Robert Hayamizu, executive secretary of the Nisei Veterans Coordinating Council of Southern California, testified before the Commission on behalf of a coalition of Japanese American veterans’ posts and organizations. His statement honored the long but often overlooked history of Japanese American military service and demanded that their loyalty and sacrifices be fully recognized.

• Representing Veterans: Spoke for the 442nd Association, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion Nisei posts, and others. Declared their mission was to tell the story of evacuation and service to the American public.

• Service Across Wars: Highlighted Japanese Americans who fought in the Spanish-American War (nine on the Maine, seven killed), World War I Hawaiian Guard units, and World War II in the 100th Battalion, 442nd RCT, and the Military Intelligence Service.

• Unrecorded Histories: Noted veterans’ contributions erased from textbooks, fueling ignorance and prejudice before WWII.

• Betrayal in Uniform: Recalled veterans being forced into camps, some wearing their American Legion uniforms as silent protest while herded onto buses.

• Military Intelligence Service (MIS): Emphasized 6,000 Nisei who served as interpreters, interrogators, and translators across the Pacific. Told the story of Sergeant Frank Hachiya of Oregon, removed from his town’s honor roll because he was Japanese, later killed while carrying vital maps that saved American lives.

• Women in Service: Remembered Japanese American women who served in the WACs, WAVES, and Nursing Corps.

• Unbroken Loyalty: Despite camps, prejudice, and erasure, Japanese Americans served in every theater of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.

• Call to the Commission: Stated Japanese Americans were the only group of U.S. citizens forced into concentration camps who then had to prove loyalty through bloodshed in war. Urged the Commission to ensure their story is told and recorded for future generations.

Paul Sagawa, born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1922, testified before the Commission about his family’s struggles under alien land laws, the loss of his father’s business, and the lasting injustice of wartime incarceration. His story traces the arc from forced removal in Arizona, to Poston camp, to Army service and beyond.

• Family Roots in Arizona: His father was a pioneer farmer in the Salt River Valley, active in community leadership — founding the Arizona Japanese Language School, serving as president of the Japanese Association, and helping establish the Phoenix Japanese Methodist Church in 1932.

• Alien Land Laws: Because his father could not lease land longer than three years, the family moved constantly. He also had to place his produce shipping business in the names of a Nisei and a Caucasian friend.

• Business Stolen: When the family was forced into Poston camp, the Caucasian partner seized control of the produce company. After the war, his father was given only a token payment — his life’s work gone. His health deteriorated soon after.

• Camp Years: At age 20, Paul became caretaker for his five younger siblings while his father was separately interned at Fort Bliss and Lordsburg.

• After Camp: Left Poston in 1943 for college, later drafted into the Army in 1944, serving with the Military Intelligence Language School. Rose to Master Sergeant before discharge in 1946.

• Life After Service: Tried farming again with his father and brother, but gave it up due to allergies. Moved to California, working as an office manager until a stroke in 1970 forced early retirement.

• Call for Redress: Declared incarceration was “no vacation” and condemned deniers. Urged monetary compensation as the only understood method of justice, alongside public education so “this can happen to anybody” is never repeated.

Mitsuo (Mitchell) Usui, a realtor from Northridge and WWII veteran, testified before the Commission in memory of his late parents. His testimony traced his family’s flourishing nursery business, the trauma of incarceration, his own military service, and the lasting wounds of loss.

• Family & Community Roots: Parents were active in Los Angeles Japanese community groups. His mother taught songs and cherished sayings; his father served on civic boards and left a legacy of service and faith.

• The Nursery Business: In 1938, the family invested in the Friend Club Nursery in Crenshaw, with $10,000 in land and inventory. By evacuation, it was thriving. They were forced to sell it for only $1,000 when his father was imprisoned by the FBI.

• Arrest & Evacuation: FBI agents raided their home after Pearl Harbor, chaining and numbering his father “like an animal.” The family was sent to Santa Anita Assembly Center and then to Colorado; his father later rejoined them from detention in New Mexico.

• Loss & Humiliation: Returning after the war, Usui tried to buy back the nursery, only to find it resold at inflated prices. The insult broke his father, who “never recovered” and died in 1953.

• Military Service: Despite his father’s objections — “It’s like kicking you in the pants, then asking you to shine my shoes” — Usui volunteered. He trained in Japanese language and paratroop units, serving until 1946. Returning home in uniform, he faced slurs of “damn Jap” on a Los Angeles bus, only defended by the bus driver.

• Legacy of Resilience: Remembered his mother’s proverb: “Knock it over seven times, it still comes up the eighth.” Saw in this the spirit of Issei, Nisei, and Sansei — to keep fighting for justice, dignity, and recognition.

• Closing Plea: Declared he would “keep on fighting until justice is done.”

Jun (June) Fukushima, a U.S. Army draftee in April 1941, testified before the Commission about the painful contradiction of serving his country while his family was imprisoned at Manzanar. His words blended personal memory, family loss, and a unique call for elder care for survivors.

• Before the War: His family farmed vegetables in Canoga Park, California. When Executive Order 9066 was issued, his parents, brothers, and sister were forced to abandon the farm and lost all household goods, furniture, and equipment — except a tractor sold off cheaply.

• In the Army: Drafted before Pearl Harbor, he served with the Military Intelligence Service at Camp Savage, Minnesota. Despite being on active duty, his family was sent to Manzanar.

• First Visit to Camp: In June 1943, took a bus from Los Angeles through the Mojave Desert to Manzanar. Found barbed wire, guard towers, straw-filled mattresses, blankets for walls, and communal showers and toilets with no privacy.

• Emotional Impact: Felt deep anguish knowing his parents and siblings endured incarceration while he wore the U.S. Army uniform.

• Call for Justice: Suggested not only compensation but also an “old age home” for surviving incarcerees, since elders bore the greatest shock and hardship.

Jim Karaminami, representing the 442nd Veterans Association of Southern California, testified before the Commission to honor the legacy of Nisei soldiers while condemning the injustice of incarceration. His statement blended vivid memories of camp, the sacrifices of Japanese American servicemen, and a firm demand for redress.

• Camp Life Remembered: Families forced into assembly centers at racetracks and fairgrounds, many housed in horse stables “unbearable” in stench. Barracks were flimsy, sanitation appalling, cesspools overflowing beneath buildings.

• Remote Prisons: Later shipped to desolate camps, surrounded by barbed wire and machine guns, where internees endured sweltering heat, dust storms, and bitter winters.

• Service in Spite of Injustice: Out of these camps, young Nisei volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, serving with distinction in France and Italy. Karaminami quoted General Mark Clark’s words to the Commission: “A grave injustice was done to a very patriotic sector of our population.”

• Resolution of Support: Read a formal resolution from the 442nd Veterans Association endorsing redress and reparations, stressing that those incarcerated were loyal Americans stripped of constitutional rights.

• False Claims & Outbursts: Publicly refuted denier Lillian Baker, who had misrepresented the 442nd as supporting her cause. Her outburst in the hearing underscored the hostility survivors and veterans continued to face.

• Closing Appeal: Invited commissioners to visit the Presidio Army Museum to see 442nd memorabilia and photos of the evacuation and camps — reminders of both sacrifice and betrayal.

Paul Kumao Oda, a Hawaiian-born veteran of World War II, testified before the Commission about the bitter irony of serving in the U.S. Army while enduring discrimination at home. His testimony was brief but powerful, centering on his service record, his fiancée’s incarceration, and the indignities he faced as a uniformed soldier.

• Service Record: Born in Hawai‘i in 1913, moved to Los Angeles in 1930, and inducted into the Army in 1941. Served with the 91st Infantry Battalion, helping construct an air base on Ascension Island before returning to the U.S. in 1944.

• Visiting His Fiancée: Spent his furlough visiting his fiancée at the Manzanar Relocation Center. He was shocked by how difficult it was to locate the camp and outraged by the rules imposed once inside.

• Violation of Rights: Despite wearing his U.S. military uniform, Oda was not allowed to leave Manzanar without a white escort. The same restriction applied when he and his fiancée traveled to Reno, Nevada to marry.

• Questions of Justice: Asked who created these humiliating regulations, and why Japanese American soldiers from Hawai‘i and the camps were segregated, despite their loyalty and service.

• Closing: His testimony underscored the contradictions of democracy in wartime — soldiers risking their lives abroad while stripped of their rights at home.

Phil Shigekuni delivered the testimony of Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura, a Japanese American Medal of Honor recipient, who could not attend due to flight delays. Miyamura, a veteran of both World War II and Korea, shared his life story and underscored the injustice of incarceration through the lens of his wife’s family’s suffering.

• Drafted & Training: Entered the U.S. Army in 1944, trained at Camp Blanding, then joined the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.

• Encounter with Incarcerees: Shocked by the poor conditions reported by young women from the Rohwer camp in Arkansas who visited soldiers on weekends. Their families lived in worse circumstances than soldiers in the Army.

• Marriage & Family: After the war, married Carrie, whose family was incarcerated at Poston, Arizona. She rarely spoke of camp, but her father grew ill there and died soon after release.

• Korean War Heroism: Recalled holding off waves of Chinese soldiers during the retreat at the Imjin River, allowing his squad to escape before he was captured. Imprisoned for 27 months, he later received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

• Pride & Pain: Declared himself proud to be American but acknowledged the grave injustice of 1942, which devastated Japanese American families like his wife’s.

• Call for Justice: Urged the Commission to admit America’s mistake and grant monetary reparations as a small step toward liberty and justice for all.

Thomas Kinaga, a veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, testified before the Commission about the deep conflict of serving his country while his family remained imprisoned behind barbed wire. His words captured the bitter irony of loyalty tested by injustice.

• Condemnation of Evacuation: Stressed that no matter how internees responded — whether by renouncing citizenship or by volunteering for service — all condemned the evacuation as wrong.

• Mental Anguish: Even as he fought for America overseas, his parents and siblings were incarcerated at Heart Mountain.

• Hawai‘i vs. Mainland: Pointed out the hypocrisy that West Coast Japanese families were imprisoned, while Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i — far closer to Japan — remained free.

• Furlough at Heart Mountain: Recalled spending his last leave before combat visiting his family in camp, locked inside barbed wire despite wearing his U.S. Army uniform.

• Wartime Worry: In Italy and France, his greatest fear was not death in combat but whether his family would be uprooted again or denied return to San Jose after the war.

• Destroyed Livelihood: His father’s business was gone; he feared they’d have no way to rebuild.

• Closing Plea: Declared this anguish was avoidable — it existed only because of the evacuation and incarceration.