Japanese American Veterans Association
We are an educational, patriotic, fraternal organization dedicated to maintaining and extending the institutions of American freedom. Our members include veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars. Although the majority of our members are Americans of Japanese Ancestry, our members are not exclusively Japanese Americans.
Dear Members and Friends of JAVA,
As we close the chapter on 2025, I want to say something accurate and straightforward. This year, the Japanese American Veterans Association did not just stay active. We stayed faithful to our mission. We honored service. We protected memory. We corrected the record. We lifted the next generation. We strengthened friendships across communities and across oceans.
First, we told the story the right way. In 2025, JAVA produced a powerful V-E Day Special Edition series that brought forward voices, scholarship, and testimony that reminded America what Japanese American soldiers did in the European theater and what their families endured at home. We also marked V-J Day by inviting our community to reflect on the extraordinary service of the Military Intelligence Service and on how Nisei linguists helped turn wartime enmity into a lasting U.S.-Japan alliance through language skills, cultural fluency, and quiet diplomacy.
And we did more than publish. We advanced history on the ground, in the places where history happened. This year, we helped support the Heroes of the Vosges Museum project forward in Bruyères, France, supporting the creation of a permanent space that will preserve the “Rescue of the Lost Battalion” and liberation of Bruyères and Biffontaine, as well as the sacrifices of the 100th and 442nd for generations to come.
We also stood where the world must never forget. On May 2, 2025, JAVA was present near Waakirchen, Germany, for a ceremony honoring the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion and the concentration camp prisoners they helped liberate from the Dachau death march. The ceremony included prayers, the placement of a new plaque, and wreath-laying to honor the 522nd’s role in rescuing the survivors. That same day, we represented JAVA at the inauguration of a new monument recognizing the Nisei soldiers of the 522nd who helped bring that march to an end. JAVA also played a key role in drafting the enduring inscription on that memorial, because words, when chosen carefully, can become a lasting act of respect.
At home, we strengthened remembrance through national presence and national dignity. JAVA participated in the National Memorial Day Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, standing in the company of the nation to honor those who laid down their lives. Then, in July, we hosted our Day of Affirmation at the National World War II Memorial, reaffirming President Truman’s timeless truth that our Nisei soldiers fought not only the enemy, but prejudice, and won. We were honored to welcome Medal of Honor recipient Colonel (Ret.) Paris Davis as our keynote speaker, reminding us that courage is not an artifact. It is a living standard.
We invested in the future in a way that directly fulfills our purpose. In 2025, JAVA awarded 14 scholarships to outstanding students. Fourteen lives encouraged. Fourteen families supported. We also expanded the community by launching a new digital discussion platform for Members and Friends, creating space for respectful conversation, collaboration, and connection. And we formed a History Research Committee to uncover and correct historical inaccuracies about WWII Nisei soldiers, because when the record is corrected, dignity is restored.
We also honored legacy in a way that reached hearts, not just minds. In 2025, the musical tribute “One Puka Puka Leads the Way” was shared and embraced by the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans organization, paired with a moving montage created by Club 100.
None of this happened by accident. It happened because volunteers showed up. Committee members did the quiet work. Donors gave consistently, and because partners trusted JAVA to do hard things the right way.
Today, I am making three commitments on behalf of JAVA.
First, we will protect the truth. We will continue to correct the record, preserve artifacts, and ensure that our community’s service is represented accurately and with honor.
Second, we will expand the legacy. We will keep investing in scholarships, education, and programs that turn remembrance into growth.
Third, we will keep showing up. At national ceremonies. At community events. In policy conversations. In the lives of veterans and families who need support and connection.
To everyone who played a role in JAVA’s accomplishments in 2025, thank you. You did not simply support an organization. You guarded a legacy. You strengthened the nation’s memory. You honored the fallen by serving the living.
In unity and remembrance,
Howard
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, mass hysteria erupted in America against all persons of Japanese ancestry. Nisei (American-born children of Japanese immigrants) were viewed as innately disloyal and were barred from enlisting in the armed forces. The 1,432 Nisei who were already in the U.S. Army in Hawaiʻi were placed in the 100th Infantry Battalion and shipped to Wisconsin for training and subsequently deployed to Italy for combat. Mike Masaoka, Executive Secretary of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), encouraged the Nisei to petition the government to allow them to serve in combat to prove their loyalty.
Masaoka believed a strong performance by the Nisei in combat was the best weapon to defeat racism and prejudice. In response to these petitions and the exemplary training record of the 100th Infantry Battalion, in early 1943 the U.S. Army formed the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, consisting of 4,000 volunteers from Hawaiʻi and the mainland, many from internment camps.