JAVA President Howard S. High (left) and Takeshi “Tak” Furumoto during the Veterans Day 2025 observance ceremony (Photo: Katie Masano Hill)
By Katie Masano Hill, JACL Norman Y. Mineta Fellow
The Japanese American Veterans Assn. and the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation came together on Nov. 11 in Washington, D.C., to honor generations of Japanese American service members during its annual Veterans Day observance ceremony.
The event opened with welcoming remarks from Col. Danielle Ngo, U.S. Army (Ret.) and the Pledge of Allegiance, which was led by 1st Lt. Justin Ninomiya, U.S. Army Reserves.
Before introducing the event’s keynote speaker, Lt. Col. Mark Nakagawa, U.S. Army (Ret.), summarized a sweep of history: 250 years of the U.S. Army, 80 years since Hiroshima, 50 years since U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam and 25 years since the opening of the Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism. He reminded attendees that the narrative of service by Japanese Americans spans incarceration, sacrifice and patriotism.
The ceremony’s featured speaker was Takeshi “Tak” Furumoto, a veteran whose life embodies those intertwined histories. Born in 1944 at the Tule Lake Segregation Center during Japanese American incarceration, Furumoto’s family resettled in Hiroshima after the war, where he grew up amid the legacy of the atomic bombing.
In 1968, Furumoto volunteered for the U.S. Army, trained at Officer Candidate School and the Defense Language Institute and served in Vietnam in 1970-71 as an intelligence officer in the Mekong Delta. He earned the Bronze Star and later faced challenges from Agent Orange exposure and post-traumatic stress.
Today, Furumoto uses his story to connect the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans, the bombing of Hiroshima and the Vietnam War; showing how one life can bridge seemingly disparate chapters of American and Asian American history.
Following his address, the program included recognition of the speaker, a performance of “Taps” and “God Bless America,” as well as featured concluding remarks from Col. Ngo. The ceremony reaffirmed that Japanese American patriotism is about honoring the past, celebrating JA heritage and shaping the community’s collective future together.
