Japanese American Veterans Association JAVA ADVOCATE FALL 2015 VOLUME XXIII - ISSUE III Inside this issue: Jewish Holocaust Survivor’s Tribute to Nisei Liberators The poem below was written by Holocaust survivor Solly Ganor, a History of JAVA; Welcome New 2 Jew from Lithuania, a few years ago at the suggestion of historian Eric Members! Saul, Executive Director of Visas for Life. The poem is a tribute to the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion soldiers who liberated Ganor and other Hamada Inducted into MIS Hall of 3 Lithunian Jews at the extermination camp located near Waakirchen in Fame; JAVA Member Activities the Dachau, Germany area on May 2, 1945. Saul said the Lithuanian Jewish community suffered the highest death rate of any Jewish com- Nisei Serving During WW I 4 munity in Europe. Of a quarter million people, fewer than ten thou- Matsumura and Ganor reunite. sand survived, thanks to the Nisei who saved some of them. 1st Nisei Casualties of WW II; 5 JAVA Speaks about Nisei in WWII Ganor, looking back, said “the 522nd came to the Waakirchen area where they saw an open field with several hundred ‘lumps of snow.’ When they looked closer the ‘lumps’ were people, some National War Memorial Court; were shot, some dead from exposure, but hundreds were alive - barely. I was among them. This JAVA Members Speak to Special 6 poem, written in Israel on July 26, 2010, is a tribute to the 522nd and especially to PFC Clarence S. Forces Matsumura, Headquarters Battery, one of the rescuers.” By Solly Ganor Nguyen Speaks on Americanism; 7 I lay in the snow ebbing life surrounded by the dead, JAVA Member Activities One looked at me with starring eyes he had a bullet in his head. I heard the shots of the German guards their curses echoing through the forest, I heard bullets thudding into the bodies of my friends lying by my side, JAVA Luncheon Speaker Hong 8 They had no strength to scream before they died, Many were just lumps in the snow shot or frozen a few hours before their liberation, Ichikawa & Shima Receive Awards 9 After years of torture, beatings, and endless humiliation. I lay in the snow ebbing life a few heart beats away from oblivion, The Story of Earl Finch 10 I saw the shadow of the angel of death as he spread his wings over my soul. I felt the icy blood in my veins reaching for my heart. I knew my time had come. I had a last look at the sky above and saw another Angel smiling at me. JAVA Member Activities 11 His wings were just a dirty uniform and he had slanted eyes. He picked me up from the freezing snow and gently stroked my head, Japanese History Scholar Spends 12 He wrapped me in a blanket and snatched me from the dead. Two Weeks in Japan Nisei Week of Los Angeles Celebrates 75 Years Meet the Generals & Admirals 13 News from UN’s Top 14 Commander in Afghanistan; Taps 15-16 Dan Nose to Step Down; JAVA 17 Exec. Director Joins Leadership Program News from The 75th Anniversary Nisei Week of Los Angeles, CA, was celebrated from August 15-23, 2015 including the Veterans Clubs & Friends crowning of Sara Kuniko Hutter as the 2015 Nisei Week Queen and a grand parade through Little Tokyo. The parade featured traditional Japanese ondo dancing, taiko drum performers, local community and veterans groups, Thank You Donors! 18 officials and representatives from Nagoya, Japan’s sister city of Los Angeles. The photo shows Hershey JAVA Honor Roll Miyamura, Medal of Honor recipient, who is standing front and center. Nisei Week Queen Hutter is on Hershey’s right and her court of 6 princesses (in red); the Queen and three princesses from San Francisco, in black and white attire, are on the left front; the queen and 4 princesses from Hawaii in multi colored dresses are Membership Application 19 on the right front. Jim Yamashita (I Co), wearing a 442nd Veterans cap, is in a wheel chair near the Hawaii ladies, 442nd veteran Tosh Okamoto (K Co) is standing behind Hershey’s right shoulder, and Deen Matsuzawa, Korean Upcoming Events; JAVA Contacts 20 War veteran, is seated in a wheel chair at left front. On the back row are Korean and Vietnam war veterans. The Nisei Week court and the visiting courts paid their respects at the Japanese American National War Memorial Court. Photo by Bacon Sakatani, Japanese American Korean War Veteran. WWW.JAVADC.ORG PAGE 2 JAVA ADVOCATE FALL 2015 History of Japanese American Veterans Association JAVA Research Team In less than two years, the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA) will celebrate its 25 year anniversary since its founding. JAVA was founded on April 30, 1992 by 15 Japanese Americans who met at the Silver Spring, MD residence of the late COL Sunao Phil Ishio, USAR (Ret). The group agreed that a veterans association should be formed and Ishio was elected as the founding president. JAVA was incorporated in Maryland on July 24, 1992. The Honorable Norman Mineta and former US Senator Daniel Inouye, were named as Honorary Chairs. JAVA’s purposes included the publicizing of the Nisei who served in the US Army during WW II. JAVA achieved the three goals it had set out to do: 1) to host a Capital MIS Reunion on the theme “The Nisei Veteran –An American Patriot” in Washington, DC in October 1993; MIS veterans from other parts of America and Hawaii attended; 2) to join and participate actively in the Department of Defense (DOD) WW II Commemoration Committee, which enabled JAVA to participate in various DOD activities thereby gaining name recognition; and 3) to attempt to get the US Army to publish an official history of the MIS. In a letter to Ishio, dated May 12, 1994, signed by eight members of the US Congress (US Senators Inouye and Daniel Akaka, US Representatives Mineta, Robert Matsui, Patsy Mink, and Neil Abercrombie, and Delegates Robert Underwood and Eni Faleomavaega), it stated that the Secretary of the Army reported that the Army would write a history of the MIS with a start date of 1995, that Dr. James McNaughton, Command Historian of the Defense Language Institute, would be the author, and requested Ishio to enlist the support of MIS veterans to support McNaughton. Senator Akaka recognized John Tagami as his staff coordinator of this endeavor. In the elections held in January 2001, COL Bert Mizusawa, USAR, was elected President. In his inaugural speech, Mizusawa announced that JAVA will be a nationwide organization, that it will engage, independently and in concert with other major veterans organizations, in obtaining benefits that veterans have earned, and that it will publicize the accomplishments of the 100th, 442nd, and MIS. Thanks to Mizusawa’s vision, a supportive Board of Directors and dedicated volunteers in the Washington, DC area and across the land, these goals became a reality. JAVA used three events to confirm its national status: 1) the dedication of the National WW II Memorial in Washington, DC in Spring 2004. JAVA set up a display booth in the Department of Veterans Affairs tent, which featured a four-panel photo display, engaged four Nisei Medal of Honor recipients to tell visitors of the Nisei combat record, and arranged a “reunion” of 442nd veterans and survivors of the trapped Texas battalion who were doomed to be annihilated. The national press, such as the New York Times, and national TV networks featured Nisei veterans; 2) A few months later, JAVA led a nationwide movement to support a Texas school teacher, Sandra Tanamachi, to remove from the streets of rural Texas four racial, derogatory street signs. 3) JAVA arranged the “roll-out” of Dr. McNaughton’s book, Nisei Linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During WW II, at the US Capitol, hosted by US Senator Daniel Akaka and attended by members of Congress, government officials, the press and veterans organizations. JAVA’s website, www.javadc.org, has attracted students, researchers, domestic and foreign media, for facts pertaining to the Nisei experience, advice, interviews, and quotes. It has also attracted potential new members and donors. JAVA has engaged in a number of educational programs. The Speakers Bureau is invited to schools, Honorary Chairs universities, community and professional organizations and government entities to discuss the Senator Daniel Akaka (Ret.) Japanese American experience during WW II. JAVA’s flagship project, conducted jointly with the The Honorable Norman Y. Mineta (Ret.) 442nd Veterans Hawaii, features the digitization of National Archives and Records Administra- Hershey H. Miyamura, Medal of Honor tion (NARA) documents pertaining to the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, George Joe Sakato, Medal of Honor Military Intelligence Service and relevant portion of internment. This project, created by Ted Tsukiyama, Esq, a 442nd and MIS veteran of Honolulu, HI and started by the late Dr. Richard Officers Susumu Yamamoto and his wife Fumiko in 1988, is nearly complete, however, researchers can COL Michael Cardarelli. USA (Ret.), President now access the database electronically from anywhere in the world by going to JAVA website, LTC Mark Nakagawa, USA (Ret.), Vice President www.javadc.org, and clicking on “Research Archive.” Researchers are able to retrieve docu- Col Derek Hirohata, USAF, Secretary ments using key words. This electronic database is designed to bring US government documents COL George Ishikata, USANG, Treasurer pertaining to the Nisei and archived at NARA, which has endorsed this endeavor, to researchers residing anywhere in the world and thereby help ensure the perpetuation of the legacy of the Executive Council Nisei WWII generation.