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Asian-American Twenty-two Asian-American Medal of Honor recipients -- quiet, unassuming men, small in stature who "fought like tigers" in World War II -- were finally given a hero's welcome this weekend, complete with parade and banquet.
medal winners
again honored
The men who 'fought
like tigers' in World War II
are celebrated as heroesBy Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-BulletinBut only seven survived the war or lived long enough to receive the accolades.
The seven included five from Hawaii -- U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, Barney Hajiro of Waipahu, Yukio Okutsu of Hilo, Shizuya Hayashi of Pearl City and Yeiki Kobashigawa of Waianae.
The other two are George Sakato of Denver and Rudolph Davila of Vista, Calif. Davila fought with the 3rd Army in Italy.
After more than a half-century and at the urging of Sen. Daniel Akaka, these World War II veterans -- 20 of whom fought as members of the segregated Japanese-American 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team -- received the Medal of Honor from President Clinton in June.
This weekend, it was Hawaii's turn to salute members of what journalist Tom Brokaw has decribed as "the greatest generation" who fought and won World War II.
Army Chief of Staff Gen Eric "Ric" Shinseki, whose uncles served in both the 100th and 442nd, told the more than 1,900 people who attended yesterday's luncheon at the Hawaii Convention Center that "it has been very humbling and gratifying to have these men as our role models."
"Your generation enabled America to close out the 20th century as the greatest nation in the history of mankind, the only remaining superpower, the world's leading economy and the world's most respected and feared military force in the world -- respected by our friends and allies, feared by our adversaries."
But the Kauai native said it was what their generation did after the war that proved they were "the greatest generation."
Shinseki said: "It was the leadership you assumed and provided to us in government, in business, in education, and in many other ways you made your marks. It was the sense of service that you brought back with you -- of sacrifice and having served something bigger than yourselves.
"It was your tolerance for views and politics different from your own -- born of the intolerance you had personally witnessed -- both at the hands of others in internment camps in this country and at other internment camps in other parts of the world where intolerance achieved the kind of brutality that have given us Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Dachau, which you liberated.... "
Picking up this theme in his luncheon address, Gov. Ben Cayetano noted that when the Japanese-American soldiers returned to the islands, they changed the fabric of Hawaii's society.
"They made it for the generation that followed the ability to pursue equal opportunities at every level," Cayetano said.
"We owe them a debt of gratitude."
But Shinseki, who lost part of his foot while fighting as an infantry soldier in Vietnam, wondered if "we can extend the influence of the greatest generation in our time without fighting another big war."
"Must we storm another Normandy or another San Pietro or another Leyte to create a generation of Americans with the character, talent and the determination to keep our nation where it finished the 20th century?
"Or can we take your lessons and teach another generation of Americans to lead as you've led for most of the last 50 years?"
Davila, a retired California schoolteacher, said that since the award was announced earlier this year he has been asked to speak at many high schools.
"I try to instill in the students a sense of patriotism and what America means," said Davila, who has taught history and Spanish for 25 years.
Yesterday's luncheon was the last of three observances that began with a twilight ceremony at the National Cemetery of the Pacific on Friday to honor the 22 newest Medal of Honor recipients, some of whom are among the 40,000 buried there.
On Saturday, the seven living honorees mounted the Army's latest troop transport -- the Humvee -- and rode through Honolulu and Waikiki in a mid-morning parade.
Inouye noted yesterday that the Medal of Honorees never stop wondering why they have been singled out.
"We do not deserve such recognition because there were hundreds and hundreds of deeds of courage that ... did not receive proper recognition," said Inouye, who lost his right arm in Italy, where he killed 25 German soldiers and captured eight others. Those acts resulted in his Medal of Honor.
"We were all young and eager to live," said Inouye. "We wanted to go home to our loved ones. We did not want to die. We did what we had to.... "
Inouye said the actions of the 20 Japanese Americans -- five of whom volunteered from behind the barbed-wire fences where their families were sent because of their race -- were part of a unit and not personal achievements.
Besides the seven medal recipients, who were escorted to their banquet tables by an Army general, family members of 15 other recipients also joined in this weekend's observance. Only the family members of 442nd veteran Frank Ono did not attend.
Ed Ichiyama, a 442nd RCT veteran who was instrumental in finding information in Army records that led to the awarding of the medals, said, "It is absolutely fantastic that after 4 years, it has finally born fruit. The awardees and their families are excited about these events. That's what makes it all worthwhile -- to see the families and the awardees so enthused."