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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2006)
NOVEMBER 15, 2006 Smoke Signals 9 ? 3 :i (Si m -f n ,Jf ! A Pictured here is Tribal Veteran and Tribal Council member Reyn Leno, (I to r) local Veteran and Honor Guard member Norris Merrill, Tribal Veteran and Honor Guard Chairman Gene LaBonte and local Veteran and Honor Guard member Soren McCallister. Japanese American Veterans Join For A LooEt Back At "Forced Journeys Vets By Ron Karten George Katagiri described the most highly decorated American unit in World War II. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an entirely Japanese-American unit, once sacrificed 800 soldiers to free 200 men from a Texas bat talion held behind German lines in northeastern France. The 442nd earned more than 21 Congressional Medals of Honor during the war. Today, as a second generation of Japanese Americans take over leadership of Japanese American priorities, the community has as similated and "Japantowns,",much a part of their world in the 1940s, have disappeared. But when Katagiri was growing Sl" Tribal member Jan Reibach played flute and fellow musician Tim Yett, Nursing Supervisor at the Tribal Health Clinic, played guitar to introduce the event. ' up, the world was different, and at a Tribal Library-sponsored event held in the gym on Novem ber 3rd, Katagiri described the times, his family's intern ment with that of thousands of other Japanese Americans, and his ultimate par ticipation in the-U.S. Military Intelligence Service. "Honoring Our An cestors," hosted by Tribal Elder and Vet eran Bob Tom, was another step in so lidifying the growing relationship between Tribal members and Japanese Americans. During the Veter ans' Pow-wow this summer, the Japanese American Veterans were honored guests. "The Tribal and Japanese Ameri can history sort of parallels," said Tom. "Putting us on reservations was not all that different from putting Japanese in internment camps." The afternoon event also included music by Tribal member Jan Reibach playing flute and his music partner, Tim Yett, Nursing Supervisor at the Tribal Health Clinic, playing guitar. Reibach told stories between musi cal numbers. Later in the day there was food and dancing. George Katagiri and his family, ended up in a Portland internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. He later served with U.S. forces in the Military Intelligence Service. "I wanted to prove my patriotism," he said. The Tribe presented a tradition al Pendleton blanket to Katagiri. The Japanese American Artist and Veteran Kenge Kobayashi gifted a watercolor to the library, made from his memory of last summer's Vet erans' Pow-wow. Kobayashi also is designing a Eugene Japanese-American Art Me morial at the Hult Center in Eugene, a project the Spirit Mountain Community Fund contributed $50,000 to. The memorial recognizes the forced journey of Japanese Americans to the Internment Camps in World War II. D
