A Chinese American who spoke out on behalf of Nisei in Hawaii during WWII has been awarded his second Congressional Gold Medal.
Hung Wai Ching received his latest honor posthumously in Washington, D.C. earlier this week along with other Chinese American veterans who fought in WWII, reports KHON.
Ching is credited with convincing President Franklin Roosevelt from incarcerating most of Hawaii’s Japanese American population. He joined a group of Hawaii’s leader, who talked the FBI and the President into releasing most of the Nisei scholars, religious and civic leaders on the Island arrested because of their cultural ties to Japan.
“40% of the population was thrown into jeopardy,” said Tom Coffman, a documentary producer who interviewed Ching. “Hung Wai Ching stood out among the network that lit the way and got through.”
According to the Sons and Daughter of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, it started when Ching saw a group of Nisei saddened after they had been kicked out of the ROTC because Japan had just attacked Pearl Harbor.
He convinced them they could still serve their country by volunteering for a non-combat labor battalion. 169 Nisei students petitioned to serve, and to their surprise, General Delos Emmons accepted them into the Varsity Victory Volunteers.
Ted Tsukiyama, an original member of VVV, said Ching “counseled, advised and inspired this group.”
“‘OK, they don’t trust you with rifles,'” Tsukiyama recalls him telling the group. “‘Why don’t you offer yourselves for labor? What, we came to the university to avoid a future life in labor . Anyway it made sense. This group finally agreed to accept his idea and offer ourselves as a labor battalion.”
Earlier, Ching joined Japanese Americans who fought in WWII in accepting the Congressional Gold Medal for their service.
Ching served in the National Guard as a captain and is the first to receive to Congressional Gold Medals from completely different army units, according to KHON.
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