Nisei Exhibition Brings History Alive For Teens

Castle High is one of five schools to have students visit Bishop Museum’s “American Heroes: World War II Nisei Soldiers and the Congressional Gold Medal” exhibit this week.

The Kaneohe contingent’s time with the soldiers is Thursday morning, and the exhibit closes Sunday. The soldiers have been sharing their stories to standing-room-only audiences in the museum’s Atherton Halau.

The prestigious medal earned and finally bestowed upon the Nisei veterans is on display, and several of the surviving troops from the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team are meeting with the students, who have prepared questions for them in advance for this special field trip.

“We wanted to make the exhibit come alive for them,” said Mona Wood-Sword of the exhibit’s organizing committee. “Meeting these true American heroes, talking story with them, will make the exhibit that much more meaningful.” For exhibit details, call 847-3511.

Students in Castle High’s freshman U.S. history class, meanwhile, wrote letters to the veterans, and the museum has included all 75 letters in its display. According to class co-teachers Shiloh Richardson and Colleen Everett, “They were the only class from all of Hawaii’s schools to submit letters.”