Clinton awards Medal of Honor to 22 Asian-American World War II veterans

Clinton awards Inouye the Medal of Honor at the White House ceremony where 22 Asian-American soldiers were honored for their service during World War II

'America owes an unpayable debt to you'

June 21, 2000
Web posted at: 9:55 p.m. EDT (0155 GMT)

In this story: 'Americanism is a matter of mind and heart' Prejudice may have delayed recognition 'Used as cannon fodder' RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton presented the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, to 22 Asian-American World War II veterans, seven of whom are still living, saying it is "long past time" to "break the silence about their courage."

The seven living veterans received their medals from Clinton on the South Lawn of the White House on Wednesday. The other 15 medals were presented posthumously and accepted by relatives of the veterans.

AUDIO Listen to Clinton read the names of the men who received the Medal of Honor 689K/74 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    VIDEO National Correspondent Anne McDermott explains why Medals of Honor are being awarded to Japanese-American veterans of World War II more than 50 years after their acts of heroism. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     ALSO Senate panel approves funds to preserve Japanese-American internment sites     MESSAGE BOARD The U.S. military    Background: The Medal of Honor was created for the Civil War, and Congress made it a permanent decoration in 1863. Almost 3,400 men and one woman have received the decoration for heroic actions in the nation's battles since that time. Source: U.S. Army Center of Military History

"They risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty, and in doing so, they did more than defend America," Clinton said. "In the face of painful prejudice, they helped to define America at its best."

A special $600 monthly pension is given to each medal recipient.

Officials said Wednesday's ceremony acknowledged the injustice many Asian-American veterans experienced during World War II.

All but two of the 22 veterans were members of the 100th Infantry Battalion or 442nd Regimental Combat Team, volunteer units that saw fierce fighting and were among the most decorated units in U.S. military history.

Members of the units received more than 18,000 individual decorations, but only one received the Medal of Honor.

"It is long past time to break the silence about their courage, to put faces and names with the courage, and to honor it by name," Clinton said.

Members of Congress on hand for the ceremony included Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Nebraska; Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-South Carolina; Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts; and former senator and WWII veteran Bob Dole. Kerrey, a Vietnam veteran, is himself a Medal of Honor winner.

Clinton said the servicemen, many of whom volunteered for World War II directly from internment camps where they were sent following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, "did not give up on their country when too many of their countrymen gave up on them."

The U.S. Army had recommended against the formation of a unit of Japanese-Americans because of what it called the "universal distrust in which they are held." But a few months later, President Roosevelt authorized the unit, saying "Americanism is a matter of the mind and heart" not race or ancestry.

Some 33,000 Asian-American troops formed the 442nd Regiment, which fought in eight major campaigns in Italy, France and Germany, including the battles at Monte Cassino, Anzio and Biffontaine.

At Biffontaine, the unit fought perhaps its most famous battle, the epic "Rescue of the lost Battalion," in which the Japanese-American unit sustained more than 800 casualties to rescue 211 members of the Texan 1st Battalion of the 141st Regiment.

The unit lived up to its motto: "Go for broke." For the regiment's size and time in service, the 442nd is the most decorated fighting unit in American history.

A few years back, the Army reopened the files of dozens of Japanese-American and Pacific islander soldiers from World War II, to see if any of them might have been denied awards because of possible prejudice.

It was determined that more than 20 men should have received Medals of Honor, including Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who lost an arm on a battlefield in Italy.

After placing the medallion around Inouye's neck, Clinton grasped the senator's left arm and patted him on the back.

Prejudice against Japanese-Americans was slow to ebb, Clinton said.

Back from the war as a highly decorated soldier, Inouye tried to get a haircut, but was told, "'We don't cut Jap hair,'" Clinton said.

"As Capt. Inouye said later, 'I was tempted to break up the place,'" the president said. "But he had already done all the fighting he needed to do."

Another man who was honored Wednesday is George "Joe" Sakato, who was wounded in France. Sakato says he is not sure if racism played a part in the long delay in his recognition.

While Sakato said he does not know whether he deserves a Medal of Honor, he does know that his old unit, the 442nd Regiment, always seemed to be in the thick of every fight.

"As a unit we were used like cannon fodder," Sakato recalled, adding, "I was willing to die for my country."

A friend of his did die after emerging from a foxhole and getting hit by German fire from a nearby hill.

It was what Sakato did after his friend was shot that ultimately won the veteran his medal.

"Maybe I went out of my mind or I just lost it," he remembers, "I was going to go take that hill back, or die trying."

He took the hill and lived to tell about it. But more than 50 years later, Sakato still thinks of the friend he left behind in France, and he says part of his medal always will belong to that fallen comrade in arms.

CNN Correspondent Anne McDermott, CNN White House Correspondents Kelly Wallace and Major Garrett, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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