Memorial Day 2025

Memorial Day ceremony at Colma Cemetery, organized by Japanese Benevolent Society, San Bruno. 5/26/2025.

As we pay our respects to those who passed on this Memorial day, we reflect upon how our lives have been touched forever by those who have come generations before. It was a particularly challenging period during World War II, when nations were at war. How difficult it must have been for our families to navigate their loyalties, to their parents, to their ancestral homeland Japan and to their country, America.
Recently, NJAHS participated in the 50th Anniversary of the Amache Pilgrimage ( May 16-18, 2025). For the past five decades, the Japanese American community of Denver through the Nikkei-jin kai organized annual pilgrimages to Amache WRA camp. And in the past three decades, several organizations from greater Colorado and California, including the Amache Preservation Society, Amache Alliance, of which the National Japanese American Historical Society is an advisor, National Parks Conservancy Association, have been involved in the establishment of Amache as a National Historic Site under the National Park Service. Enhancing this Memorial experience has been the recently reconstructed Amache Honor Roll Kiosk ( Spring 2021) based on the original structure credited to Amache’s Yutaka Suzuki, high school wood shop, drafting office, carpenter shop and the construction crew. Built in 1944, this original kiosk was erected to honor those who served in World War II. Today, we owe our thanks to high school educator John Hopper and the high school docents of Granada High School, Amache Preservation Society and Colorado Preservation, Inc. so that we can remember those who proved their loyalty in service to America. Many of the soldiers served in the Military Intelligence Service and the 100/44nd Regimental Combat Team. Thirty-one soldiers sacrificed their lives, whose names are bolded and asterisked, including one Medal of Honor recipient Kiyoshi K. Muranaga. Read more at Amache.org. A highlight of this year’s pilgrimage at the Amache Cemetery was the completed installation replica of the honor roll plaque of the 31 KIA soldiers and the memorial plaque of names of those who died in Amache camp inside the Columbarium structure. The original columbarium structure was built by former Amacheans and inscribed by Rev Masahiko Wada, a prominent Baptist minister, and grandfather of current Amache Alliance President Mitch Homma to memorialize and safekeep the remains of those who died. While the remains since been returned to the families, the plaques have been reconstructed through the efforts of the Amache Alliance and the National Park Service.