NAPCA Salutes Its Veterans on Veterans Day 2021

As the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA) observes Veterans Day this year, the organization honors the military veterans who have proudly served this nation. NAPCA pays special tribute to the 477 veterans who are either enrolled or have been enrollees in its assistance programs. With recent Congressional Gold Medal ceremonies happening across the country to recognize and honor Chinese American World War II veterans for their service and sacrifice, NAPCA is proud of the military legacy that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have been a vital part of. As our veterans age, the organization stands committed to serving those who bravely served our great nation.

“Early in my career, I was incredibly blessed to have met on more than just one occasion and actually worked with Susan Ahn Cuddy and Col. Young Oak Kim, both of whom are true American heroes.

These legendary elders continue to inspire and guide David’s leadership and commitment to the community.

Despite barriers to citizenship and equality based upon the Chinese Exclusion Act in-place until 1943, Chinese Americans remained patriotic and committed to serve our country. Chinese Americans served our nation in every war since the Civil War. In World War II, as many as 20,000 Chinese Americans, nearly 20 percent of their population, volunteered or were drafted into American military service. Approximately 40 percent of those who served were not U.S. citizens. Nevertheless, Chinese Americans served admirably. Chinese Americans earned every type of award for valor up to the Congressional Medal of Honor, which was awarded to Captain Francis B. Wai. The service of Chinese Americans in World War II helped overcome preconceptions, both their own and those of the country as a whole.

Today, there are fewer-and-fewer living Chinese American Veterans of World War II. There are an estimated less than 400 Chinese American Veterans of World War II living today. According to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, by the end of 2021, we will lose a third of the surviving Veterans.

Congress has a proud tradition of recognizing marginalized groups who fought in World War II with a Congressional Gold Medal, including the Tuskegee Airmen, Native American Code Talkers, Women Airforce Service Pilots, Japanese American Nisei, Montford Point Marines, 65^th Infantry Regiment, and Filipino Veterans. In 2018, Congress completed the story narrative of World War II and recognized the struggles and patriotism of the Chinese American Veterans who fought to liberate Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa and Middle East, and the Pacific from fascism by awarding them the Congressional Gold Medal. Due to COVID, the surviving Chinese American World War II Veterans and their family were finally able to accept the award in-person beginning in July 2021 with regional ceremonies across the country and in a National Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony and Gala held at Arlington, Virginia in September of this year hosted by the Chinese American Citizens Alliance’s Chinese American World War II Veterans Recognition Project.