By Morgan Moss

On Day 6, we were given a presentation by Mr. Gerald Yamada, the former President of the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA). Gerald Yamada helped to create the annual celebration of the Day of Affirmation, which this year will be celebrated on July 18^th. The Day of Affirmation’s origins go back to 1946, when President Harry S. Truman acknowledged the patriotism of the Japanese Americans who served in World War II, even after their incarceration. “You fought not only the enemy, but you have fought prejudice – and you have won.”

Mr. Yamada talked about events that transpired and groups that existed during World War II, which includes the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (also known as the Purple Heart Battalion), and the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion. Both groups were solely comprised of Japanese Americans.

The 442nd was comprised of 4000 initial Japanese American volunteers from Hawaii and the contiguous US, which grew to 14,000 to 18,000 members by the time the war ended. They had fought in five major battles. The 442nd was sent on a rescue mission to rescue Texas’s Lost Battalion from imprisonment by German forces. Saving the 211 surviving members of the Lost Battalion cost the 442nd over 800 casualties of both killed and wounded men. The 442nd also pierced the Gothic Defense Line in only 34 minutes, which is regarded as a key factor to ending the war. In total they have been awarded 7 Presidential Unit Citations, 21 Medals of Honor, 29 Distinguished Service Crosses, and over 4,000 Purple Hearts, all in 30 months. The 1399th was a team stationed in Hawaii that consisted of almost 1,000 men. They were responsible for 54 construction projects that contributed to the defense of Hawaii after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Personally, I find it inspiring that people can find the will to fight for a country that has unfairly stripped away their rights and freedoms purely because of their ethnicity, and the faith that the country that had betrayed them can turn it around for the better. Especially since the Japanese Americans didn’t know what was going to happen to them during the war, so volunteering was essentially a leap of faith. I don’t think I could gain the courage to take a risk as big as that. Choosing to take the risk was really commendable!