Event Details

The National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS) and The Presidio Trust are pleased to announce the upcoming event, “Legacy of the Nisei Soldier – A Veterans Day Weekend Ceremony” to be held Sunday, November 14, 2010, from 12pm to 3pm at the Officers Club, Presidio of San Francisco. Featured will be a keynote by Colonel Daniel Pick, Commandant of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center at the Presidio of Monterey with remarks by Craig Middleton, Executive Director of The Presidio Trust, Consul General of Japan Hiroshi Inomata, Larry Oda, past National President of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and Colonel (Ret.) Thomas Sakamoto, graduate of the First Class and instructor at the Military Intelligence Service Language School. Following these remarks and ceremony will be a screening of the newly released DVD version of Uncommon Courage by Gayle Yamada. Judge Ken Kawaichi, President of the NJAHS Board of Directors will serve as Master of Ceremonies.

This special gathering will honor the courage and sacrifice of Japanese American soldiers on the battlefields of World War II while their families faced eviction and incarceration in US government confinement camps. Most notable this year is that the ceremony and program will celebrate the recent signing by President Obama of legislation passed by Congress to confer a Congressional Gold Medal on the veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service. In reflecting on the Japanese American World War II veterans experience, Colonel Sakamoto had this to say, “We had to fight three wars. One was obviously the enemy. And discrimination at home. But we in the MIS had to fight another war to prove ourselves in battle, because we were always suspect of our loyalty.”

The NJAHS is co-hosting the event with the Presidio Trust, partner in developing the Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center at Building 640 in the Presidio of San Francisco, the site of the original Military Intelligence Service Language School. . “Sharing and interpreting the history of Japanese Americans at the Presidio is vital to our efforts at The Trust, said Craig Middleton, Presidio Trust Executive Director. “Making the MIS Historic Learning Center at Building 640 a reality will give this history a permanent home for generations to come to enjoy.”

According to Larry Oda, past National President of the JACL "The preservation of the historic site and its story is important for posterity because the legacy of the World War II heroism of the Nisei soldiers began in Building 640 at the Presidio of San Francisco.

Presidio Officers' Club
50 Moraga Avenue (on Main Post, near Arguello & Graham)
Presidio of San Francisco CA 94129
RSVP for lunch: 415-921-5007 njahs@njahs.org
Co-sponsored by the Presidio Trust and the National Japanese American Historical Society