Memorials

Retired Brig. Gen. Thomas S. Ito, only the fourth Japanese American to be promoted to the rank of general in the U.S. military, died Jan. 26 at the age of 90. Ito began his military career in 1951 when he joined the Hawai‘i Army National Guard as a field artillery officer. He spent 37 years....

Four Monuments that Honor the First Japanese in Hawai‘i Jodie Chiemi Ching Fifty years ago, the centennial anniversary of the arrival of the first immigrants from Japan was marked with the unveiling of several monuments around the state. The monuments were meant to honor the Gannenmono, the “First-year People” from Japan, and to remind their....

SHI-MI Location: Gushikawa Memorial Park, April 2017 The Obon season concluded while I was in Hawai‘i, volunteering with the Okinawa Prefectural Library staff at the Okinawan Festival. Several Uchinanchu who were in Hawai‘i on work-related projects in late August rushed back to Okinawa by Sept. 3 in order to be home for Obon. Most of....

Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr. Commander, U.S. Pacific Command Editor’s note: One of the events of last month’s commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan was a grand tribute to the Nisei soldiers who stepped forward to serve their country in the dark days following the Dec. 7, 1941,....

Retired Judge Thomas Kaulukukui Jr. Published with Permission Editor’s note: The following is the speech that retired Circuit Judge Thomas Kaulukukui Jr. prepared for delivery to World War II Nisei veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion,...

Cornerstone. Crowning piece. Heart and soul. For the better part of three decades, that is how many envisioned what is now the Education Center at the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center on Maui. The Education Center opened...

Entering 2014, only two people had served continuously on the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center board of directors since its formation in 1991. Now there is one. At the directors’ annual meeting in March, Leonard Oka resigned...