…ervice Cross. Colonel Kim is credited as being the first Asian American to command a regular U.S. combat battalion in a war when he commanded the 1st Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th U.S. Army Division during the Korean War. After 30 years of active duty, Colonel Kim retired from the U.S. Army in 1972. He then became active in the Asian American community, helping found the Go For Broke Educational Foundation, Japanese American National Muse…

…s a small town up in the northeast corner of France, just this side of the German border. When France fell to the German onslaught in June 1940, it came under the absolute control of the invaders inasmuch as it was a strategic communications and transportation center. Four years later, another military force came to fight over the town – the 100/442. In the forest above Bruyeres is an impressive memorial to the Nisei soldier. A modest one is set i…

…gathered nearby to watch us and we noticed that two of them had pale faces compared to the suntanned faces of the rest and suspected that they were German soldiers in farmers clothes. A farmer stepped forward and in English explained that the two were deserters from the German army and wanted to surrender. After a short delay while the prisoners were escorted back under armed guards, we started to hike up the road. About half way up we came across…

…river explains the mission of the group. The faces of the couple light up. Come in. Come in. It is a neat, well-kept farmhouse. Upstairs, Yozo looks out the window. Wow! The German sniper sure had a clear shot at him coming across the open ground. Yozo is entranced by the scene. He now knows how he almost happened to get killed. A kind of blissful satisfaction comes over him. Downstairs again, the farmer breaks out a couple of bottles of white win…

…l service. Yasuo Takata recalls the night that Joe Takata died in WWII. Welcoming Address Welcome to our memorial service. Today, on the commemoration of the 33rd year of the death of Sgt. Joseph S. Takata, our first casualty in World War II, I have a message from Joe. Going back to September 26, 1943, we spent a miserable night at Montemarano and it rained practically all night. Some of the men got up and redug their slit trenches about three tim…

…Bruyeres and Biffontaine by the 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team was commemorated with gratitude beyond words. It was in that region that one of the Ajitomi brothers had died. Robert wanted to see with his own eyes the battlegrounds where his uncles had fought. And as a member of the California Air National Guard, he was personally interested in their esprit de corps. “I’m kind of curious why, first of all, the 442nd was a be…

…lly returned to Hawaii, Audrey became his eyes and most faithful and loyal companion. “She was cute, intelligent and compassionate,” beamed Omiya, as if Audrey was still at his side. “She was so protective. If I bumped into something, she’d slink on her belly and be ashamed. She slept by my feet.” Sadly, Omiya lost Audrey one day when, out of harness, she playfully ran across the street to greet another dog and was hit by a truck. Omiya returned t…

…. Goo was seriously wounded in Anzio while attacking a machine gun nest. A German mine exploded, nearly cutting off his arm and wounding his leg. He had to be carried down the hill to the aid station by German prisoners of war acting as stretcher bearers. He remembers every time they asked to take a break, the bearers purposely dropped him on the trail even though he was in great pain. After spending a year undergoing multiple surgeries on his arm…

…as, the Amache Relocation Camp in Colorado and finally to Seattle, Washington in November 1944 where he boarded a ship back to Hawaii. In his oral history Iwasa recalls the emotional visits he had with his father while he was training and also after he returned from the combat zone and was recovering from an illness. Read Walter Iwasa’s Oral History interview Download Walter Iwasa’s interview PDF Note: The interview was done in 1985, but was not t…