Love of country is a powerful thing. It is how most of us are connected to the land we live on; the comfort of our own culture; the home of our families; a place worth fighting for.

We are witnessing America give up its hard-earned reputation as the leader of the Free World; while forgetting its purpose as a nation of a diverse, free people with constitutionally guaranteed values and rights. What does it mean to be an American today? Are we still the “land of the free and home of the brave?”

Your recent story on the Nisei of WWII reminded me of presentation of the story of Hawaii’s own Japanese American World War II soldiers: “Defining Courage.” Presented last November to a packed Baldwin HS auditorium, it told the powerful story of how the most decorated American fighting units of WWII were made up of Nisei volunteers, many of whose families were imprisoned in concentration camps.

Although American-born citizens, their race defined them as the enemy in their own country.

Despite that, these citizen soldiers volunteered and faced the impossible brutality of war with true courage. Despite massive losses, they kept their heads high, literally “going for broke.”

Another title of this presentation could have been True Patriotism. On entrance the attendees were handed a small American flag to remind us that was what these Nisei warriors sacrificed themselves for.

Now it is up to us to protect the dignity of that same flag and all the good it still stands for.

Dave DeLeon
Ha‘ikū