Forgotten Sacrifices in a Forgotten War

Hundreds of Japanese American veterans of the Korean War gathered in Little Tokyo on Saturday for the unveiling of a memorial wall honoring their fallen comrades, who died more than four decades ago in what has become known as this country’s “forgotten war.”

“If heroism is measured by the sacrifice of life, then our true heroes are the ones who have their names etched on the memorial wall we’re dedicating today,” said Bob Wada, president of Japanese American Korean War Veterans.

More than 400 veterans and their relatives attended the dedication ceremony at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Little Tokyo. For many, the dedication of the memorial--a six-panel wall of granite listing the names of 246 slain soldiers--was a bittersweet moment they had waited decades to witness.

“It’s a great wall,” said Jun Ogimachi, commander of the San Fernando Valley Nisei Memorial VFW Post 4140. “They did a really beautiful job.”

“It’s so nice to see something like this come about after all these years,” added Roy Shiraga, a Korean War veteran who was shot in the leg and survived to receive the Purple Heart.

But for Shiraga, the day was overshadowed by sadness when he spotted the name of his war buddy, Tohoru Takai, inscribed on the memorial wall. Shiraga said that after Takai received a letter from his wife telling him that she was pregnant, he was wounded in battle, captured by the enemy and later died in captivity.

“I wish it had been me who had gone on patrol that day instead of him,” said Shiraga, who lives in Hacienda Heights. “He could have taken my place and I could have taken his place. It really hurts.”

The war in Korea, which began in 1950 and ended in 1953, claimed 54,000 American lives, making it one of the bloodiest conflicts in U.S. history. Among the casualties were more than 240 Americans of Japanese ancestry, many of whom, along with their surviving comrades, spent part of their childhoods in U.S. internment camps during World War II.

Yet over the years, veterans of the Korean conflict have captured far less recognition than their counterparts who fought in World War II or Vietnam. Efforts have been made in recent years to remember the forgotten war and its veterans.

Nearly two years ago, President Clinton joined South Korean President Kim Young Sam in dedicating a Korean War memorial in Washington, as thousands of survivors looked on. Around the same time, a group of Japanese American veterans of the Korean War began planning a memorial in honor of their lost comrades.

The group raised more than $150,000 in about 18 months. The money funded the memorial wall, which states, “To forget would be to dishonor, to remember will be everlasting.”

“The memorial wall we’re dedicating today is long overdue, but now we can finally say it’s here,” said Hiroshi Miyamura, a Korean War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient. “We dedicate it to those who made the supreme sacrifice and live in the hearts of their surviving families.”

Many hope that the wall will also serve as a reminder to future generations of Japanese Americans of the heroics of their elders in Korea, as well as during World War II.

More than one-third of the 33,000 Japanese Americans who served in World War II fought in the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The 100th and 442nd were two of the most decorated units in U.S. Army history and transformed the soldiers who fought in them into icons within the Japanese American community.

The Japanese Americans who fought in the Korean War, however, served in a newly integrated military, making their accomplishments much more difficult to distinguish. After the war, they returned home and quietly slipped back into society, without the heroes’ welcome bestowed on the World War II veterans. Japanese American veterans of the Vietnam War suffered a similar lack of recognition.

The memorial wall dedicated to veterans of the Korean War Saturday stands beside one erected about two years ago in honor of the Japanese American veterans of the Vietnam war. Both memorials are located in the Veterans Memorial Court of the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center.

“This memorial will help bring out the fact that there were a lot of Japanese Americans who fought in Vietnam and the Korean War,” said Harold Muraoka, a member of the San Fernando Valley Nisei Memorial Post.