LINCOLN, Neb. - A California man believed to be the only Japanese-American to have flown over Japan during World War II was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal on Friday, the third highest of the U.S. Army's decorations.
Ben Kuroki of Camarillo, Calif., received the medal at a dinner in his honor Friday night in his home state of Nebraska.
"Receiving this medal so many decades after the fact is truly incredible," Kuroki said at the ceremony. "I had to fight like hell to fight for my country, and now I feel completely vindicated."
The son of Japanese immigrants who was raised on a Hershey, Neb., farm, Kuroki, 88, became a gunner and flew on 58 bomber missions over Europe, North Africa and Japan.
He and his brother, at their father's urging, sought to enlist after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. After being turned down by recruiting officials in North Platte, the brothers traveled 150 miles to Grand Island, where they were accepted.
Because of his Japanese ancestry, Kuroki was initially rejected when he asked to serve on a B-29 bomber that was to be used in the Pacific. But after repeated requests and a review of Kuroki's stellar service record, Secretary of War Harry Stimson granted an exception.
After the war, Kuroki returned to Nebraska. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1950, and eventually moved to California, where he worked for the Ventura Star-Free Press. He retired from the paper, now the Ventura County Star, in 1984.
