Nisei Veterans Memorial Center

News & Programs UPCOMING EVENTS REVIEW OF CENTER NEWS & EVENTS Chronologic List PHASE I CONSTRUCTION Adult Day Care & Preschool Chronologic List PHASE II CONSTRUCTION Education Center FUND RAISING BOOK Every Grain of Rice Winner of prestigious Ka Palapala Po'okela Award	Phase II Construction We are now working on the floor plan for the third, and final, building: the Education Center. Earl Kono, of the award-winning Riecke Sunnland Kono Architects, Ltd. continues to donate services of his firm as he designs the one-story 2,100 square foot building that will be the heart and soul of our Center. Here we will house the Nisei Veterans Archives, an extensive collection of books, oral histories and one-of-a-kind family albums, photographs and personal communiqués from World War II. Board director Leonard Oka (left) and architect Earl Kono review the collection of books which will be housed in the Education Center. The workroom will provide counter space for researchers to view these documents and artifacts. Through oral histories, photographs, diaries and letters from the battlefront, the Nisei soldiers will share their love of country, fear of battle, and inkling that theirs were important first steps towards what today we call “civil rights.” In addition, the workroom will double as a classroom to host high school and college seminar classes. Students will consider the parallels between the Nisei soldiers’ experience, and our nation’s current struggle to define individual rights vs. national security.	HISTORY TEST Beginning in the 1930s why did a coalition of Southern states block Hawaii’s admission into the United States? The younger you are, the less likely you are to know the answer. Which is all the more reason that we preserve the history of the Nisei soldiers. ANSWER The Southern states opposed Hawaii because of its predominantly Asian population. The young Nisei who fought heroically in Europe and the Pacific – and became the most highly decorated soldiers in US Army history – played a pivotal role in dismantling those roadblocks.
Copyright 2004-2008 Nisei Veterans Memorial Center	LOCATION: We're located on the island of Maui on Kahului Beach Road just as it transitions between Kahului and Wailuku. MAILING ADDRESS PO Box 216, Kahului, HI 96733-6716. PHONE (808) 244.6862.