Retired U.S. Army Corporal Norio Uyematsu is greeted by Col. Wayne Scott, USAF (Ret.) during Memorial Day ceremonies at Yorba Linda Veterans Memorial Park on Monday. Uyematsu, a Korean War veteran and resident of Anaheim, was the keynote speaker at the annual observance.
Korean War Veteran Uyematsu Highlights Memorial Day Service in Yorba Linda.
By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS
RAFU STAFF WRITER
More than 300 were in attendance on Monday for a sun-drenched observance of Memorial Day at Yorba Linda Veterans Memorial Park.
Those on hand included veterans of at least three American wars, families of the fallen, current U.S. service members, members of the Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team, members of local Girl Scout troops and high school ROTC members.
The keynote speaker was retired Army corporal and Korean War veteran Norio Uyematsu, whose story of military service is particularly poignant because of the injustices inflicted upon him and his family.
Despite being incarcerated as a boy with some 120,000 other Americans of Japanese ancestry amid hysteria during World War II, Uyematsu enlisted to join the Army at the age of just 17.
“Since I was the oldest child of four children born in America, I should have not enlisted and stayed home to help my parents, but I did not know Japanese customs,” Norio Uyematsu recalled about his decision to join the Army at age 17.
“His life is a powerful testimony to courage, patriotism, resilience and faith in the ideals of America,” said Yorba Linda Mayor Carlos Rodriguez. “His story reminds us that the spirit of service and devotion to country can endure, even through war … and injustice.”
Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Wayne Scott described how Uyematsu and his family settled in Utah after the war, and how he insisted on serving America upon graduating from high school.
“I wanted to follow in the footsteps of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team and serve my country, the United States of America,” explained Uyematsu, citing the legendary unit made up predominantly of Japanese Americans. “No matter how my life had been, the 100th/442nd example of service inspired me and that is what Memorial Day is all about today — to honor and remember our veterans that we have lost.”
His Japan-born parents were reluctant to let their eldest son born in America leave home, but eventually relented.
Trained as an anti-aircraft artillery-man, Uyematsu’s deployment to Okinawa was abruptly changed with start of the Korean War. Despite his Japanese heritage, Army regulations at the time classified him as “Mongolian,” for whom promotions were capped at corporal.
His new assignment sent him to the 521st Military Intelligence Unit, where he interrogated North Korean and Communist Chinese prisoners of war, who spoke Japanese due to years of Japanese occupation.
“It was not an easy task but one I learned in trying to have them talk about themselves and their home life, to get the conversation going,” Uyematsu recalled.
Uyematsu said his most vivid memories of the Korean War continue to be the sight of refugees fleeing the war zone.
“They were mainly mothers with their children, and elderly women and men. Since they were Oriental, they resembled people I knew, which was very sad.”
Calling it the “Forgotten War,” Uyematsu, now 95, has spent much of his civilian life dedicated to preserving the memory of the Korean conflict and those whose served. He joined organizations including the Korean War Veterans Association, the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
“His tireless hours of volunteering – with time and monetary donations
– to help promote the legacy of the Korean War veteran is truly an inspiration to us all,” Scott said.
Uyematsu thanked the veterans and families of those fallen in attendance, and noted how despite being among America’s shortest wars, Korea was one of the deadliest.
“For those who fought and served in the Korean War, it is a time to reflect on the 36,000 American soldiers that lost their lives and the 247 Japanese American soldiers that gave the supreme sacrifice of being killed or missing in action.”
Closing by citing the words of his fellow Korean War Marines veteran Bob Wada (1930-2023), Uyematsu reminded the gathering, “To forget is a dishonor; to remember is everlasting.”