New Monument Recalls Veterans’ Valor in War, Struggles at Home

From as far away as Hawaii and Washington, D.C., they came, some in wheelchairs or hobbling with canes, to commemorate their wartime glory and heal their longtime pain.

About 1,500 people gathered Saturday next to the Geffen Contemporary of the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles for the unveiling of the “Go for Broke” monument, which honors Japanese Americans who fought in World War II. They also remembered the loss of civil rights by Japanese Americans during that war and their fight to regain dignity.

The service of Japanese Americans during World War II “has made a profound impact on our nation,” said Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera, a former state assemblyman who represented Little Tokyo.

“With their selfless service, bravery and sacrifice, they helped America realize that being American is not where you come from, but where your heart is,” Caldera said.

The sloping, hill-like monument was presented to the city of Los Angeles by the 100th/442nd/MIS World War II Memorial Foundation, named after U.S. military units with many Japanese American members. The black granite monument, 40 feet across and 9 feet tall, is inscribed with about 16,000 names of Japanese American veterans and their officers, no matter what their heritage.

Some of the hundreds of World War II veterans in the audience said they hope the monument will remind future generations of a dark chapter in American history that they said still isn’t being taught in classrooms.

“Though we were born on this land, we were considered an enemy of the state,” said U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), recalling how 120,000 American citizens of Japanese descent were rounded up and incarcerated in internment camps during the war.

The thousands of Japanese Americans who served in the military fought in some of the most celebrated units in U.S. history, Caldera said.

The 100th Army Battalion was so well known for its bravery it was referred to as the “Purple Heart battalion.” The Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team was one of the most decorated units in U.S. history, Caldera said. He credited the Military Intelligence Service with helping crack codes used by enemy Japanese forces.

The valor of the veterans, some said, helped persuade the U.S. government 11 years ago to issue a formal apology to Japanese Americans for their internment.

Some of the the veterans said they were overjoyed with the monument because it affirms that they won not only a war but also the battle against discrimination.

Sakae Takahashi, a retired lawyer from Honolulu, recalled how he was taken out of an integrated infantry regiment and put into the segregated 100th Battalion after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “Even the U.S. Army didn’t trust us,” he said.

After the ceremony, David Matsushima of Monterey Park pushed Miles Hamada of Los Angeles in a wheelchair to find their names carved into the smooth black granite.

The men, who first met as teenagers in a Colorado internment camp, said they were happy to have served because it demonstrated their loyalty to their country.

Retired Col. Young Oak Kim, co-chair of the foundation, said the memorial is above all “a civil rights statement” that “Americans should not be discriminated against because of their race or creed.”