[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 179 (Thursday, December 10, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1756-E1757]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNIZING GEORGE T. SAKATO

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DIANA DeGETTE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 10, 2015

  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life and 
achievements of George T. Sakato.
   George Sakato was born in Colton, California in 1921 and grew up in 
Southern California. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, his family moved 
from California to avoid the mass internment of Japanese Americans, and 
his family resettled in Arizona.
   In 1944, at the age of 23, Mr. Sakato volunteered for the U.S. Army 
and joined the all-Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. At 5 
feet 4 inches, he was not your storybook soldier. What he lacked in 
stature, however, he made up for in bravery and devotion to his 
brothers in arms.
   In October of 1944, Private Sakato's unit was sent on a mission to 
rescue 281 captured American soldiers in the Vosges Mountains of 
northeast France. In the firefight, Private Sakato's squad leader was 
killed after his unit pushed enemy German combatants from their 
defensive positions.
   With no commanding officer, Private Sakato stepped up to lead his 
squad. He charged the enemy position. Singlehandedly, he killed 12 
enemy soldiers and then, with the help of his unit, took 34 more as 
prisoners.
   For his bravery, Private Sakato received the Distinguished Service 
Cross and was recommended for the Medal of Honor. Yet, like so many 
other Japanese-American soldiers during WWII, he was denied that honor 
due to deeply ingrained anti-Japanese racism.

[[Page E1757]]

   More than a half century later, on June 21, 2000, Mr. Sakato and 21 
other Asian-American veterans were finally given the recognition they 
had earned for their actions in combat and were awarded the Medal of 
Honor by President Clinton.
   On Dec. 2nd, 2015, at the age of 94, George Sakato died in Denver, 
Colorado. George Sakato was one of the trailblazing men and women whose 
hands have shaped the United States into the great nation it is today. 
His example of bravery, humility, and love for his country is one to 
admire and emulate.
   My condolences go to his daughter Leslie, and the rest of the Sakato 
family.

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