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White House honors Japanese American WWII veterans

Reporting from Washington —
Nearly 69 years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered Japanese Americans to internment camps, President Obama signed legislation Tuesday awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Japanese American World War II veterans.

A handful of Japanese American veterans and lawmakers joined Obama in the Oval Office, where he signed the legislation awarding the medal to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, both known for their motto "Go for Broke," as well as the 6,000 Japanese Americans who served in the Military Intelligence Services during the war.

"It is the greatest thing in my life," 91-year-old Grant Ichikawa said after the ceremony.

In 1942, Ichikawa and his family were ordered to an internment camp in Arizona. Ichikawa, a graduate of UC Berkeley, said he left the camp and his parents to enroll in a six-month language school for the intelligence services, after which he served as a translator in Australia and the Philippines....
Read entire article at LA Times