Japanese American soldiers once branded ‘enemy aliens’ promoted posthumously| India News
HONOLULU — Seven Japanese American soldiers were promoted to officer ranks in a solemn ceremony Monday, eight decades after they died fighting for the U.S. during World War II despite having been branded “enemy aliens.” Japanese American soldiers once branded ‘enemy aliens’ promoted posthumously White flower lei adorned framed photos of the men displayed in a Honolulu military memorial park and received salutes as their family members watched from tents shielding them from rain that stopped as the ceremony began. The seven were students at the University of Hawaii and cadets in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, on track to become Army officers, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. They initially served in the Hawaii Territorial Guard, but soon after the attack the U.S. barred most Japanese Americans from service and deemed them enemy aliens. The seven cadets instead worked with a civilian labor battalion known as “Varsity Victory Volunteers,” which performed tasks such as digging ditches and breaking rocks, until American leaders in early 1943 announced the formation of a segregated …
