Bill Text: HI HR171 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Resolution 171 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Military Intelligence Service, Veterans of World War II

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-1)

Status: (Passed) 2015-03-27 - Resolution adopted in final form. [HR171 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2015-HR171-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	171
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

Commending the veterans of the military intelligence service for their courage and sacrifice in the service of our nation.

WHEREAS, unknown to the general public, several thousand residents from Hawaii, almost all of them Americans of Japanese ancestry, served with the U.S. Army's MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE in the war against Japan; and

WHEREAS, these soldiers used their knowledge of the enemy's language and culture as interpreters, translators, electronic eavesdroppers, prisoner-of-war interrogators, cave flushers, and combat infantrymen; and

WHEREAS, although the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE Nisei were credited with saving countless lives and shortening the war, their service went largely unheralded because of the secrecy surrounding their work and the often-temporary, unrecorded character of their service; and

WHEREAS, they were present at the formal surrender of Japan command 70-years ago this year, then played a vital role in rebuilding a defeated Japan as a modern democracy and a vital U.S. partner in the Pacific; and

WHEREAS, the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE veterans, with their brothers in the 100^th Infantry Battalion and 442^nd Regimental Combat Team, returned home to contribute to the modern Hawaii we all enjoy today, including such leaders as former Governor George Ariyoshi, Hawaii Supreme Court Justices Masaji Marumoto and Yoshimi Hayashi, Judges Frank Takao and Andrew Sato, Attorneys Ted Tsukiyama and Francis Sogi, businessmen Ralph Yempuku and Kazuo Yamane, labor leader Koji Ariyoshi, educators Teichiro Hirata and Richard Kosaki, and thousands of others who contributed to our Hawaii Nei; and
WHEREAS, to mark the 70^th anniversary of the conclusion of the war in the Pacific, the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE Veterans Club of Hawaii is holding a National Reunion on March 27-28, 2015, to honor the memory of the fallen, celebrate the service of the veterans who responded to the nation's call to duty, and preserve the legacy of the men and women who gave so much in building our state and nation; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2015, that this body commends the veterans of the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE for their courage and sacrifice in the service of our nation, expresses its gratitude for their invaluable contributions to modernize Hawaii, and extends its best wishes for a successful National Reunion.