Tag Archive: Daniel Inouye

Congressional Gold Medal Award Update

February 28, 2011 Christine Sato-Yamazaki, Chairperson of the National Veterans Network writes: Here is the latest on the Congressional Gold Medal planning: Speaker meeting: We finally secured a meeting with Speaker Boehner’s staff on March 22nd. We will be meeting with the Speaker’s Director of Scheduling and Special Events to begin discussion on the ceremony date, venue and attendee requirements. Since the U.S. Mint will not complete the minting of the Congressional Gold Medal until September (if all goes well), we are planning to push for an October ceremony date. We will also advocate for a large venue that accommodates 1,000 people, in the hopes that the Speaker will allow all registered living veterans, widows, next of kin of KIA and next of kin of...

America’s Congressional Gold Medal Heroes

This is the first of many articles that have been published in The Hawai`i Herald.  Here is the cover story on the AJA Congressional Gold Medal — Courtesy of The Hawai`i Herald. AMERICA’S CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL HEROES In the Twilight of their Lives, America’s AJA Veterans Still Shine Karleen C. Chinen The Hawai‘i Herald (November 4, 2011) They now belong to an elite group of world citizens — honored by the Congress of the United States with the nation’s high civilian award for service — the Congressional Gold Medal. Past awardees had included U.S. presidents, astronauts, the Dalai Lama, baseball great Jackie Robinson, Pope John Paul II, and Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King, among others. Google “Congressional Gold Medal” on the Internet and you will find...

Some Thoughts on the Congressional Gold Medal

Here is an article by Edgar Hamasu  reflecting on the recent Congressional Gold Medal events. It was published in the Hawaii Pacific Press. Mitsuo “Ted” Hamasu, 100th Infantry Battalion Veteran, standing before his unit’s photo at the 100th Club House with brother Edgar Hamasu (on the right), Korean War Veteran and past President of Military Intelligence Veterans of Hawaii. Article courtesy of the Hawaii Pacific Press (January 15, 2012). Photo courtesy of Edgar Hamasu. SOME THOUGHTS ON THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALBy Edgar A. Hamasu, PresidentMIS Veterans Club of Hawaii Introductory Remarks. When the publisher of Hawaii Pacific Press asked me to write about the December 17th celebration, I quickly replied that I was not a WW II veteran. I served in Military Intelligence Service, but it...

War and Internment

Here is an article that reflects on the Japanese-American Internment. Hawaii Hochi writer Iwao Kosaka in front of an old mess hall at Tule Lake in 1988. Story and image courtesy of the Hawai`i Herald. WAR AND INTERNMENTKarleen C. ChinenThe Hawai`i Herald (October 1, 2010) The World War II exploits of the Varsity Victory Volunteers, 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service and the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion are the stuff of legends and are even more gripping when retold because of the extra burden of race that the Nisei soldiers carried with them into battle. They fought not only fascism and totalitarianism, but hatred and prejudice in their own country. But knowing that the eyes of America were on them, the Nisei soldiers...

70th Anniversary Banquet

Eric Saul Speaks To The Veterans

Honolulu – August 4, 2013. Eric Saul, notable WWII military historian and advocate of the Nisei veterans spoke at a luncheon hosted by the MIS veteran’s organization. A crowd of about 80 veterans, family members and friends gathered for this special presentation. Here is a copy of Eric’s speech: Nisei Soldier’s Legacy  Speech by Eric Saul You Japanese Americans had been part of the United States of America since 1885. This year marks the 128year anniversary of Japanese immigration.             It has now been 72 years since the Japanese language school was founded at the Presidio of San Francisco in November 1941.  It has been 71 years since the 100th Infantry Battalion was created here in Hawai’i.  And it has been 70 years since the 442nd was...

This Time in 442nd History (Mar 2017)

This Time in 442nd RCT History The following quote is one example of many where a commander of soldiers writes of the horribleness of war (the “plague of Mankind” refers to war). “My first wish is, to see this plague to Mankind banished from the Earth; & the Sons & daughters of this World employed in more pleasing & innocent amusements than in preparing implements, & exercising them for the destruction of the human race.” George Washington in a letter to his former aide-de-camp David Humphreys, 25 July 1785, written nearly 2 years after the end of the Revolutionary War. The 442nd RCT and the Po Valley Campaign, April-May 1945 This is a synopsis of several written accounts of the Po Valley Campaign, links are...