Smithsonian debuts its digital exhibition on the nisei soldiers

About 19,000 nisei soldiers served in the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team as well as in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service.

A new digital exhibition, “The Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal,” will be unveiled in Washington, D.C., this morning. Attending the ceremony will be the 1992 Olympic gold medalist in figure skating, Kristi Yamaguchi; Norman Mineta, former U.S. secretary of transportation (2001-06); U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.; and Irene Hirano Inouye, widow of U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.

The online exhibit, which can be viewed at cgm.smithsonianapa.org and americanhistory.si.edu., features a three-minute historical overview, stories of the 21 Japanese-American Medal of Honor recipients, a history of the 100th, 442nd and MIS, and perspectives on life in World War II internment camps.

In addition, the exhibition details the history of Japanese-Americans in the United States. It follows the lives of Japanese-Americans after World War II, when veterans used the GI Bill to obtain college and professional degrees, and covers the repeal of discriminatory laws concerning naturalized citizenship, housing and employment, and the successful petitioning of the government for redress and reparations for those who were sent to internment camps.

The digital exhibition was developed by the National Veterans Network, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center to serve as the interpretive and educational component to the Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal awarded by Congress and now on display in the “Price of Freedom: Americans at War” exhibition at the National Museum of American History.

“We’re so honored to be collaborating on this important project,” said Jeanny Kim, acting director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. “A much-needed commemoration of the untold stories of nisei soldiers and their families, this digital exhibition will be, for generations to come, an opportunity for discovery and inquiry.”

The nisei soldiers fought for the U.S. in World War II while many of their families lived behind barbed wire in internment camps as suspected “enemy aliens.” After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order that led to the internment of more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans during the war.

Sixty-five years after the war ended, Congress officially recognized the wartime contributions of the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service. In 2010, a bill authorizing the Nisei Soldiers Congressional Gold Medal was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award bestowed by Congress. It is awarded to persons who have performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient’s field long afterward. The first Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to George Washington in 1776. The 100th, 442nd and MIS as a unit is the 146th recipient — the sole Asian-American recipient to date.