SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Touring the exhibit “I am an American, The Nisei Soldier Experience,” is a personal journey for curator Christine Sato-Yamazaki. Her grandfather earned a bronze star serving with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War 2. But she believes visitors to this exhibit opening at the San Francisco’s Presidio, may all leave with a similar sense of connection. And an intimate understanding, not only of who these young soldiers were, but what they were feeling.
“I had the opportunity to do a lot of oral histories with these veterans, and we would ask that question, why did you serve? You know, when your family is behind barbed wire or when your country is looking upon you with suspicion? And it’s amazing because these veterans said, well, it’s because I wanted to prove my loyalty to this country. You know, they were part of the Greatest Generation when everybody was stepping up,” says Sato-Yamazaki.
The exhibit begins years before the war, with the arrival of immigrant families from Japan. It’s An era of hard work and of chasing uniquely American dreams.
“They were playing baseball back in the 1890s. And this particular photo is great because they’re there with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. So this is really about showing what life was like before World War II, she adds pointing to a portrait of Japanese American players with Ruth and Gehrig.
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But mirroring the tumultuous era, the exhibit winds its way to the internment of thousands of Japanese Americans at the outbreak of the war. And what happened next for the young men who volunteered to serve. The exhibit is housed in building 640, now the Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center. Rosalyn Tonai is Executive Director of the Japanese American Historical Society.
“We’re excited to have this exhibit because the original site and historic site is the building 640, which was operated here in 1941. On November 1 and opened as a secret language school of the Military Intelligence Service, U.S. Army language School, top secret. They recruited Japanese American enlisted soldiers in the U.S. Army, secretly training them for war against Japan. One month before Pearl Harbor,” Tonai says.
And after that day more than 30,000 Nisei would eventually enlist, serving in Military Intelligence Units in the Pacific and fighting in combat units in Europe. But it’s often their personal journeys that come to life in photographs.
“You know, we have a lot of individual stories, right? We had Joe Takata, who served in the 100th. He was a very famous baseball star. He was the first one to be killed in action. This is Senator Dan Inoye. You know, he was in the 442nd. He lost his arm during the war. And so, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, which is the highest individual decoration for valor.
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Sato-Yamazaki was able to add photographs of her own.
“I inherited all of my grandpa’s photo albums. And so, this is one of the photos that was taken after the liberation with the townspeople,” she explains.
The exhibit also features the medals and personal items the soldiers brought home from the war. And stories Sato-Yamazaki says often remained untold.
“I think when they came back from the war, they said, okay, we did what we needed to do,” she believes. “They were really focused on rebuilding their lives.”
Lives, now documented in a new and moving exhibit. I am an American, The Nisei Soldier Experience opens to the public on Monday and runs through the end of August.
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