<Begin Segment 18>

PW: We have so little time, I don't know if I should ask another question. It's okay? It's a big one, though. So I'd love to talk to you about the Congressional Gold Medal, it's a big question. Were you involved at all in the campaign for the Congressional Gold Medal?

LS: Yes. The committee came and we met at the Japanese American Museum in San Jose, and went over designs and patterns, what the wording should be, and went back and forth two or three times, and they finally made the selection.

PW: Did you go to the ceremony in Washington, D.C.?

LS: Yeah, a whole bunch of us went. Like Brian, they call it a sponsor, would take a veteran, and I can't remember who took... I don't think anybody took me. My daughter, Joanne, went with me. And it was very nice, it was a very nice ceremony, and I think we were at the Hilton in Washington, D.C. And the day that we're going to Congress where they're going to present the Gold Medal, we were on buses. And you know how Washington, D.C., is very crowded, and there must have been maybe ten street crossings to get to the Hall of Congress, we never made a stop. [Laughs] A police escort every corner, the sirens are blowing, the red lights are on, the buses just breeze through Washington all the way to the Hall of Congress. And then when we got there, they gave us a light lunch. The building houses a small auditorium, and then an area with a cafeteria, and we could go in there and have our lunch, come in to this auditorium with a stage. And when we went in there, we all sat in this auditorium. And there was a speaker, that was the guy that resigned, I forgot his name, he was the speaker. There were Republicans and Democrats, and, of course, Dan Inouye is the one they presented the Gold Medal to. And they all kind of passed it around, the senior senators and so forth, and that's how the 442nd received. And then that night was the big ball at the Hilton Hotel, and we had speakers and all kinds of party atmosphere, and then in the outside lobby, they had it set up by alphabetical order, all the replica gold medals made out of bronze, I guess, they weren't gold. But you could line up alphabetically and go get one. So I remember that night, there were generals, mostly Nisei, Sansei generals, maybe half a dozen of them, bunch of colonels, majors, lieutenants, all kinds of brass. And we're all drinking and having a great time. I think we finally quit about two in the morning and we had to get up, like, six in the morning. Oh, I was so hung over. There was this fellow on the flight back, I was sitting, Brian was sitting on the aisle, I was sitting next to him, and I don't remember who was sitting here. I guess Shimizu was sitting here. For some reason, I'm trying to sleep, and he keeps talking to me. [Laughs] Brian said, "Leave him alone." I was just still groggy, but it was a nice trip.

PW: That was Brian Shiroyama sitting next to you?

LS: Yeah.

PW: And this was November of 2011, correct?

LS: I thought it was 2010. I don't know, I can't remember.

PW: How did you feel about the whole ceremony and receiving of the Congressional Gold Medal?

LS: Well, it's nice. Just because it's given out to people like George Washington, Bob Hope, it doesn't mean anything militarily, it's just the highest civilian honor from the United States.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.