The Tappettes salute Yosh Nakamura. (Photos: George Toshio Johnston)
The community unites to celebrate the centennial of WWII vet Yosh Nakamura.
Cake. Certificates of recognition. Standing room only. Speeches, songs and accolades. Friends, family, dignitaries and admirers. Dancing women.
There was all that and more at Whittier’s Liberty Community Plaza on June 30 when local favorite son Yosh Nakamura celebrated birthday 100.
Loyal Pacific Citizen subscriber Yosh Nakamura displays a copy of his favorite newspaper.
“It’s a great feeling for me to have you all behind me as a friend,” Nakamura told the audience. “Thank you very much.”
Hosted by Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, the quantity and caliber of the turnout for Nakamura’s birthday party was testament to the changes he lived through and the lives he touched over the course of his 10 decades.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn shows off the plaque presented to Yosh Nakamura for his 100th birthday.
That Nakamura was dressed for the event in his “uniform” — white Go for Broke shirt and red, white and blue garrison cap embroidered with “100/442” and with his Combat Infantryman’s Badge pinned to it — also testament to his status as an Army veteran who fought in and survived World War II and a man who volunteered to serve his country at 18 while his family was incarcerated at Arizona’s Gila River WRA Center, when his country doubted and mistrusted his loyalty and that of his fellow Americans of Japanese ancestry.
Yosh Nakamura’s 100th birthday cake
But the throng that showed up to express their love and admiration for Nakamura was there also for the other parts of his life beyond his military service: as a family man (husband to the late Aiko Grace Nakamura, née Shinoda, and a father of three); churchgoer; talented watercolor painter; graduate of the University of Southern California who earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in fine arts; Whittier High School teacher; and later, the first professor at Rio Hondo College, where he later became its first Fine Arts Department chair.
Hahn presented Nakamura with a plaque to commemorate the milestone. Reading from the inscription, she said: “To Yosh Nakamura, congratulations on reaching the centennial celebration of your birthday. The Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles commends your valiant service in the United States military during World War II and your dedication to our community.”
Rep. Linda Sanchez holds up the plaque containing the text honoring Yosh Nakamura that appeared in the June 26, 2025, Congressional Record.
Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), who presented him with a framed reprint from the June 26, 2025, Congressional Record celebrating his centennial, said, “What I find particularly interesting is that during his service in Italy, Yosh’s passion for the arts was awakened because he was surrounded by the works of Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael and the stunning Florentine architecture, and so he found a new source of inspiration and hope, and those experiences planted a little seed in him that led to a lifelong devotion to the arts.”
Speaking later in the program on behalf of the Nakamura family was son Dan Nakamura. Guitarist-singer Harold Payne then performed “Quiet Hero,” and the party closed with a performance by tap-dance troupe the Tappettes.
Hahn encapsulated the meaning of the day thusly: “We wouldn’t have been here if it hadn’t been for the members of the community who came to us and said, ‘We need to celebrate an extraordinary man.’ ”
Special guests and speakers included Army Lt. Col. Victor Shen; Whittier City Councilmember Mary Ann Pacheco; former Whittier Mayor Allan Zolnekoff; South Whittier School District board of rustees member Jan Baird; former Whittier Union High School District VP Jeff Baird; and South Whittier School District board of trustees members Sylvia Macias and Elias Alvarado.
Among the various speakers at Yosh Nakamura’s 100th birthday were (clockwise from top left) former Whittier Mayor Allan Zolnekoff; Yorba Linda City Councilmember Peggy Huang; retired Air Force Lt. Col. Bob Johnson; Friends and Families of Nisei Veterans’ Janet Ito; Go for Broke National Education Center’s Mitch Maki; Army Lt. Col. Victor Shen; the Rev. Dr. Loletta M. Barrett; and son Dan Nakamura.
Also present were Rio Hondo College VP Rosaelva Lomeli; Rio Hondo College Student Trustee Carlo Flores-Olson; Field Deputy Christoper Kent, representing Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco (D–Dist. 64); Whittier Union High School District Superintendent Dr. Monica Oviedo; East Whittier City School District Board of Education President Christine Chacon Kennedy; Yorba Linda City Councilmember Peggy Huang; Army Maj. Gen. Peter Gravett (Ret.) and Army National Guard Col. Blanche Gravett (Ret.); Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Association of the United States Army President Col. Pete Seitz (Ret.); Lt. Col. Jina Kim and Major Ryan Kam of the California Army National Guard; Air Force Lt. Col. Robert Johnson (Ret.), volunteer liaison officer with the French Consulate; Go for Broke National Education Center President and CEO Mitch Maki; Norwalk American Legion Post 359 Commander Angelo Maldonado; Whittier Art Gallery’s Suzanna Grueser (president) and Lark Hickey-Frieze; Friends and Families of Nisei Veterans President Janet Ito; Japanese American Veterans Assn. Executive Council member David Iwata; and Rev. Dr. Loletta M. Barrett.
