Of all the moments from his storied 100 years, here is Yoshio Nakamura, age 18, raising his right hand and swearing to defend the Constitution of the United States when that supreme law of the land did not defend him.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Victor Shen reminded more than 300 people at Liberty Community Plaza in Whittier Monday, June 30, that the much-loved artist and educator volunteered to fight during World War II, one of 125,000 Japanese Americans who lost their Constitutional rights, forced from their homes and made to go to concentration camps.

Nakamura, who achieved centenarian status on June 30, “chose to uphold the wisdom of America’s promise, that in our nation, no one is judged by the color of their skin, the nation of their origin, or the faith they choose to keep,” said Mitchell Maki, president of the Go for Broke National Education Center in Los Angeles. “Okage sama de. Because of you, I am. You are my hero.”

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn and Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Whittier, led a contingent of community leaders from Whittier, U.S. Army dignitaries, family and friends from the arts, education and philanthropies in honoring a true American hero for a lifetime of service, quiet strength and unwavering patriotism.

“The internment of Japanese Americans remains one of the ugliest and most shameful periods in the modern history of our country,” Hahn said. “We turned our backs on Japanese Americans and no one could have blamed Japanese Americans for turning their backs on us. But that’s not what happened. Yosh chose love over hate and he chose service.”

Rep. Linda Sanchez said Nakamura’s American life story is “a lesson we all should remember today with what has been going on in our communities. Patriotism is not just what you do in uniform. It’s also the work you dedicate yourself to in your own community and how you touch the lives of others.”

After greeting guests and blowing out candles on his chocolate cake, Nakamura said he was surprised so many friends showed up to his party.

“It’s a great feeling for me to have you all behind me as friends,” he said, adding his birthday wish is “that people treat other people decently. That will make a happier world.”

Born in Rosemead and raised in El Monte, Nakamura was 16 years old when World War II upended his life. Told only to bring what they could carry, the family lived in a horse stall at the Tulare Racetrack in the San Joaquin Valley before being moved to the Gila River Camp in the Arizona desert.

He enlisted in the Army at 18, joining the legendary “Go for Broke” 442nd Regimental Combat Team of mostly Japanese Americans, that would go on to become the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in U. S. military history.

“We had Japanese faces, but we had American hearts,” he said, recalling the surprise in German soldiers’ faces after the 442nd captured their outpost on Mount Folgorito in Italy in 1945.

In 1946, Nakamura returned to California, using the GI Bill to pay for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fine arts from USC, his artistic spirit enlivened by his wartime exposure to Florentine churches.

Nakamura met Grace Shinoda at Union Church in Los Angeles and he loves to tell the story of how they rode a convertible to the beach. Grace was herself incarcerated at Manzanar camp before becoming an artist and fine arts teacher and teaching at Pasadena Unified, Rowland Unified and El Rancho Unified school districts. The couple wed in 1950 and moved to Whittier in 1952, when Whittier High School hired Nakamura. He taught there until 1963, becoming the first faculty member hired for the new Rio Hondo College. Nakamura taught there for 29 years, retiring in 1992 as vice president.

“Yosh and Grace enjoyed the best of partnerships,” according to Rev. Dr. Loletta Barrett, pastor of First Friends Church in Whittier. They raised two sons and a daughter and surrounded themselves with community, becoming stalwarts of the Whittier Art Association, Whittier Library, Whittier Audubon Society, Hillcrest Congregational Church in La Habra Heights and Rio Hondo Symphony Association.

Grace died in 2017 at age 90.

By then, Nakamura had amassed many honors: receiving Whittier’s first Teacher of the Year award in 1960, the Congressional Gold Medal in 2011, the Bronze Star, and the French Foreign Legion medal in 2017. His paintings and etchings are in the Guggenheim Collection in New York and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

The fine arts building at Whittier High School and a part of the Whittier Art Gallery are named in his honor.

Councilmember Mary Ann Pacheco of the Whittier City Council, and former Whittier mayor Allan Zolnekoff said their friend is simply a good man.

“Yosh’s life has not been about rounding up people, but lifting others up,” said former Whittier mayor Allan Zolnekoff. “Our patriotism is based on the rule of law, based on the Constitution, and it is not based on a person, a party, or a regime. That’s Yosh.”

Lt. Col. Shen said Nakamura imparted some life lessons to him: “Always eat the dessert, and the secret to happiness is just nod your head and say, ‘Yes, dear.’”

These days, Nakamura enjoys weekly lunches at Silver Palace in Whittier, doting on his grandchildren and playing with the family dog. On the even of his 100th birthday, he also told his son: “When you treat people decently, eventually they will treat you kindly.”

“Take that to the bank, guys,” Dan Nakamura said, thanking the standing-room only crowd at the celebration. “How much greater his faith in our country must be by the showing of love gathered in this room.”