WHITTIER — In a packed room June 30, family, friends and veterans erupted in a chorus of “Happy Birthday” to celebrate U.S. Army veteran and community hero Yoshio “Yosh” Nakamura.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn hosted a 100th birthday celebration for Nakamura at the Liberty Community Plaza to honor a man who answered the call for service during a difficult moment in history for Japanese Americans.
“There isn’t much I can say except that I was surprised to see so many friends,” Nakamura said. “So, it’s a great feeling for me to have you all behind me as a friend.”
Hahn, who represents the county’s Fourth District, which includes Whittier, presented Nakamura with a plaque to thank him for what she described as his “extraordinary service” to the county, but more importantly the nation.
At 18, Nakamura joined the Army during World War II.
Despite Nakamura and his family members being U.S.-born citizens, they were among approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans taken from their homes and placed into internment camps during World War II. Nakamura and his family were placed at the Gila River camp in Arizona.
On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans from the West Coast following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
“The internment of Japanese Americans remains one of the ugliest and most shameful periods in modern history of our country,” Hahn said. “We turned our backs on Japanese Americans, and no one could have blamed Japanese Americans for turning their backs on us.”
“But that’s not what happened. Yosh chose love over hate, and he chose service,” Hahn added.
Nakamura joined the 442nd Regimental Combat team, composed almost entirely of second-generation Japanese Americans, or Nisei.
The regiment is best known as the most decorated unit in U.S. military history, according to Go For Broke, a nonprofit organization which honors the contributions of Japanese American World War II veterans. It is headquartered in Little Tokyo.
“Go for Broke” was the combat team’s slogan, according to the nonprofit’s website.
“We tell the story of the Japanese American young men and women, who during World War II, chose to upheld the wisdom of America’s promise — the promise that in our nation no one is to be judged by the color of their skin, the nation of their origin or the faith that they choose to keep,” Mitchell Maki, president and CEO of Go For Broke, said.
“In our good friend, Yoshino Nakamura was in the lead of upholding America’s promise,” he added.
Maki noted that Nakamura was part of a mortar company that was assigned to break the Gothic Line, the German defensive line of the Italian campaign. That group was required to climb Mount Folgorito by night in order to conduct a stealth operation on a German outpost.
It marked the “beginning of the end of World War II,” Maki added.
After the war, Nakamura eventually enrolled in USC, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art, became a teacher at Whittier High School in 1952, and a professor at Rio Hondo College in 1963. He became vice president of the college and retired in 1992.
Nakamura married his wife, Grace, in 1950. A community activist, artist and educator, she died in 2017.
Maki repeated “Okage Sama De,” a Japanese phrase, which translates to “Because of you, I am,” while recognizing Nakamura.
“All of us in this room here today, Yosh, you touched lives,” Maki said. “You changed lives. You inspired lives.
“Okage Sama De. Because of you, we are all so much richer in our lives. Thank you,” Maki said.
U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Whittier, also made a presentation to Nakamura to commemorate his 100th birthday. Whittier City Councilwoman Marianne Pacheco and former Councilman Allan Zolnekoff praised him as well.
Yorba Linda City Councilwoman Peggy Huang thanked Nakamura for representing the Asian Pacific Islander community, adding that he “broke the barrier for all of us.”
