National Japanese American Veterans Memorial Court
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The National Japanese American Veterans Memorial Court is a national memorial court in Los Angeles, California, honoring the bravery and sacrifice of Japanese American veterans during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It is maintained by and located adjacent to the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center on San Pedro Street, in Little Tokyo. [1]
Japanese American World War II Veterans Memorial
Japanese American Korean War Veterans Memorial
Japanese American Vietnam War Veterans Memorial
In the summer of 1987, a group of JA Vietnam veterans met in Los Angeles and formed the Japanese American Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Committee to erect a memorial to honor the Americans of Japanese descent who fought and died in Vietnam or were still listed as missing in action.[2] The initial group consisted of Duane Ebata, Gary Hayakawa, Ken Hayashi, Dennis Ishiki, Victor Kato, Dave Kobyashi, Lance Matsushita, Mike Nagaoka, Mel Nakashima, Vince Okamoto, Tom Okamura, Ed Sakihama, and George Tanaka.
Enlisting the aid of other Japanese-American Vietnam veterans, they organized a joint fund-raising dinner with KEIRO Health Services and CEO Edwin Hiroto. The event held on 2 June 1988 at the Bonaventure Hotel was a smashing success. Over 900 guests turned out to honor and support the Japanese American Vietnam veterans. Armed with the funds generated by the dinner the committee set out to compile a list of the Japanese Americans killed or having gone missing in action Vietnam.
Unlike World War II, the U.S. military had been racially integrated by the time of the Vietnam War. Consequently, there was no definitive list of Japanese Americans who served in Southeast Asia during the War. In the 1960s a soldier's dog tags or ID discs listed his racial origin as: "Caucasian, Negro, Mongoloid" or "Other." The committee members contacted the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., the Military Personnel Center at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and the Casualty Resolution Center in Hawaii to obtain a listing of Japanese American deads, but the information provided was woefully incomplete or inaccurate. Some names that were of obvious Japanese derivation were listed under "Other" or "Indonesian" even "Eskimo" as well as "Asian."
Finally, in 1988, the Committee purchased a dozen copies of the booklet from the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, D.C. which listed all the Americans who died in Vietnam and began the pain-staking task of underscoring all Japanese names. The committee placed ads in local Japanese vernacular newspapers on the west coast, Hawaii and Chicago, but received only a tepid response. Many of the dead were "Hapa," soldiers of mixed blood. Many had non-Japanese names making it impossible to determine if they were of Japanese ancestry.
Because of this inherent inability to determine the Hapa soldiers, the committee decided to limit the names on the memorial to those of Japanese surnames. The committee was contacted by a woman whose grandson was a quarter Japanese and asked that be listed on the memorial. It was felt that a consistent policy had to be maintained rather than including some while inadvertently omitting others. Based on the Japanese surnames taken from the memorial in Washington DC the committee came up with 99 Japanese American killed and 14 missing from the Vietnam War.
Having compiled a list of names, the committee began searching for a suitable location to build the memorial. It took nearly seven years to find a home for the memorial. The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center of Los Angeles, under then president Min Tonai, allowed the memorial to be erected on the east side of their property at 244 S. San Pedro street.
On Veteran's Day, 11 November 1995, the Japanese American Vietnam War Veterans Memorial was formally dedicated[3]. It replicates the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington DC, and consists of three black granite panels etched with the names of 116 Americans of Japanese ancestry killed or lost in the Vietnam War. A quote is inscribed at the base of the memorial:
Due to the inability to verify all those of Japanese ancestry only those with Japanese surnames are represented on this monument. The rest remain forever etched in our hearts.