A new marker stands along Oregon Highway 35 in the Columbia River Gorge near Hood River, Ore. to recognize the Nisei, meaning second generation Japanese Americans, who served in World War II. The sign was dedicated on Veterans Day, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025.
Jeff Kastner / OPB
The mountain views won’t be the only thing that will catch the eyes of motorists along Oregon Highway 35, the scenic route connecting Hood River to Government Camp.
Three years after its designation as the Nisei Veterans WWII Memorial Highway, community organizers have now added a new historical marker honoring the war service of Oregon’s Nisei, or second generation Japanese Americans.
Over 33,000 Nisei served in the United States military during World War II. Of them, 433 were from Oregon and 58 specifically from Hood River County.
All either fought in or supported the war effort while friends and family members were still incarcerated in “relocation centers” — concentration camps on American soil — and many returned home after the war to face anti-Japanese discrimination.
“The topics of World War II and camps were rarely discussed (by the Nisei generation),” Eric Ballinger, a physical therapist in Bend and one of the historical marker co-organizers, said in an email to OPB. “The generational trauma still resonates with my fourth generation, the Yonsei.”
It was also Ballinger who, in 2021, initially proposed the new highway designation after reading about Dick Tobiason, a Vietnam War veteran who started the memorial highway project.
Ballinger’s great grandparents on both sides immigrated to the Hood River Valley at the turn of the 20th century. This long connection to that area is one of the reasons he has been a passionate war memorial activist.
“This Nisei Veterans Highway and historical marker is a road to the past — allowing us to give thanks, to heal and take pride in the sacrifices that our Issei (first generation) and Nisei ancestors endured.”
Read more about the Hood River incident of 1944: An example of the anti-Japanese racism endured by Japanese American community members during and after World War II.
Julie Whitecotton speaks at the dedication ceremony for a historical marker on Oregon Highway 35 for the state’s Nisei veterans of World War II. The ceremony was held at a church in Hood River on Veterans Day, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025.
Jeff Kastner / OPB
The unveiling took place on Veterans Day after a morning ceremony at River of Life Assembly Church in Hood River. Over 260 community members attended, joined by former Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and other senior legislative leaders.
During the dedication, members of third and fourth generation Japanese Americans, all descendants of Nisei veterans, introduced the images included on the historical marker.
Several descendants of Nisei veterans shared their stories, including Julie Whitecotton, who spoke about her grandfather, Yukimori Okimoto.
“My grandfather was a man of integrity and bravery, choosing to enlist and risk his life for his country while his wife and family were incarcerated in California and Idaho,” said Whitecotton.
“My hope is that sharing more of the Niseis’ underrepresented contributions to this community and this country via the Oregon Nisei Veterans WWII Memorial Highway will bring more visibility to their service. Learning from history to avoid repeating these same mistakes is in all of our best interest.”
Eighty years following the end of World War II, many silent memories of the Japanese American experience are finally being voiced.
Learn more about Japanese American history in Oregon:Watch: A Japanese family’s multigenerational orchard in the Hood River Valley spans the early migration, wartime and modern erasWatch: “Oregon’s Japanese Americans: Beyond the wire”Meet Daiichi “Charles” Takeoka: From migrant laborer to civil rights advocate