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About the Nisei Veterans
Memorial Center
The Nisei Veterans Memorial Center was incorporated
in 1991 with the purpose of overseeing the acquisition of a site
for the construction of a memorial in Hawaii to honor the Nisei
Veterans.
Members of the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center board
help with installation of the sign announcing the Intergenerational
Center.
The 100th Infantry Battalion -- which was
comprised of members of the Hawaii National Guard's 298th and
299th Infantry regiments -- blazed the trail for all Nisei soldiers
of World War II. Their success during basic and advanced training
inspired President Roosevelt to announce the formation of the
all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team with the famous
words, "Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or
ancestry."
The US Army planned for 3,000 volunteers
from the mainland and 1,500 from Hawaii. But the response in
Hawaii was overwhelming: over 10,000 Nisei volunteered. Meanwhile,
the response from mainland Japanese Americans, who were being
incarcerated in internment camps, was understandably subdued,
with only 1,256 responding.
These men -- from Hawaii and the mainland
-- would eventually close ranks and become highly cohesive fighting
units, seeing some of the fiercest battles in Italy and Germany.
As members of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental
Combat Team, they were members of the most highly decorated unit
of like size and duration in US Army History.
It is only fitting that a memorial be constructed
in Hawaii, which was the birthplace of so many of the men of
the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd RCT and Military Intelligence
Service.
Tax-Exempt Organization
The Nisei Veterans Memorial Center is recognized
by the IRS as a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization.
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