Student Celebrations
Ballard graduate fights against odds, wins Congressional Gold Medal
This is the story of Frank T. Matsuda. He was a local boy who grew up in Ballard and graduated from Ballard High School in 1941. Just one year later, his world would change forever.
On Feb. 19, 1942, about two months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. With a swipe of the pen, he ordered the internment of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of them U.S. citizens. Matsuda and his family were among them.
Family packs up
They were told they had one week to sell off anything they could, pack up everything they could fit in one suitcase, and board buses for one of the four “camps.” Matsuda’s father lost his business and had to sell his brand new car for only $100.
However, when they arrived, the camps turned out to be nothing more than glorified prisons, surrounded by barbed wire and cut off from all outside communications. Armed guards kept watch over the ramshackle barracks night and day though none of the internees were ever accused of a crime.
At first, Americans of Japanese descent were not allowed to fight in the military – treated instead as the enemy after the Pearl Harbor attack.
Loyalty test
However, in 1943, the army realized they needed help with interpretation and eventually with combat. That year, all internees over the age of 17 were given a loyalty test. It had just two questions on it.
1. Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty whenever ordered? (Females were asked if they were willing to volunteer for the Army Nurse Corps of Women’s Army Corps.); and
2. Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government, power or organization?
Matsuda answered “yes” to both questions and subsequently volunteered to join the U.S. Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Matsuda and his unit fought bravely through sniper and machine gun fire. They endured conditions too difficult to imagine.
Wounded in France
Matsuda eventually was wounded in a battle near Biffontaine, France, when he was hit four times by mortar shelling. A piece of metal is still lodged near his liver. Though Matsuda wanted to continue to fight, his injuries prevented it. He ended up guarding prisoners until the war ended in 1945.
Matsuda’s valor and bravery did not go unnoticed. He is highly decorated, having earned bronze and silver stars and three purple hearts. Then, in November 2011, at 89 years of age, he was awarded the highest honor a civilian can earn, the Congressional Gold Medal.
Unit honored
In a ceremony at the Capitol, his unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the Army’s 100th Infantry Battalion and Military Intelligence Services were honored. Upon hearing that he and his fellow officers would be given the same award as the Navajo Code Talkers and the Tuskegee Airmen, Matsuda expressed surprise, a humble gesture.
Washington state Sen. Maria Cantwell was one of the people to attend the ceremony. “In the face of grave injustice during WWII, the Nisei veterans fought to preserve America’s free democracy. In fact, they went on to become one of the most highly decorated groups of veterans in United States military history. These soldiers fought for what this country could be, even while their families lived in internment camps. In the process, they paved the way to victory in WWII and a brighter future for all,” Cantwell said.
By Rachel Sanyal
Seattle Public Schools
Photos courtesy of Terry Matsuda, daughter of Frank Matsuda