Nebraska's Nisei War Hero

Edward Weir tells how Ben Kuroki—a second-generation Japanese-American, or Nisei, from Hershey, Nebraska—came to be a member of his B-24 Liberator crew during World War II:

"He had been trying for months to get on a crew, and nobody else would take him because of the prejudice at that time," said Mr. Weir, now 86 and living in Denton. "He knew we needed a replacement. He came to our pilot begging for a chance."

The pilot, Jake Epting of Tupelo, Miss., wanted the blessing of his crew, so he called for a vote, Mr. Weir said.

"He asked the other crew members, 'Do you want him?'" Mr. Weir said, recalling that day in 1942. "And we held up our hands and said yes." [Link]

Kuroki went on to fly 58 combat missions in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific, was featured in Time magazine in 1944, and received three Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Air Medal. In 2005, he was awarded the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal based on Weir's eyewitness testimony. A documentary about Kuroki, Most Honorable Son, airs on PBS in September.

Census Bureau's Sins Enumerated

Margo Anderson and William Seltzer have found evidence that the U.S. Census Bureau handed over the names and addresses of Japanese-Americans living in and around Washington, D.C., to the Secret Service during World War II. The release occurred after Congress suspended the Bureau's legally mandated protection of confidentiality in 1942.

Anderson and Seltzer discovered in 2000 that the Census Bureau released block-by-block data during WW II that alerted officials to neighborhoods in California, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Arkansas where Japanese-Americans were living. "We had suggestive but not very conclusive evidence that they had also provided microdata for surveillance," Anderson says.

Anderson says that microdata would have been useful for what officials called the "mopping up" of potential Japanese-Americans who had eluded internment. [Link]

A Nguyen-Nguyen Situation

Anh Do explains in The Orange County Register why so many Vietnamese are named Nguyen (commonly pronounced win in the U.S.).

Most Vietnamese have the surname of one of 16 royal families who ruled their homeland. In chronological order, they are Thuc, Trung, Trieu, Mai, Khuc, Ly, Phung, Kieu, Ngo, Dinh, Le, Tran, Ho, Mac, Trinh and Nguyen, as in Nguyen Bao Dai, the dynasty's last emperor, who abdicated in 1945 and who reigned before communist forces took control of North Vietnam in 1945.

During his rule, officials gave loyal subjects his name, while many criminals made the switch to avoid prosecution, according to Wikipedia. Through the centuries, a family might have adopted a new identity when new royals ascended to the throne, their rise achieved by force or political manipulation. And since Nguyen was the most recent, it's more plentiful. So plentiful, in fact, that some estimates place nearly 40 percent of Vietnamese with owning the moniker. [Link]

INS Seeks to Identify, Deport Vandals

From the San Francisco (Calif.) Chronicle:

ANGEL ISLAND
Immigrants left their marks
Poems were carved into the Bay Area's detention barracks

Jim Doyle, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, October 1, 2005

Hundreds of heartfelt poems were carved into the walls by those detained at Angel Island's Immigration Station during an era when it was U.S. government policy to drastically limit the number of Chinese and Asian immigrants.

The poems, a long-forgotten chapter of Bay Area history, speak of immigrant desires, fears, anger and longing for a better life.

"I wish I could travel on a cloud far away, reunite with my wife and son," says a poem composed of Chinese characters and carved into the barracks' wall. "When the moonlight shines on me alone, the night seems even longer."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Not Enough Chinese-American Indians in San Bernadino

From the San Bernadino (Calif.) Sun of Sept. 10, 2005:

Money stands unused

Scholarship stiffly limited

Jacob Ogles, Staff Writer

San Bernardino Valley College wants to give away a third of a million dollars to dozens of lucky students.

They just can't find the right ones.

So $333,000 in scholarship funds sit untouched, waiting for the ambitious community college student with the right family tree. Only those born in the United States and claiming Chinese and American Indian descent, and who are pursuing an engineering degree, can lay claim to the prize.

Another wrinkle: The college doesn't have an engineering program.

"We want to give this money away," said college spokesman Paul Rubalcaba, "but we can't seem to find the right candidate."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

As it turns out, a student must be of Chinese or American Indian descent to be eligible. No word on whether candidates proving descent from both ethnic groups get twice the money.