Angelo
May-21-2005, 04:47 PM
Allow me to introduce you to Robert Yamazaki who I met yesterday while visiting the "Go For Broke" Memorial in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo area. "Go For Broke" was the motto of their army unit.
http://angelo.smugmug.com/photos/22683205-L.jpg
Robert, 81, is a volunteer docent at the outdoor memorial with a quick smile, a quicker wit and seemingly unstopable energy to share the story of the Japaness-American soldiers who served in the 100th/442nd combat battalion.
Made up almost exclusively of Japanese-Americans, the 100th/442nd made significant advances on both French and German soil and did so as many of their parents were being hauled off to interment camps here in the states.
http://angelo.smugmug.com/photos/22683204-L.jpg
These Nisei (American born) joined the armed services and fought courageously in spite of the horrendous treatment their families were enduring because they lived by the customs of "duty, honor and responsibility"
Their accomplishments in the European theater were so significant that upon their return stateside they were honored by President Harry Truman at a White House ceremony; the first time such an honor was bestowed upon a small battalion unit.
It took until the 1980's for the USA to formally apologize to the families who were treated so badly with the passage of the Civil Liberties Act (1988). One of the factors that led to its passage in Congress was the tributes to the heroic efforts of the men of the 100th/442nd. This memorial bears the signature of President Reagan.
http://angelo.smugmug.com/photos/22683206-L.jpg
http://angelo.smugmug.com/photos/22683205-L.jpg
Robert, 81, is a volunteer docent at the outdoor memorial with a quick smile, a quicker wit and seemingly unstopable energy to share the story of the Japaness-American soldiers who served in the 100th/442nd combat battalion.
Made up almost exclusively of Japanese-Americans, the 100th/442nd made significant advances on both French and German soil and did so as many of their parents were being hauled off to interment camps here in the states.
http://angelo.smugmug.com/photos/22683204-L.jpg
These Nisei (American born) joined the armed services and fought courageously in spite of the horrendous treatment their families were enduring because they lived by the customs of "duty, honor and responsibility"
Their accomplishments in the European theater were so significant that upon their return stateside they were honored by President Harry Truman at a White House ceremony; the first time such an honor was bestowed upon a small battalion unit.
It took until the 1980's for the USA to formally apologize to the families who were treated so badly with the passage of the Civil Liberties Act (1988). One of the factors that led to its passage in Congress was the tributes to the heroic efforts of the men of the 100th/442nd. This memorial bears the signature of President Reagan.
http://angelo.smugmug.com/photos/22683206-L.jpg