World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseJames Kazuo Okubo was born in Anacortes, Washington, United States in 1920 to Japanese immigrants Kenzo and Fuyu Okubo, restaurant owners, and grew up in Bellingham, Washington. He grew up in a large family, with 4 siblings and 4 cousins all under one roof under his parents' care. He graduated from Bellingham High School in the 1930s and went on to study at Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University). The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor took place in Dec 1941 when Okubo was a sophomore at Western Washington State College. In Jul 1942, his family being forcibly removed from their home due to the discriminatory Executive Order 9066, he dropped out of college to help his family move. They were initially interned at the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in California, United States, and later they were moved to the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming, United States. At Heart Mountain, he worked as an orderly and later as a nurse at a hospital, and he began taken a liking to the medical field. In Mar 1943, his father died at Heart Mountain. In May 1943, he enlisted in the US Army and volunteered to join the 442nd Regimental Combat Team consisting of Japanese-Americans. He was trained as a medic. In late Oct 1944, the regiment was fighting in eastern France, cut off from the rest of its division. On 28 Oct, Technician Fifth Grade Okubo was fighting in the forest Forêt Domaniale de Champ near Biffontaine, Lorraine, eastern France. He crawled 150 yards to within 40 yards of German lines to reach wounded fellow US soldiers while small arms fire and grenades were directed at him; he was credited in treating 17 men under fire that day. He repeated similar bravery on the next day, 29 Oct, treating 8 men. On 4 Nov 1944, in the same area, he ran 75 yards while under fire to evacuate and treat a wounded tank crewman from a disabled tank. For his consistent bravery in the Forêt Domaniale de Champ, he was awarded the Silver Star medal. After the end of WW2, he returned to the United States and became a dentist in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He was killed in a car accident in Flint, Michigan in Jan 1967 and was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit. In Jun 2000, his Silver Star was posthumously upgraded to the Medal of Honor by US President Bill Clinton in a ceremony at the White House in Washington DC, United States.

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