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Nisei Related Stories

The principle on which this country was founded and by which it has always been governed is that Americanism is a matter of mind and heart; Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Upon signing the Executive Order in February 1943 that created the 442nd Regimental Combat Team
Over the years, many have asked us, ‘Why? Why were you willing and ready to give up your life?’ I told my son it was a matter of honor…To have done any less than we did in battle would have dishonored our families and our country.

Daniel K. Inouye

From March 24, 1993 speech celebrating 50th anniversary of the Regimental Combat Team in Hawaii
Rarely has a nation been so well-served by a people it has so ill-treated.

President William J. Clinton

At the Medal of Honor Ceremony, July 15, 2000

Nisei: American Patriots

Four Hawai‘i veterans share their World War II stories

Takeshi Kitaoka awoke on Dec. 7, 1941 to the sounds of an explosion, followed by another. Outside his Kaimuki home, there was chaos in the sky, with strike planes soaring toward Pearl Harbor.

100TH INFANTRY BATTALIONについての資料はこちら

442nd: Robert Kishinami

Robert Kishinami saw planes soaring above his Haleiwa neighborhood and realized it wasn’t a military maneuver with zeroes and tracers. They were real bullets, a declaration of war.

442ND REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAMについての資料はこちら

MIS: Herbert Yanamura

Herbert Yanamura was just a carefree high school kid in Kona — the son of a coffee farmer originally from Japan — when the call came for volunteers for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

1399th: Richard Okamoto

As part of the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion, Richard Okamoto’s war experiences are not heroic battle stories. Yet like fellow Nisei, when his country called, he didn’t hesitate to rise up.

1399TH ENGINEER BATTALIONについての資料はこちら

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Nisei Related Stories

Nisei: American Patriots