Western
Washington University Awards Honorary Degree to Former Student and Decorated
Veteran Incarcerated with Japanese Americans during World War II
by Mary Gallagher,
Office of Communications and Marketing
Two black and white photos: Left, Japanese Americans boarded a bus parked in front of
James Okubo's family home, beginning their forced removal in 1942. Right, a portrait of James Okubo
Western
Washington University will award a posthumous honorary bachelor’s degree at
spring commencement Saturday, June 15 to James K. Okubo, a Medal of Honor
recipient and former Western Washington College of Education student who was
unable to finish his degree because his family was incarcerated during World
War II along with about 120,000 West Coast residents of Japanese ancestry.
The degree will be presented at commencement Saturday, June 15,
at 8:45 a.m. Tickets are required to attend the ceremony, which will also be
livestreamed at www.ustream.tv/channel/wwu-live-events1
After leaving Western in 1942, Okubo enlisted in the U.S.
Army and was a medic with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, one of the most
decorated units in U.S. military history. He was awarded a Silver Star for
saving the lives of fellow soldiers under heavy fire in France in 1944, and
received a Medal of Honor in 2000.
Okubo passed away in 1967. His children, William and Anne,
and other members of their family are expected to attend the ceremony to accept
the degree on behalf of their father.
James Okubo was born in Anacortes, grew up in Bellingham and
graduated from Bellingham High School. His parents Kenzo and Fuyu Okubo, ran
the Sunrise Café on Holly Street. He came to Western Washington College of
Education with dreams of becoming a dentist; he was a popular student and a
member of the ski club. But in spring 1942, Okubo and his family were forced to
leave their well-established lives and join other Bellingham residents of
Japanese descent – citizens and non-citizens alike -- for incarceration at the
Tule Lake War Relocation Center in California.
In May of 1943, Okubo enlisted in the Army, and was assigned
as a medic in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, all-Nisei squad of
second-generation Japanese Americans who would become legendary. During a
daring rescue of a U.S. Army battalion trapped behind enemy lines in eastern
France during World War II in October 1944, Okubo dodged grenades and heavy
fire to crawl 150 yards to carry wounded men to safety, and personally treated
17 fellow soldiers. Days later, he ran through machine gun fire to rescue a
comrade from a burning tank, saving his life. In 1945, Okubo’s superiors
nominated him for a Medal of Honor, but he received the Silver Star, perhaps
because of a mistaken belief it was the highest honor available to a medic.
After the war, Okubo settled in the Detroit area, became a
dentist and a faculty member at the University of Detroit Dental School. He
died in a car crash at age 46 on a family ski trip in 1967.
In the late 1990s, the military records of Asian American
World War II veterans came under closer scrutiny amid concerns they had not
received full recognition for their valor. Okubo was posthumously granted the
Medal of Honor by President Clinton in 2000 for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity
at the risk of his live above and beyond the call of duty.” His wife, Nobuyo
“Nobi” Okubo, attended the ceremony at the White House. Since then, Okubo has
been honored in other ways: Wounded soldiers now live in the Okubo Barracks at
Fort Sam Houston in Texas, and military families receive care at the Okubo
Family Medical and Dental Complex at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
WWU staff members Carole Teshima, an administrative services
manager in Woodring College of Education, and Mark Okinaka, a senior academic
budget and finance analyst, first submitted Okubo’s name for receiving the
honorary degree after learning that Okubo appears to be the only full-time
student forced to leave Western during World War II due to the incarceration of
Japanese Americans. Teshima has also researched the histories of established
local residents who were sent to the prison camps – and found no evidence
anyone ever returned to Whatcom County.
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