Nisei to receive Congressional Gold Medal of Honor
I remember watching the movie “Go For Broke” on the television everytime it came on – it was a Hollywood recreation of a unit of the 442nd Infantry Regiment and the 100th Infantry Battalion – the famed first generation Americans of Japanese decent who were allowed by the US government to fight in Europe during the Second World War.
Congress has decided to award the unit the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, the highest civilian award.
…6,000 Japanese-Americans born of immigrant parents who fought in Europe and Asia, even as the U.S. government forced their families to live in internment camps, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. According to the Navy Times, the soldiers were part of the Military Intelligence Service and the segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Infantry Battalion, which eventually became the most highly decorated unit in the history of the U.S. military.
I’ve always been proud of these Americans for their combat history, whether they were from Japanese extraction, or not. I know we’re presenting them with this honor for some stupid multicultural point, but they deserve it no matter the color of their skin – they fought for the United States and helped win the war. Period. All of that crap about interment camps has nothing to do with their brave performance in the face of this country’s enemies.
Thanks to Tman for the link.
Category: Military issues
I have a friend who lost everything and was “interred” with his family as a child. I am glad to know some recognition is being granted for the brave Japanese Americans.
You went to the trouble of posting this but no one has commented, and I hesitate to do so because I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. But, I see that it is the highest “civilian” honour being bestowed on the “collective” of those Japanese-Americans who served and fought with honour.
That being said, if your honour or your family’s honour, your integrity, your loyalty, and your patriotism were being questioned on every level, and you suffered a blow to your pride and your dignity, what would you do? Remain in the box to which you were relegated by your own country, or work your ass off to prove yourself worthy and your detractors wrong?
They earned it. Just ask anyone who was in “The Lost Battalion”. They had every right to just sit in the camps and tell FDR to go fight his own war. They didn’t.
GO FOR BROKE!
Honor and Courage
The other comment I’d add is that the 442nd is the most highly decorated regiment in the Army. 1 CMOH awarded during the war and 20 more awarded after a modern review of the records. I am awed by the courage and tenacity of these Soldiers.
You won’t see many JA out in the street drumming or demonstrating to get attention about CMOH because … It’s JA culture.
JA’s harbor a lot of anger because of FDR EO 9066.
Shikata ga nai has help them endure.
Translation:
It couldn’t be helped.
It was just bad luck.
Don’t dwell on it.
Move on.
A Sansei (third generation JA), Korean Vet, and proud voting citizen. Age 8 yrs. old on Dec 7, 1941 (now 77 yrs. old). Long time angry, but have “Moved On” since long time ago.
God bless America.