Go For Broke National Education Center Oral History Project Collection
Finding aid created by Go For Broke National Education Center staff using RecordEXPRESS
Go For Broke National Education Center
2021
355 East 1st Street, Suite 200
Los Angeles, California 90012
(310) 328-0907
archives@goforbroke.org
http://www.goforbroke.org/
Title: Go For Broke National Education Center Oral History Project Collection
Dates: 1998-
Collection Number: Consult repository
Creator/Collector:
Go For Broke National Education Center
Extent: Approximately 1200 oral histories
Online items available
Repository:
Go For Broke National Education Center
Los Angeles, California 90012
Abstract: This collection, also known as the Hanashi (“to talk” in Japanese) oral history project, is the world’s largest collection
of oral histories from Japanese American World War II veterans. Started in 1998, the project has recorded over 1,200 oral
histories with Nisei (second-generation Americans) veterans from across the country and even internationally.
Language of Material: English
This collection is available for research upon request.
Copyrights have been transferred to Go For Broke National Education Center. Please contact the archivist for additional information.
Go For Broke National Education Center Oral History Project Collection. Go For Broke National Education Center
Biography/Administrative History
In 1989, a group of World War II veterans started the 100th/442nd/MIS World War II Memorial Foundation with the mission of
recognizing the Nisei veterans while also sharing and preserving their story. Over the next ten years, the Foundation worked
diligently to raise awareness for the Nisei story. They held their first teacher workshop, began an oral history program,
and began tirelessly fundraising to construct a monument to honor the Nisei World War II veterans.
On June 5, 1999, the Go For Broke Monument was dedicated in Los Angeles. Reflecting their motto to "go for broke," or give
it their all, the granite monument remains a striking tribute to the Nisei soldiers who fought overseas in World War II. With
the monument in place, the Foundation shifted its focus to preserving the veterans' histories so that others might learn from
their experiences.
Today, the Foundation, renamed Go For Broke National Education Center (GFBNEC), continues its work of educational outreach
to share the legacy of the Nisei veterans. "Go For Broke" was the motto of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an Army unit
comprised of Japanese Americans from Hawaii and the mainland United States. For high-rolling gamblers in Hawaii in the 1940s,
it was slang for "shooting the works," or risking everything for the big win. For the Nisei soldiers, "go for broke" meant
that they would put everything on the line to win the war against the Germans in Europe and the war against racial prejudice
at home.
Collaborating with organizations that share our vision, including the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, the Japanese American
National Museum, the National Veterans Network, and Japanese American veterans clubs throughout the country, we continue to
promote educational programs about the Japanese American World War II experience. Through these life stories, we hope to inspire
today's generation and those of tomorrow to live the core values embodied by these Nisei soldiers: courage, humility, self-sacrifice,
integrity, equality, patriotism.
Go For Broke National Education Center’s Mission Statement:
“To educate and inspire character and equality through the virtue and valor of our World War II American veterans of Japanese
ancestry.”
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection, also known as the Hanashi (“to talk” in Japanese) oral history project, is the world’s largest collection
of oral histories from Japanese American World War II veterans. Started in 1998, the project has recorded over 1,200 oral
histories with Nisei (second-generation Americans) veterans from across the country and even internationally.
The GFBNEC Oral History Project Collection is mainly comprised of oral history moving image files. These production-quality
moving images, produced since 1998, are in analog format. In addition, the majority of the moving image files have been digitized
as well. The approximately 1,200 oral history moving images are divided into interview segments, with each interview having
a varying number of segments.
Japanese Americans
Nisei veterans
World War Two
442nd Regimental Combat Team
100th Infantry Battalion (Separate)
Military Intelligence Service
military service
Pearl Harbor
Executive Order 9066
Japanese American incarceration
Japanese American immigration
Go For Broke National Education Center
Hawaii
California
France
Italy
Africa
China
Burma
India
Pacific Islands
Japan
Mississippi
Minnesota