Members of the Army Reserve’s 100th BN/442 INF Regiment color guard accompany the commemorative wreath that was presented at the Veterans Memorial Courtyard located at the JACCC in Little Tokyo. (Photos: George Toshio Johnston)
Ceremony recalls President Truman’s tribute to the 442nd.
By George Toshio Johnston, Pacific Citizen Senior Editor
Exactly eight decades from the day when it literally rained on the parade of American soldiers marching along Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., to meet President Truman, on the other side of the continent in Los Angeles there was not a raincloud in sight.
On July 15, 1946, a raincoat-clad Truman presented the men of the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team with its seventh Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation. (see July 20, 1946, Pacific Citizen, tinyurl.com/3fx6x2kw)
Truman’s message to those men, members of the segregated and most-highly decorated military unit in U.S. history for size and length of service: “You fought not only the enemy, but you have fought prejudice — and you have won. Keep up that fight, and we will continue to win — to make this great republic stand for what the Constitution says it stands for: the welfare of all people all the time.”
From left: Keith Ishigaki, Patricia Wyatt, Scott Takahashi and Ricky Pal
The date of Truman’s 1946 message — now known as Day of Affirmation and a first for Los Angeles — honoring what those American soldiers of Japanese ancestry had accomplished during World War II with personal sacrifice, bodily injury and many lives lost was remembered the morning of July 15, 2026, on the sunbaked Isamu Noguchi Plaza in front of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Little Tokyo.
David Miyoshi displays the framed letter sent by Secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs Lindsey Sin to mark the Day of Affirmation ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of President Truman’s presentation of a Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation to the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Truman’s words — “You fought not only the enemy, but you have fought prejudice” — were repeated several times by the roster of speakers, which included keynote speaker Scott Takahashi, a Vietnam War Army veteran and co-president of the 100th Battalion Veterans Club whose father, TSgt. Mas Takahashi, and uncle, Pfc. Yoshio Takahashi, served in the 100th/442nd’s C Co. and M Co., respectively; Maj. Luis Sanchez, S-3 operations officer, 100th Battalion/442nd Infantry Regiment, Army Reserve; attorney and retired Marine Corps officer David Miyoshi, who served in country during the Vietnam War; and Rakesh “Ricky” Pal, Minority and Underrepresented Veterans deputy secretary at the California Department of Veterans Affairs, who also presented Miyoshi with a framed letter marking the occasion from Lindsey Sin, secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs.
Reflecting on the 442nd veterans’ accomplishments, as well as those of his own father, Takahashi said, “What these men did — they not only saved the world from unspeakable tyranny, but they came home and built their lives and gave future generations a leg up on their futures.
“When it looked like I’d be drafted, my dad said, ‘It’s your duty to serve for everything that this country has given to us, and the good fortune that we’ve had to live here. And it’s true. He was he was not an outspoken patriot, but he was a patriot to the heart, to the core.”
The event wrapped up with the presentation of a commemorative wreath by the Army Reserve’s 100th BN/442 INF Regiment color guard, which in the present day carries on the name, legacy and insignia of the 442nd.
The Day of Affirmation event was organized by the Japanese American Veterans Assn. The invocation was given by Marine Corps Vietnam War veteran and interfaith minister Cliff Ishigaki, who served as a captain with the Ninth Marine Regiment. Welcoming remarks were by JACCC President and CEO Patricia Wyatt.
SSgt. Justin Yoshida
Serving as master of ceremonies was SSgt. Justin Yoshida, a recruiter with the San Gabriel Valley Army Recruiting Co. Singing the National Anthem was Candice Shikai, a partner with the law firm Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A.
See related story at tinyurl.com/2nxpcj4b.
To view the event’s program, visit tinyurl.com/s7jkjdw9.