The U.S. Congress managed to do some business besides the $700 billion bailout for Wall Street lately, including the dedication of $4 million in funding for a long-sought project to preserve and teach the history of the highly decorated Japanese-American military units that saw combat during World War II.
Many of the soldiers served while members of their families were being held in various relocation camps operated by the U.S. government. Government officials rounded up many Japanese-Americans in Los Angeles and other parts of the country, holding them in the camps for most of the war, with no legal recourse available to them.
U.S. Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (Democrat) recently announced that she had secured the funds for the development of the Go for Broke National Education Center near 1st Street and Central Avenue in the Little Tokyo district on the northeastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles.
The center is named for the slogan of one of the Japanese-American units, whose members used the words as a rallying cry to give their utmost effort in battle.
The federal funds will also go toward the "preservation of artifacts related to the Asian American veterans who fought in the 442nd Regiment" the 100th Infantry Battalion, and several other military units during World War II, according to Roybal-Allard, who represents Little Tokyo, Downtown, parts of the Pico-Union and Westlake districts to the west, most of the Eastside, and several cites in southeastern Los Angeles County.
Members of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team earned 21 Medals of Honor during World War II. Other honors for valor won by members of the various Japanese-American units made them the most decorated in U.S. military history, based on their size and length of service.
The educational center is expected to be developed around the Go For Broke Monument, which is located north of 1st Street in a plaza area near the Japanese American National Museum and the Geffen Contemporary wing of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA).
The center is a longtime goal of the Go for Broke Education Foundation, a non-profit organization that operates a variety of educational programs, including some they offer to school teachers interested in developing curriculum for lessons about the history of the Japanese-American veterans of World War II.
Related info
Go For Broke National Education Center
Sam Hassan is a writer for the L.A. Garment & Citizen.
Photos by L.A. Garment & Citizen
My grandmother knitted socks for WWII men and stuck her name and address in a sock. A Japanese-American soldier, from Hawaii, fighting in Europe, wrote back. I have those letters (a copy of a microfish????) that he sent. I have a letter in his hand, photos of him and his wife, and best of all, he and his wife came to visit St James, Minnesota and I met him when I was a teenager.
Are you interested in these items? Judy Olsen...