.

Yuka attended high school in Hood River until May 1942 when Executive Order 9066 authorized the incarceration of tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident aliens from Japan. She was removed and incarcerated first in Pinedale, California and then at Tule Lake, California. 

She was able to leave the relocation camp unaccompanied at age sixteen to enter high school in Denver, Colorado. Upon graduation she attended the University of Oregon and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Yuka furthered her education by getting a Master of Nursing Degree from Yale University and a Master of Public Health Degree from the University of Pittsburgh.  

She worked as a nurse at Grace-New Haven Hospital and later at the Visiting Nurses Association in New Haven. She won a Fulbright Scholarship to work and study Demography at the Institute of Public Health in Japan, where field studies were being done on people working in the rice growing, the coal mining and the fishing industries. 

While in Japan she met and married the love of her life and “Best Friend” Toshio Fujikura, a pathologist. She returned with him to the states and had four children. She continued her volunteer work in Public Health while raising a family,  gardening, cooking, doing Japanese embroidery, singing, and traveling. 

She was the heart of her family and instilled in them the values of her father that “We are all born for a purpose, and that purpose is to make this world a better place for our having been here.”

A member of the Japanese American Veterans Association, Yuka served in its Speakers Bureau. She discussed her war time experiences at community assemblies, schools, professional organizations and government departments. She was also a resident of the Asbury Methodist Village where she was a valued speaker of the Keese School of Continuing Education.

Questions or Suggestions: Please contact Neet Ford, JAVA e-Advocate Editor, at javapotomac@gmail.com.

Japanese American Veterans Association:  Address: P.O. Box 341198, Bethesda, MD 20827 I www.java-us.org

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