Pictured are the 78th Annual Memorial Day Service speakers (front row, from left) Katie Masano Hill, Linda Sato Adams, Gina Chuai, Gerald Yamada and Brad Sakaguchi and (back row, from left) Mark Nakagawa and Turner Kobayashi. (Photos: John Tobe)
The 78th Annual Memorial Day Service
highlights humanity and the importance of carrying forward their stories.
By Katie Masano Hill, JACL Norman Y. Mineta Fellow
The 78th Annual Memorial Day Service, “Celebrating America, Honoring Valor,” was held at Arlington National Cemetery in the Columbarium Ceremonial Courtyard on May 24. The program was co-hosted by the Japanese American Citizens League D.C. chapter, Japanese American Veterans Assn., the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation and the JACL.
The service, founded in 1948 by Key Kiyokazu Kobayashi and continued today by his son, Turner Kobayashi, is recognized as the oldest, continuous Memorial Day ceremony at ANC that is not organized through a government agency.
Attendees who are currently serving or have served salute the bugler during the playing of “Taps.”
The ceremony opened with welcome remarks from Turner Kobayashi, followed by greetings from Dr. Brad Sakaguchi (USA ret.) of the JACL D.C. chapter, Howard High (USA ret.) of JAVA, LTC Mark Nakagawa (USA ret.) of the NJAMF and myself, representing the JACL as its Norman Y. Mineta Fellow.
The program continued with student introductions by JACL D.C. board member Janice Nakano Faden and remarks from fifth grade student speaker Gina Chuai of Spark Matsunaga Elementary School.
Keynote speaker and former JAVA President Gerald Yamada. He is set to receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, from the Ambassador of Japan, Shigeo Yamada, on June 24.
Gerald Yamada (USA, ret), former JAVA president, delivered the keynote address, with a special tribute honoring Sgt. Kay and Mary Sato of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, presented by their daughter, JACL D.C. board member Linda Sato Adams, for the concluding remarks.
In my own speech, I reflected on what history demands beyond ceremony through my family’s story. My Great-Uncle Kei served in the 442nd RCT and was wounded in France, earning a Purple Heart. My great-grandfather, after incarceration at Tule Lake, later served during the aftermath of the Nuremberg Trials as a U.S. Army chauffeur for prisoners on trial.
Flowers are prepared for the memorial ceremony.
Their experiences are reminders that Memorial Day is not only a moment of reflection but also a call to responsibility.
It is the act of returning and memorializing names, truth and humanity to stories that must continue to be carried forward. Ceremonies like this endure because memory is not passive; it asks something of us. It calls on us to preserve these histories with care, confront injustice with honesty and ensure that the sacrifices and lessons of the past are not forgotten or repeated.
