[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 26 (Thursday, February 16, 2012)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E220] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] A TRIBUTE TO THE NISEI SOLDIERS OF WORLD WAR II ______ HON. JIM COSTA of california in the house of representatives Thursday, February 16, 2012 Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I am joined by my colleagues Mr. Cardoza, Mr. Denham, Mr. Honda, Ms. Matsui and Mr. Schiff, to pay tribute to the outstanding military service and patriotism of the Japanese American men and women who served in the United States military during World War II. Over thirty-thousand second-generation Americans of Japanese ancestry, also known as ``Nisei'' served in the various branches of the U.S. military while their families were living in barbed-wire enclosed internment camps scattered throughout remote regions of the country. On February 19, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066, essentially allowing the forcible relocation and internment of Japanese Americans across the United States; citizens and non-citizens alike. As a result, more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry, mainly from parts of Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona, were detained for nearly three years without charges or trials and without the basic civil liberties guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution. Prior to that, on January 19, 1942, six weeks after the Imperial Japanese Navy's attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were reclassified by the Selective Service as enemy aliens, ineligible to be drafted. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of War chose to activate the 100th Battalion, a racially-segregated unit composed of Nisei volunteers from Hawaii who passed loyalty tests to fight in the European Theater. This unit became known as the Purple Heart Battalion due to its high casualty rate. With these Japanese-Americans setting the example, the War Department established the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a racially-segregated unit composed of Nisei volunteers from confinement sites. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which came to include the 100th Infantry Battalion, spearheaded numerous battles, fought valiantly and courageously and is widely regarded as the most decorated unit in American history for its size and length of service, with seven Presidential Unit Citations, 21 Medals of Honor, 29 Distinguished Service Crosses, 560 Silver Stars, 4,000 Bronze Stars and more than 4,500 Purple Hearts. The 442nd is forever linked to the 36th Texas Division, when it rescued the ``lost battalion'' in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France during the fall of 1944. Japanese American troops were also part of the advance Allied troops that liberated the Dachau concentration camp. When the war ended and the United States declared victory, President Harry Truman, presented the 442nd Regimental Combat Team with its seventh President Unit Citation on the White House lawn and aptly observed: ``You have fought not only the enemy, but prejudice and you have won.'' Along with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, another cohort of Japanese-Americans served in the Military Intelligence Service (''MIS''), made up of approximately 6,000 Nisei soldiers attached to combat units in the Pacific Theater. These soldiers intercepted radio transmissions, translated enemy documents, interrogated enemy prisoners of war, volunteered for reconnaissance and covert intelligence missions, and persuaded enemy combatants to surrender. Eventually, some of these MIS soldiers went on to serve during the post-war occupation of Japan, assisting with the country's transition to a democratic form of government, and helping to maintain a stable relationship between Japan and the United States. On October 5, 2010, the United States Congress unanimously passed Public Law 111 254, the law conferring the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor, to members of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and Military Intelligence Service. President Obama signed the law, and on November 2, 2011, Members of Congress presented these medals to a number of Nisei veterans at Emancipation Hall in Washington, DC. Approximately 500 Nisei soldiers from Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare Counties served in the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service, Counter Intelligence Corps, Women's Army Corp and other military units, including: S. Sgt. Kazuo Komoto of Sanger (MIS), the first Nisei Purple Heart recipient of World War II; Sgt. Mac Nobuo Nagata of Sanger (MIS), Legion of Merit recipient who led the 1st linguist team to Southwest Pacific Command; S. Sgt. Kazuo Otani of Visalia (442 RCT) and PFC Joe Nishimoto of Caruthers (442 RCT), recipients of the Medal of Honor and among 24 Nisei soldiers from Central California killed in action. PFC Jay Shiroyama of Laton (442 RCT), one of eight men from I Company that first made contact with the 121 men of the 141st Texas Regiment (Lost Battalion); PFC Tom Uyeoka of Salinas (522nd Field Artillery Battalion), settled in Fresno after the war, and helped liberate Jews at the infamous Dachau Concentration Camp; and S. Sgt. Mikio Uchiyama of Fowler (MIS and CIC), an attorney during the war crimes trials in Japan, who later became the first Asian-American judge in Fresno County. On February 19, 2012, the Central California District Council of the Japanese American Citizens League, the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization in America, with the support of the Clovis Veterans Memorial District, Veterans of Foreign Wars Sierra Nisei Post 8499, Nisei Farmers League and Sun-Maid Growers of California, will host a Day of Remembrance observing the 70th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, and honoring all Nisei veterans of World War II with a local ceremony for the presentation of the Congressional Gold Medal. Mr. Speaker, we ask our colleagues to join the Central California District Council of the Japanese American Citizens League, to commemorate and pay tribute to all the Nisei soldiers of World War II, who not only fought fascism abroad but prejudice at home, and won. ____________________