White House Photo, Lawrence Jackson President Barack Obama image:66419:2::0 
 
 The new law will recognize over 6,000 Japanese-Americans born of immigrant parents who served our country and fought in battles in Europe and Asia.Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the Neisi Veterans will soon receive the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal award. Nisei refers to Japanese Americans born to immigrants who went overseas to fight for the United States, while the U.S. government kept their families locked in detention camps for the duration of the war“While some Japanese-Americans were being wrongly interned due only to their ethnicity, these brave men stepped forward to defend our nation," Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) said. "Their bravery helped to not only win the war, it paved the way towards a more tolerant and just nation. It will be a truly historic moment when President Barack Obama signs this honor for the Nisei veterans into law."The Congressional Gold Medal will honor the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service for their heroic service and sacrifice during World War II.The 442nd, made up of Americans of Japanese ancestry who volunteered to fight, is the most decorated Army unit of its size and length of service in the history of the United States. The Military Intelligence Service provided the U.S. with valuable language and cultural knowledge, translating intercepted intelligence and helping the U.S. achieve victory in the Pacific reports the office of Daniel Akaka.The Congressional Gold Medal is one of the highest civilian honors presented to people who serve the security and national interests of the United States. Past honorees of the Congressional Gold Medal include the Wright Brothers, Rosa Parks, Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee Airmen and the Dalai Lama. ||||| Tuesday, President Obama signs a bill authorizing a prestigious award for some of the nation’s Nisei veterans. 
 
 Nisei refers to Japanese Americans born to immigrants. In the case of World War Two, many Nisei went overseas to fight for the United States, while the U.S. government kept their families locked in detention camps for the duration of the war. 
 
 Now, the Congressional Gold Medal will be presented to the so-called “Go for Broke” veterans – that is, men who served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and other cohorts. 
 
 A number of these surviving vets live in the Northwest. April Baer reports. 
 
 It’s been a long time since the Go For Broke vets came home. In fact, this Thanksgiving marks the 65th year since Art Iwasaki returned from Europe. 
 
 Art Iwasaki “In my company - half of them were from the Hawaiian Islands. They were professional people, dentists, doctors. They were all still in school.” 
 
 Iwasaki was drafted in April of 1942. He took basic training at Fort McClellan, Arkansas, then learned he, along with thousands of other young Americans born to Japanese parents, had been labeled 4-C, or “enemy aliens”. Ultimately it was decided they could serve — with limitations. 
 
 Art Iwasaki “They told us we couldn’t carry arms, and we were treated differently – just like a prisoner of war. That was very disappointing.” 
 
 April Baer / OPB 
 
 These young men were among the best the Northwest had to offer. 
 
 Kenji Yaguchi was class valedictorian, quarterback of his high school football team in Fife, Washington. Winter of 1942 found him at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. 
 
 Kenji Yaguchi “I wasn’t in camp very long. I was there probably five, six months. I got there in August. From there I got so bored I formed the Boy Scout troop. We were allowed to leave the compound for field trips. In December there were rumors we may be called to volunteer for the 442nd.” 
 
 The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was an all-Japanese-American regiment, it was formed mostly of young men whose families had been shipped to detainment camps because of their race. Still, these young men stepped forward in great numbers. The Army sought 2000 volunteers, but one historian estimates 10,000 Nisei answered the call. 
 
 Kenji Yaguchi “I was one of the first to volunteer. Because I wanted to prove I was just a good as anybody else. No better, no worse.” 
 
 Basic training was hard. Some men had to go through it twice, first with their integrated units, then again in segregated units after the 442nd was formed. 
 
 Art Iwasaki’s brother Akira, or Ike was in the 442nd, too. Ike says he felt very much like the Oregon farm boy he was, thrown in with so many other young men from big, cosmopolitan cities all over the West Coast, like Seattle and San Francisco. 
 
 Ike Iwasaki “Before I was inducted in service I was at home here, I never socialized much, so when I was inducted in service and exposed to other people it was a challenge. Very lonely experience. Not having been away from home.” 
 
 The 442nd, and a component Battalion, the 100th, which preceded it, joined the ranks of the most decorated regiments of World War II. 
 
 Soldiers in the Go For Broke regiment gained a reputation for toughness in France and Italy. They became famous for the rescue of so-called “Lost Battalion”, a unit of Texas National Guardsmen who’d been cut off behind German lines. And Kenji Yaguchi says they captured Germans, baffled by the 442nd. 
 
 Kenji Yaguchi “They looked at us, and they thought Japan was fighting against them. First we said Yes, we were! After that, we said, no, we’re Americans. They were surprised.” 
 
 The 442nd suffered terrible losses. Art Iwasaki’s company, which had started with about 200 men, was decimated to eight, by the end of the war in Europe. 
 
 After the war, Ken Yaguchi became a chiropractor and settled down in Ontario. 
 
 Ike and Art Iwasaki went back to farming in Washington County. Of the eight members of Art’s company who survived the war, only five are still around. He downplays the heroism he and his fellow soldiers showed. 
 
 Art Iwasaki “I felt it was my duty. I was born and raised in America.” 
 
 Congress honors veterans of the 442nd with the Congressional Gold Medal this week. Members of the 100th Battalion and translators and interrogators with the Military Intelligence Service will also be honored. 
 
 The Gold Medal is one of the three highest civilian honors presented to people who serve the security and national interests of the United States.
– President Obama today signed legislation to honor Japanese-American soldiers who fought on behalf of the Allies during World War II—even as some of their families were kept in confinement in the US. This long-awaited bill will open the door for more than 6,000 soldiers known as Nisei veterans to collectively receive the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal. For more on the vets, see the Digital Journal or Oregon Public Broadcasting.