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Susumu "Sus" Ito | Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal
http://www.cgm.smithsonianapa.org/stories/susumu-ito.html
522nd Field Artillery Battalion. 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Early Life and Military Service. Susumu was from a sharecropping family that moved often within California. He attended a segregated elementary school with other Asian American children in Sacramento County. As the only son, he was close to his mother. She told him to always do the right thing and stay humble. Susumu with his mother. Susumu as a young man. When he was 21, he was drafted into the United States Army. Because he was Nisei. So I ...
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George A. Doi | Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal
http://www.cgm.smithsonianapa.org/stories/george-doi.html
George A. Doi. Grandfather of Olympic Gold Medalist. When US Olympic ice skater Kristi Yamaguchi won her Gold Medal in 1992, a special person in her life was missing: her grandfather, George. Although he had died four years earlier, she still could see his wide smile and feel his support. Many things about him, however, remained a mystery to her until much later. Kristi Yamaguchi, 1992 US Olympic Gold Medalist Ice Skater. What from his past caused these nightmares? High school photo of George A. Doi.
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Sakae Takahashi | Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal
http://www.cgm.smithsonianapa.org/stories/sakae-takahashi.html
Sakae Takahashi’s birth certificate. Early Life in Hawaii. Sakae was a courageous leader on the frontlines of both war and societal change. His life began in poverty on a sugar plantation in Kauai, Hawaii. His Japanese immigrant parents worked hard so that he and his siblings could go to school. An athlete who competed barefoot, Sakae finally got his first pair of shoes for his high school graduation. Family obligation) and oyakoko. Reverence of elders) throughout his life. He was among the first respond...
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Sadao Munemori | Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal
http://www.cgm.smithsonianapa.org/stories/sadao-munemori.html
Sadao Munemori was the first Japanese American to be awarded the Medal of Honor, the US military’s highest medal of valor. Sadao made the ultimate sacrifice for his country in saving the lives of his fellow soldiers. Sadao was very close to his family, especially his widowed mother, Nawa. Born in Los Angeles, he was the fourth of five children. His nickname was Spud because he preferred potatoes to rice when he was young. Brookside Park swimming pool. Which allowed for the mass removal of Japanese Americ...
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Life in American Concentration Camps | Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal
http://www.cgm.smithsonianapa.org/topics/life-in-american-concentration-camps.html
Life in American Concentration Camps. What would you do if your government even the president wanted to remove you and your family from your home, claiming your national ancestry was a threat to national security? Would you fight the decision, or would try to prove that you were loyal to your country? A three-year-old awaiting transportation to detention camp in Los Angeles, April 1942. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. The Western Defense Command. Under t...
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Terry Toyome Nakanishi | Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal
http://www.cgm.smithsonianapa.org/stories/terry-nakanishi.html
Women's Army Corps. Terry’s decision to join the. During World War II represents a unique path taken by some Nisei. Women to assert their American patriotism. Terry spent her early childhood in Montana, where her Japanese immigrant stepfather worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. She was a tomboy and often scolded by her older sister who was more "ladylike." She spent her childhood playing with her three younger brothers and her younger sister. Terry working in the potato fields in Idaho. As soon as he ...
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The Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal | Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal
http://www.cgm.smithsonianapa.org/index.html
Honoring the Japanese American World War II soldiers who fought in the service of the United States. Patriotism. Citizenship. Courage. Compassion. Perseverance. Humility. This exhibition presents the extraordinary life stories of 12 Nisei soldiers who served in the US Armed Forces in World War II. While some had families in America’s concentration camps, all served with a highly uncommon and commendable sense of patriotism and honor. This is their American story. George A. Doi. Daniel K. Inouye. The Cong...
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Takejiro Higa | Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal
http://www.cgm.smithsonianapa.org/stories/takejiro-higa.html
Early Life in Hawaii and Japan. Born in Hawaii, a US territory, Takejiro had a difficult childhood. At age two he was taken to Okinawa, Japan, to visit his grandparents. Because of his young age, he stayed behind in Okinawa with his sick mother while his older siblings returned to the US with their father. Within two years, both his parents and grandparents had died. He stayed with his uncle in Okinawa until he was 16. Takejiro with his mother and cousins. Bombing of Pearl Harbor. Takejiro volunteered, e...
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Stanley Hayami | Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal
http://www.cgm.smithsonianapa.org/stories/stanley-hayami.html
442nd Regimental Combat Team. Early Life at Heart Mountain. Stanley Hayami’s tremendous journey from being imprisoned in a Wyoming concentration camp. To fighting abroad is preserved through his wonderful drawings, earnest journal entries, and heartfelt letters home. Home in San Gabriel vs. the camp at Heart Mountain. Left: Stanley Hayami, Right: Stanley and Walt Hayami eating in the mess hall, 1944. Stanley was born in 1925 to Naoichi and Asano Hayami in San Gabriel, California. Within these pages Stanl...
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Daniel K. Inouye | Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal
http://www.cgm.smithsonianapa.org/stories/dan-inouye.html
Daniel K. Inouye. 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Dan Inouye being sworn into US Senate. Dan Inouye became the first Japanese American member of the House of Representatives in 1959. To take the oath of office, Dan was asked to raise his right hand. There was no right hand, Mr. Speaker. It had been lost in combat by that young American soldier in World War II. This is his extraordinary story. Early Life in Hawaii. Dan was the oldest of four children. Dan Inouye as a baby on March 1, 1925. At first Japanese...
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