A look at Asian-Pacific American Veterans
Warren Michio Tsuneishi
Warren Michio Tsuneishi
Rank: Technical Sergeant
Wars served:Â World War, 1939-1945;Â
Unit:  306th Headquarters Intelligence Detachment, XXIV Corps
Born on the Fourth of July in California, Warren Tsuneishi was the son of Japanese immigrants. After Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entered World War II, his family was evacuated to Heart Mountain, a Japanese internment facility in Wyoming. But Tsuneishi craved freedom and the chance to serve his country, in spite of his family’s confinement. He volunteered for the Military Intelligence Service Language School and served in the Pacific, translating captured documents that gave U.S. forces a big advantage in securing the Philippines and Okinawa.
Carolyn Hisako Tanaka
Carolyn Hisako Tanaka
Rank: Captain
Wars served:Â Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Unit:Â 24th Evacuation Hospital
Jimmie Kanaya
Jimmie Kanaya
Branch: ArmyÂ
Rank: Colonel
Wars served:Â Â World War, 1939-1945; Â Korean War, 1950-1953;Â Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Unit:Â 3rd Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team
 As a youth, Jimmie Kanaya became fascinated with the military, and at 20 he jumped at the chance to enlist in 1941—months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. After helping his parents relocate from their Oregon home to an Idaho internment camp, Kanaya took his skills as a medic to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He aggressively looked out for his men, even negotiating a halt to fighting to bring in casualties from the battlefield. Captured by German troops, he escaped three times and at war’s end was the only non-Caucasian in his POW camp. Kanaya continued to serve his country during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
