This highway is dedicated to the Oregon Nisei (2nd generation Japanese American) soldiers who served our country during World War II (1941-1946), even as many of their families were incarcerated in camps on American soil.

Oregon Nisei Veterans’ Service
Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. entered war against Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy. Anti-Japanese attitudes in the U.S. grew rapidly in the public arena, and U.S. military policy reflected this discrimination. Enlisted Nisei were discharged, assigned menial duties, or in Hawai’i, joined the 100^th Infantry Battalion. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing exclusion zones. Along the West Coast, over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed from their homes; two-thirds were American-born citizens.

In February 1943, the military formed the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT). While some Nisei men and women were incarcerated, others were drafted or volunteered to serve our country.

Memorial Highway
In November 1944, the names of 16 Nisei soldiers were blotted from an honor roll of 1,600 veterans here in Hood River County. After the war, many Japanese American soldiers and their families were unwelcome at home. This highway honors all Oregon Nisei veterans for fighting discrimination at home and for freedom and liberty abroad. The Oregon State Legislature unanimously approved the Oregon Nisei Veterans World War II Memorial Highway and Governor Kate Brown signed it into law on March 7, 2022, reaffirming the Nisei contribution to our history.

• Image of Gold Medal. Caption: The Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal was awarded November 2, 2011.
• Image of MIS. Caption: In the South Pacific, the MIS interrogated 14,000 Japanese prisoners. Mamoru Noji, an Oregon native, interviewed a downed Japanese pilot in the Philippines.
• Image of 442nd Caption: The 442nd “Go For Broke” RCT was the most highly decorated Army unit of its size and length of service in U.S. military history.  In Europe, the 100^th Infantry Battalion, known as the “Purple Heart Battalion,” and the 442nd RCT rescued the Lost Battalion of Texans in France’s Vosges Mountains and broke the Gothic Line in northern Italy. 
• Image of 522nd. Caption: The 522nd Field Artillery Battalion fired artillery from long-range howitzers and helped liberate some subcamps of Dachau Nazi Concentration Camp.
• Image of WACs. Caption: Nisei women served in the MIS, the Army Nurse Corps, and the Women’s Army Corps.

Sponsors: Friends of the Oregon Nisei Veterans (hundreds of individual donors), American Legion Post 22, Portland Japanese American Citizens League, Japanese American Museum of Oregon, History Museum of Hood River.

Learn More: Visit Oregon Encyclopedia

Location: View point pull out on west side of Hwy 35 near mile marker 101, approximately 1 mile south of Hood River.