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Contact: Diane Tanaka
310-222-5709
GO FOR BROKE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION TO
DEBUT ORAL HISTORY KIOSK EXHIBIT AT MACARTHUR MILITARY MUSEUM
DURING ARKANSAS EVENTS SEPTEMBER 24
TORRANCE, Calif. (August 24, 2004) - The Go
For Broke Educational Foundation is excited to announce the debut
of its interactive oral history computer kiosk “Arkansas’
Nisei Heroes: An Interactive Journey Through the Lives of Japanese
American WWII Veterans” at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas
Military History on Friday, September 24 and will run through
March 31, 2005. The debut is part of the University of Arkansas
at Little Rock (UALR) project, “Life Interrupted: The Japanese
American Experience in World War II Aransas” taking place
September 23 - 26.
The Educational Foundation’s Arkansas’ Nisei Heroes
computer kiosk enhances the MacArthur Museum exhibit of the 100th
Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and Military Intelligence
Service that will also debut on September 24. Arkansas’
Nisei Heroes provides visitors with an interactive and personal
experience utilizing oral history video, brief biographies and
personal veteran photos. The kiosk features veterans who joined
the army from Jerome or Rohwer concentration camps and details
the lives of five Nisei veterans from childhood, pre-WWII, incarceration
experiences, war recollections, to resettlement after WWII and
their lives today.
“The Go For Broke Educational Foundation is very excited
to debut ‘Arkansas’ Nisei Heroes as it provides us
with an opportunity to partner with an important institution like
the University of Little Rock at Arkansas,” said Christine
Yamazaki, executive director and president, Go For Broke Educational
Foundation. “As one of the only independent organizations
truly focused on educational initiatives to teach the Nisei WWII
veteran experience nationwide, these collaborations enable us
to reach out and educate the public on a widely unknown but extremely
important story for all Americans.”
The oral histories included in Arkansas’ Nisei Heroes come
from the Educational Foundation’s oral history archive of
nearly 500 WWII veteran testimonies to date. Through its Hanashi
Oral History Program, the Educational Foundation is able to preserve
the life stories of Nisei WWII veterans nationwide, and its volunteer-base
won’t stop until it interviews every living veteran. The
oral histories, which are keyword searchable and fully viewable,
archival photos and comprehensive historical information are available
on the Educational Foundation’s Web site www.GoForBroke.org.
In addition to the MacArthur Museum, the Museum of Tolerance in
Los Angeles features Educational Foundation oral histories from
its 522nd Field Artillery Battalion veteran collection.
For more information on the Educational Foundation’s Arkansas’
Nisei Heroes interactive kiosk, please call 310-328-0907 or email
esoldier@goforbroke.org.
For information on the “Life Interrupted” events in
Arkansas, please visit www.lifeinterrupted.org.
The Go For Broke Educational Foundation institutes educational
programs focused on the heroism and history of the Japanese American
soldiers of World War II, as well as the forced evacuation and
incarceration of Japanese Americans and civil liberties issues
raised by those events. Currently the Educational Foundation’s
programs include An American Story Teacher Training Program, Hanashi
Oral History Program, www.GoForBroke.org
educational Web site, and Resource Center.
In 1989 Japanese American World War II veterans established the
100th/442nd/MIS WWII Memorial Foundation to build the Go For Broke
Monument, which today is an eternal tribute to the heroics of
the segregated Japanese American units: 100th Infantry Battalion,
442nd Regimental Combat Team, MIS (Military Intelligence Service)
and the many other men and women who served overseas during World
War II. The Monument is located in the Little Tokyo district of
downtown Los Angeles at Temple and Alameda Streets.
