Japanese American Veterans Association

The Japanese American Veterans' Association, Inc. (JAVA), is a fraternal and educational organization with many purposes: Preserving and strengthening comradeship among its members; Perpetuating the memory and history of our departed comrades; Educating the American public on the Japanese American experience during WWII; and Striving to obtain for veterans the full benefit of their entitlements as veterans.

Updated Janurary 2019

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The Origin of the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate)

  • By Japanese American Veterans Association
  • 9 Aug 2019
Five thousand Japanese Americans were in the US Army when WW II began on December 7, 1941. LTG John DeWitt, Military Governor of America’s Pacific coast, who questioned the loyalty of all ethnic Japanese, unilaterally discharged the Nisei in his zone and many went to internment camps with their families. In Hawaii, 1,432 Nisei were soldiers in the 298th and 299th Regiments of the Hawaii National Guard, which were comprised of all ethnic groups. Because the Nisei were viewed as a security threat, LTG Delos C. Emmons, Military Governor of Hawaii, who faced an imminent threat of land inva…

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Over 800 Immigrant Japanese and Nisei Served in US Army during World War I. Road to Gain Citizenship was Long and Arduous

  • By Japanese American Veterans Association
  • 3 Jun 2019
Washington, DC. The military record of Japanese Americans who served during and since World War II is well documented and known. However, the role of ethnic Japanese in the military prior to the Second World War and their quest for naturalization has received scant publicity. Nine Japanese immigrants served in the US Maine which sank in the harbor at Havana, Cuba, in 1898 during the Spanish American War. All of them, who had served as mess attendants, steerage cooks, warrant officer cooks, and wardroom stewards, sank with the vessel. When America entered World War I to fight against Germany …

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MIS Members with Brothers Serving in Japanese Imperial Forces during WW II

  • By Japanese American Veterans Association
  • 22 May 2019
Nisei soldiers in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) served in the Asia Pacific war zone as interrogators of Japanese prisoners of war, they entered caves to persuade Japanese soldiers to surrender, they were in the Special Forces working behind enemy lines, and they were in the first or second wave of the Marines or infantry invasion forces. All these duties brought the Nisei in close proximity to Japanese soldiers alive and dead. Many of these Nisei had siblings who were going to school in Japan and served in the Japanese military. MIS Nisei said they could mentally handle every situat…

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Nisei Heroism in the Korean War - Gene Takahashi

  • By Japanese American Veterans Association
  • 26 Apr 2019
Westport, Conn.—David Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize winning author of the Best and the Brightest, wrote the Coldest Winter, a story of the Korean War. He was highly impressed by his interview of Gene Takahashi, a platoon leader in the Korean War and later in life an executive of International Business Machines (IBM). Halberstam said Takahashi “is a wonderful man who should be celebrated.” Takahashi and his family were incarcerated in an internment camp during WW II and subsequently settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Takahashi served twice in Korea. He served in the Korean Occupat…

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Bob Hoichi Kubo, Recipient of DSC, Profile of a Hero

  • By Japanese American Veterans Association
  • 2 Jan 2019
Japanese Americans helped to win the War in Europe and the Asia Pacific and to prove their loyalty, which our nation had questioned. Also, timely tactical intelligence provided by Nisei linguists in the Pacific to infantry and marine commanders during combat saved countless American lives. Many combat medals were awarded to Nisei, including one Distinguished Service Cross for valor that was awarded to Bob Hoichi Kubo. Kubo was born in Lahaina, Maui in 1919 and attended Japanese language school after his English school classes. He attended McKinley High School and the University of Hawaii in …

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