THE GO FOR BROKE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
(Text by Pete Porter; Photos by Margaret Porter)
 The Monument in
Little Tokyo.
(From the Web Site) |  The Monument Inscription.
(From the Web Site) |
| The 100th | The 442nd |
MIS |
The 522nd |
The 232nd |
 |
 |  |  |  |
The "Go for Broke Educational Foundation" is the newest member of our RSVP Volunteer Stations. Hope suggested that I pay them a visit to publicize their activities in case there are folks out there who would be interested in helping them out. I called Volunteer Coordinator, Dori Sugiyama, to find out when it would be convenient for me to visit their facility and was happy to find that they would be holding one of their Volunteer orientation sessions that very same week. As this was an ideal way for me to find out what the organization was all about, I sat in as the meeting was being held in their office at Suite 110, 370 Amapola Avenue in Torrance the following Saturday.
Like most Americans, television documentaries about Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye had given me a limited knowledge of the role that Japanese/Americans had played as heroic members of the U.S. Army during World War Two but I didn't realize that there was a concerted effort to record their valuable contribution to the war effort before their memories were swallowed up in the sands of time. The Go For Broke Educational Foundation was formed to help redress this paucity of information and has accomplished a great deal since its inception in 1989. The Foundation's many valuable functions include accumulating and providing educational material to teach the story of the Nisei soldiers and the unconstitutional incarceration of Japanese Americans as the United States entered World War Two. Programs currently include Teacher Training and the provision of 11th grade High School teaching material on the subject, the Hanashi Oral History Program and a fabulous interactive web site at http://www.goforbroke.org among many other media projects. The Foundation welcomes volunteers to help with its many programs. These encompass: Teacher training, the creation of oral history videos, multimedia projects, communications and general office help.
| Volunteers Eric Hirokane and Robert Sasamoto were present for the orientation session. Eric had heard about the Foundation from one of his coworkers at Toyota and decided to find out more about their period in history. Robert had been actively involved in various multimedia aspects of the Foundation but had yet to attend an orientation session. |
 Dori Sugiyama |  Christine Yamazaki |
Dori Sugiyama gave a short history of the three main units that consisted of the Nisei volunteers. These units were the 100th Infantry battalion; the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the MIS (Military Intelligence Service). Artillery support for the 442nd was also provided by the Japanese/American 522nd Field Artillery Battalion and the 232nd Combat Engineer Company built many of the roads, while under enemy fire, in support of troop movements. Dori said that one of her uncles served with the 100th and another with the 442nd. It is notable that the 100th (made up of volunteers from Hawaii) originally had a strength of over 1500 men and that, at the end of their heroic effort during the battle for Monté Cassino, this number had been reduced to 532. As this was a decisive battle that opened up the road to Rome for the Allied advance, their contribution was more than significant in ending this dreadful war. The 100th also holds the honorable distinction of being the most highly decorated U.S. military unit for its size and length of service.
Executive Director, Christine Yamazaki, then explained the basics of the Hanashi oral history video collection procedure. Although concentrated in California and Hawaii, there are still many veterans located throughout the United States mainland and Hanashi Coordinator, Steven Wasserman, is responsible for setting up the interview sessions that make up many of the oral history interview tapes.
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. |  The Library of Oral History tapes. | Christine said that the Foundation had based its collection methods on those established by Stephen Spielberg's Shoah Foundation and that a lot of the methods used had been coordinated with them during the early stages of the program. Due to the efforts of volunteers, Christine said that they manage about 100 interviews each year and that they had been able to amass over 450 so far. |
| Christine Yamazaki, has a grandfather who served with the 442nd and she informed us that he was heavily involved in the dedication of the "Go for Broke" monument that can be seen at Temple and Alameda in downtown Little Tokyo. Resource Center Manager, Teri Kuwahara then suggested that we check out their web site at http:// www.goforbroke.org on the computer terminals that were available in the office. |
 Teri Kuwahara |  Myself with Eric and Robert at the terminals.
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Dori finished up the orientation by stating that volunteers are needed for a cross-section of activities ranging from organizing the resource library, clipping out newspaper articles and sending out press releases, special events, tape duplication, various computer oriented functions and sundry office work.
Dori then gave us a tour of the premises, starting at the suite of staff offices, travelling down a corridor displaying a photographic history of the formation and operation of the units and finally ending at the office work area.
Each year the Foundation holds a grand event that is open to anyone who would like to attend. This year it is being held at the Bonaventure Hotel on November 6, and will consist of a gala dinner (with Hawaii's award winning chefs Roy Yamaguchi and Alan Wong and entertainment provided by The Makaha Sons and special guest Jake Shimabukuro from Hawaii. It is expected that the attendance will be well in excess of the 700 that attended last year's function. Please call Dori Sugiyama at (310) 328-0907 (Ext 20) or Martie Quan at eveningofaloha@GoforBroke.org for details and to make reservations.
I am sure that there are many of our volunteers that would be interested in getting involved with this new RSVP organization. It is certain to make a great addition to our own RSVP family of volunteer stations. Please contact the RSVP office at (310) 320-3322 if you are interested in this activity.
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