“Ladies and gentlemen, to begin this evening, I’d like to have the Roll Call of Veterans so that we can recognize them and their contribution to our nation.”

So began our Center’s fourth annual benefit dinner, with Lt. Colonel Howard Sugai leading the roll call.

“First, I call upon the 100th Infantry Battalion, Separate,” commanded Sugai.  As these veterans, whom we honored with our Big Boots to Fill dinner theme, stood at attention, their backs may have been a little stooped, but their pride and honor were as ramrod straight as they were 65 years ago.

The roll call continued, as we recognized the veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and its supporting units, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion and 232nd Engineer Company.  They were followed by the 1399th Engineering Construction Battalion and Military Intelligence Service.

As Sugai continued through the eras and wars – Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Mogadishu, and present day – veterans throughout the dining room stood and joined their comrades as a constant wave of applause and thanks filled the room.

Sugai’s keynote speech shared the present-day activities of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry which is under the command and control of the 9th Regional Readiness Command based at Fort Shafter, Honolulu.  Sugai spoke with pride of the professionalism and courage of the unit, which is spread across Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and Saipan, and has been deployed to Iraq.

“I enjoyed hearing about what the 442 is doing now,” commented 442 veteran Arthur Kurahara. 

This year the Center will be presenting its first ever 
“Kansha Award” to Hiroshi Arisumi and Leonard Oka. 

In 1982 Leonard Oka founded Maui’s Sons and Daughters of the 442nd, the first such organization of its kind in the country.  Their vision was to build a memorial center to honor the Nisei soldiers of World War II. 

Hiroshi Arisumi, long-time community leader, joined the effort in the mid 1980s and has been the backbone of the Center’s fund raising effort.