Asian American Military - Subsequently, President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Citizenship Medal to Terry Shima at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on February 15, 2013. Courtesy White House
A Civil War veteran who fought for the Union, Cohota fought important battles in Virginia. He served 30 years in the military, is married with six children, and has settled in the Midwest to start a business.
Asian American Military
Kohota was unlike most Civil War veterans: he was Chinese, adopted by the captain of a merchant ship, who discovered (and later died) a half-starved boy on his boat named "Kohota" after leaving Shanghai. It was , He arrived in the United States in the 1850s.
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Filmmaker Montgomery Home, who researched Cohota's story for a documentary in post-production titled "Men Without a Country: Chinese in the American", said, "He was a highly patriotic man who painted a flag every day in front of his house." Raised and lowered the flag. civil war."
Amid growing anti-Chinese sentiment, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which barred most Chinese immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens.
Prior to its approval, Kohota had not filed his second set of naturalization documents. He died in 1935 after decades of unsuccessful fighting for citizenship.
"This is the greatest tragedy," said Home. "He did all this for his country, but his country did not recognize him."
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Edward de Cohota, possibly in his 80s, is reunited with Private William Low at the Battle Mountain Sanitarium for veterans in the 1920s. Courtesy of Monty Home
Since the Civil War, generations of Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Hawaiians have served and distinguished themselves in the US military. This includes the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and National Guard.
Some sacrificed their lives; Some barely managed to save others. As they fought the enemy, they also fought discrimination at home from those who considered them inferior to Americans. Sometimes his military companions were also involved in this.
From the Philippine–American War to the Vietnam War, nearly three dozen Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have received the Medal of Honor, the military's highest honor for bravery, according to Daniel P. McDonald, director of research and development at the Department of Defense Uniform. Is. Opportunity Management Institute, part of the Department of Defense.
Asian American Veteran Council
In the past decade, Japanese, Filipino and, more recently, Chinese-American veterans who served during World War II have also had their contributions recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal for each group – an honor that has attracted supporters. Have to say that is long awaited.
"It's very gratifying to be honored with the award," said retired Maj. Gen. William S. Chen, the military's first two-star Chinese-American general who helped lobby for the medal for Chinese-American veterans.
Research published by the National Park Service suggests that Asian and Pacific Islanders were among those who fought in the Civil War. This includes men from India, Japan, the Philippines, Guam and China.
Home estimates that between 50 and 100 Chinese enlisted, mostly in the navy. He said that fewer than 1,000 Chinese were living on the East Coast during the Civil War. Most Chinese fought for the Confederacy, although some joined the South.
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Some came through the Caribbean and Cuba, where they were hired or indentured. Others, like the Kohota, Home said, were picked up and adopted by American captains working on ships in Asian waters.
Later, at the turn of the century, Filipinos were called to action after Spain ceded sovereignty over the Philippines to the US following the Spanish–American War of 1898.
After Filipinos declared the Philippines to be an independent, sovereign nation—a declaration that the US did not recognize—conflicts broke out between nationalists seeking independence and US forces on the islands.
The United States established a civilian government in the Philippines, and in 1901 Filipino soldiers fighting for the United States against the Nationalists were drafted into the military as the Philippine Scouts, a unit whose valor and bravery helped win World War II. will be important.
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In addition to minor conflicts, Asians also served in World War I. Among them was Bhagat Singh Thind, a Sikh US Army veteran who, upon his return home, had his citizenship revoked following a change in US law.
Japan's surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, brought America into World War II.
Terry Shima, who served with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II in 1946. Courtesy of Terry Shima
A little more than two months later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which set in motion the sending of more than 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese descent to internment camps in the interest of the nation's security.
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Despite this, Japanese Americans tried to fight for their country. About 19,000 men served in the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Corps, and the Military Intelligence Service.
Terry Shima, 96, was one of them. He was born in Hawaii and escaped arrest in a concentration camp. Because Japanese Americans were vital to Hawaii's economy, the FBI only detained leaders of the Japanese, German, and Italian American communities after Pearl Harbor.
In 1944, Shima was drafted into the 442nd, a separate Army unit composed almost entirely of Japanese-Americans. (The late Colonel Young Ok Kim, a Korean-American and winner of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army's second-highest decoration, joined as a second lieutenant.) The 442nd was the most decorated unit in military history for its size and length of service. . ,
Home, who directed the 2000 documentary "We Serve with Pride: The Chinese-American World War II Experience", said that more than 20,000 Chinese-Americans fought in World War II. About 40 percent were non-citizens.
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His service coincided with the period during which the Chinese Exclusion Act was in effect. (It was repealed in 1943.) Home said that enlisting in the military helped overseas-born Chinese gain citizenship.
"One of the reasons they offered their service was because everyone wanted to live in this country because it was the land of opportunity," he explained.
Army Captain Won Loy Chan, an intelligence officer for General Joseph Stillwell, pictured with a captured Japanese soldier during World War II. Chan graduated from Stanford. Courtesy of Monty Home
For Filipinos, the call for all organized military forces in the former American colony came from Roosevelt on July 26, 1941, less than five months before Japan invaded the Philippines and Pearl Harbor.
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Between 1934 and 1946, the year the Philippines gained independence, the US retained the right for Filipinos to serve in the US armed forces.
Among the units were the Philippine Commonwealth Army; the Philippine Boy Scouts, founded in 1901 during the early days of the American occupation; and recognized guerrilla units, which helped provide intelligence to Allied forces to expel the Japanese.
Over 260,000 Filipino and Filipino American soldiers served during World War II. Despite their service, these veterans, who were US citizens, were ineligible from receiving the same rights, benefits and privileges as others who served in the US Armed Forces as a result of the Termination Act of 1946.
Retired Army Major General Antonio Mario Taguba, who lobbied for Congressional Gold Medals for Filipino and Filipino-American veterans of World War II, said, "If you fight for your country, you can at least recognize them. "
Japanese American Veterans Association
Former President Barack Obama signed legislation in 2009 to create a fund that awards $15,000 to Filipino veterinarians who are US citizens and $9,000 to those who are not. Both are lump sum payments.
The service of Asians, Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians before and during World War II paved the way for future generations of men and women to join a non-segregated US military in 1948.
The Korean War, Vietnam War, and Iraq War were some of the conflicts during which Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Hawaiians served. Others, such as the Hmongs and Laotians, fought alongside the US during a "secret war" in Laos against North Vietnamese forces. Those who came to and from the US as refugees were given a fast track to citizenship through naturalization.
Vietnamese expelled as refugees to the US during the Vietnam War also joined the armed forces. Army Major General Viet Xuan Luong became the first general born in Vietnam in 2014 when he was promoted to brigadier general.
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They include Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who served two combat tours in the Middle East, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a Black Hawk helicopter pilot who was shot down during Operation Iraqi Freedom and died on her own. had lost his legs.
Today, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians make up 5.6% of active duty military personnel, Defense Department figures show. Nationwide, these three groups represent 6% of the population.
"It's a good ratio," Taguba said of the percentage in the military. "But most importantly, they continue to serve rather than just being data points."
Chris Fuchs is a freelance reporter based in New York. His articles have been published in Foreign Policy and
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