Ladies and gentlemen, Medal of Honor recipients and families, Senator Inouye, Rotary President Kitty, Rotary members and distinguished guests, aloha. Thank you Claire for that kind introduction. It is a pleasure to join the Rotary Club of Honolulu in saluting Hawaii's Medal of Honor recipients. As you know, today's honored guests include 12 Medal of Honor awardees who were among 22 Asian Pacific Americans honored last year in a White House ceremony for exceptional bravery during the Second World War. I have been asked to speak about the process that brought well-deserved recognition of these heroes over 50 years after the end of the war.
The 22 Medal of Honor recipients honored last summer are part of an elite group of soldiers acclaimed for extraordinary valor in service to our country. Twenty of the twenty-two recipients honored are from the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the all-Nisei, segregated unit which fought in Italy, France, and Germany, in some of the most bloody engagement of the war. The passage of half a century has not diminished the magnificence of their courage. These men truly represent the utmost that America and Hawaii has to offer. They volunteered for duty with conviction and courage, at a time when these virtues were most needed to defend our nation. In the face of discrimination and injustice at home, these men set aside personal consideration to defend our great nation and our ideals on foreign battlefields. By their actions, they proved that patriotism is not based on the color of a person's skin, but on the courage of their convictions.
Yet, you would be hard pressed to find a more modest group of American heroes. During the ceremonies in Washington last June at the White House and the Pentagon, the Medal recipients were much more comfortable and forthcoming in speaking of the sacrifice and heroism of friends and comrades than talking about their own deeds. Each accepted this tribute from our nation on behalf of their units. Most of them were discharged over 50 years ago. They had returned home, raised families, became leaders in their communities. They rarely spoke of their extraordinary wartime service.
For me, all of these men symbolize a generation of young men--Japanese Americans all--that responded to adversity with extraordinary ability and self-sacrifice.
The soldiers of the 100th/442nd in the European Theater set a high standard for valor in combat, and their feats instilled a sense of pride in Japanese Americans that helped ease the pain of discrimination.
The battlefield heroics of the Nisei helped overcome barriers of prejudice after the war, and paved the way for Japanese Americans--and other minorities--to enter the mainstream of American life.
Hawaii's World War II Medal of Honor recipients represent a long line of Japanese-American soldiers who stood fast against both tyranny overseas and injustice at home.
In both a real and symbolic sense, they epitomize an entire generation of young men who struggled to prove themselves in the most difficult of circumstances.
I am pleased to have taken part in the effort that led to the appropriate, but long overdue, recognition of these soldiers. Legislation initiated in the Senate required the military to review the records of all Asian Pacific American recipients of the Navy Cross or Distinguished Service Cross during World War II to determine if any merit upgrade to the Medal of Honor, and provided a waiver under law for Sergeant James Okubo.
Many times I have been asked why I thought the review was necessary. I acted out of concern that Asian Pacific American veterans have never been fully recognized for their military contributions during the Second World War. Many in Hawaii knew of the exploits of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. It came as a surprise to me that few on the mainland were familiar with the service of this famous all-Nisei unit, or of the exploits of the secret, MIS, Military Intelligence Service whose members served in the Pacific.
After enactment of these provisions, the 442nd Veterans Club, Club 100, and the AJA Veterans Council shifted into high gear and provided invaluable support and assistance in the review process and all of our other efforts to document and honor the wartime contributions of Asian Pacific Americans in the military. Ed Ichiyama, Sakae Takahashi, and Iwao Yokooji and many others were unwavering in their commitment to recognize the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans in military intelligence and the frontlines of battle. I also want to thank all the men and women who volunteered their time to search archives, compile documents, prepare packets and aid the Army over the course of the review. The hard work of these men and women has ensured that future generations will know the story of these American heroes and their brothers in arms.
The Army undertook the review and nomination process in a painstaking and thorough manner. They carried out the difficult task of identifying and reconstructing the records of more than one hundred veterans with great diligence. The accounts documented for each of the 104 Distinguished Service Cross recipients underscore our faith in a nation that produces such heroes and are a wonderful legacy for our children and grandchildren. During a reception for the Medal of Honor honorees last summer in Washington, D.C., then-Army Secretary Louis Caldera signed a Presidential unit citation for the Military Intelligence Service. It was a fitting part of the tributes because in a profound way, if it were not for the MIS, none of the events of the past year would have happened. Ten years ago, I heard of Colonel Richard Sakakida's remarkable experiences as an Army undercover agent in the Philippines during World War II. At the urging of a friend, I read Wayne Kiyosaki's book about Dick Sakakida, A Spy In Our Midst. And I sought to help Dick's MIS colleagues, including Ted Tsukiyama and Harry Fukuhara, spread the word about Dick Sakakida's exploits and have his extraordinary service honored by our government and the Government of the Philippines.
While working to have Colonel Sakakida's service acknowledged with an appropriate decoration, I learned more about the MIS, and I realized that there were many war heroes in military intelligence whose valiant service had been overlooked. This led to the introduction and passage of legislation to review the records of military intelligence personnel and waive the usual time limits on consideration for awards.
It was at also this point, in 1995, that I heard of the Army review underway of Distinguished Service Cross awards to African American soldiers during World War II to determine if discrimination and racism influenced whether they were overlooked for the Medal of Honor. I recalled that only two Asian Pacific Americans received the Medal of Honor for service during World War II. This number seemed much too low, especially when you consider the wartime experiences of the 100th and 442nd, the service of 12,000 Filipino Americans in the U.S. Army, and the dangerous assignments undertaken by the 6000 members of the MIS. In total, over 60,000 Asian and Pacific Island Americans served in World War II.
The only reasonable explanation for this circumstance is the prejudice and discrimination experienced by Asian Pacific Americans at the time. The internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during the war is clear and convincing evidence of discrimination and narrow-minded thinking in the military and American society overall at that time. President Truman recognized it for what it was on a rain-drenched day in 1945, when during a White House ceremony honoring the 100th and 442nd, he observed, "you fought not only the enemy, you fought prejudice, and you have won."
Finally, 55 years after that first White House ceremony, our great country set the record straight for generations to come.
For some heroes of World War II, this recognition comes too late. Many of this generation have passed on, never gaining the official acknowledgment of a job well-done for their wartime duty. For many who are still with us, simple modesty, difficulty in documenting actions undertaken more than half a century ago, or the passage of time shrouds valor which will never be recognized officially by their country.
Therefore, as many of the Medal of Honor recipients stated during the ceremonies in Washington, D.C., Hawaii, and California, they share this honor with their comrades in battles fought long ago on distant shores, in remembrance of the blood and tears shed by those whose sacrifices for our freedom will never see the light of day.
In their memory, and in celebration of our nation's everlasting commitment to justice and liberty, I welcome every opportunity to honor you and your achievements, to educate those who have no firsthand memory of World War II, and to offer you the highest praise for all you have done to keep us free.
God bless you.
Thank you.
