On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the mass incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans to “relocation centers” during World War II, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Among them was the family of Anaheim resident Norio Uyematsu, then 11 years old. Uytematsu and his family were imprisoned along with thousands at the Heart Mountain confinement camp in Wyoming.
After the war ended in 1945 and thousands of Japanese American families were later released, Uyematsu went on to enlist in the U.S. Army at age 17. He served with the Military Intelligence Service during the Korean War before he was honorably discharged.
Now 93 years old, Uyematsu – who affectionately goes by “Nori” – wants to give back. The decorated veteran is traveling to Washington, D.C., to donate his carefully kept collection of post-war memorabilia to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History military collections.
Uyematsu will also be part of the Smithsonian’s “Day of Remembrance” ceremony on Monday, Feb. 19, which marks the 82nd anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, in collaboration with the Japanese American Citizens League.
Uyematsu, along with other veterans who have donated items, hopes to preserve the legacy of the Japanese Americans who served in the Korean War.
“I think it’s nice to give recognition to all those who served – especially the ones who weren’t able to come back,” Uyematsu said. “They’re the ones who I feel should get recognition. We came back alive, and I got more than enough.”
Among the donated items include Uyematsu’s Korean “Ambassador for Peace” proclamation and other honorable medals, newspaper clippings from different eras of Uyematsu’s life, a book detailing Japanese veterans in the Korean War, and a plaque commemorating his service as three-time commander of the Kazuo Masuda Memorial VFW Post 3670 in Orange County. Uyematsu’s…
Read the full article here