Japanese-American veterans honored

Angela Soo

Friday, June 1, 2001 | 10:23 a.m.

Despite being treated like enemy aliens in a country they considered their homeland, thousands of Japanese-American soldiers still risked their lives for American freedom during World War II.

The Clark County Library District honored six local Japanese-American veterans Wednesday at Sunrise Library. They were among the 9,000 Japanese-American soldiers who served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Battalion, which are two of the most decorated units in U.S. military history for their size.

"We had to fight two wars: the enemy itself and racial prejudice," Arthur Keiichi Nishimoto, a 442nd Regimental Combat Team colonel, said.

An educational film devoted to the Japanese-American soldiers' history was later screened at the reception. Patricia Kinaga and Peter Wong produced the film, "422: For the Future," in order to recognize a part of American history that often goes unnoticed, Kinaga said.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, a widespread distrust for anyone of Japanese ancestry prevailed, the film noted. Anyone from government politicians to the local grocer, Japanese-Americans were stigmatized in their own country.

Relocation camps followed suit, where more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans were forced to sell their belongings for only pennies. Dozens of store-front windows had signs that read, "Evacuation Sale."

"The hardest thing was deciding what to bring," a woman in the film said.

Their loyalties were in question, and many felt they had something to prove, said Kenichi Muranaga, who was one of the veterans honored that evening.

They would later get a chance to prove themselves when the U.S. military drafted Japanese-Americans for the 100th Battalion in 1942. Some soldiers came directly from relocation camps, and found the government's action disconcerting.

"It didn't make sense," Hiroshi Tanaka, also a Japanese-American veteran, said. "I was an enemy alien yet they want me to go to war to kill and be killed."

In spite of the hovering doubts some soldiers had, the 100th Battalion fought valiantly in battle and passed the test of American loyalty. Their determination paid off, and in 1943, the government decided to form a larger unit -- the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

While in France the next year, the combat team received a mission to seek out a lost battalion made up mostly of soldiers from Texas. After five days of fighting, and after suffering 800 casualties with 58 resulting in death, the unit located the lost battalion and saved 211 soldiers.

Back in America, however, some of their families remained locked away in internment camps. When Japanese-American soldiers would come back from battle to visit their families, they were asked by guards for identification cards.

"You don't dwell on it too much because you'll go crazy," a man's voice from the film said. "We didn't know if we were ever coming back again, but even if we did, where would home be?"

Among the other veterans honored were; Jimmy J. Yamashita, Roy Y. Harano and Toshio "Dusty" Aoyagi, who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars under different units. All live in the Las Vegas area except for Yamashita, who now lives in California.

The Clark County Library District will reserve several copies of "442: For the Future" for people to rent. This event was part of a month-long appreciation for Asian American Pacific Heritage Month, which concluded Thursday.