Through the vital and diligent work of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance (C.A.C.A.), Chinese American Veterans of WWII will receive national recognition for their contributions and sacrifices to this nation, with the award of a Congressional Gold Medal in 2020. This singular gold medal will be minted by the U.S. Mint. The successful campaign to secure recognition began in 2017 with lobbying Congress to support the passage of bills that realized the “Chinese-American World War II Veteran Congressional Gold Medal Act.” A national ceremony for the award will take place in the spring of 2020 with regional recognition ceremony held in tandem.
The Chinese American History Network has organized a small public history event to be held in the Fremont main library branch of the Alameda County Public Library to support the work of the Chinese American World War II Veterans Recognition Project. Keynote speakers from the C.A.C.A. will talk about the background and significance of the medal. Funding from the C.A.C.A. will allow for the award of a limited number of free personal replica medals to the direct descendants of WWII Chinese American veterans who complete and pass the application process. during the event, a citizen’s panel from the bay area will relate personal narratives of their WWII era Chinese Veterans’ service. A short “open mic” will give audience members a few minutes each to recognize their WWII Chinese American veterans and their war time contributions. A final “workshop” component of the day’s event will provide librarian research assistance for families applying for the replica medals. For more information about this event, email Jordan Yee at chineseamww2vets@outlook.com. For more information about the C.A.C.A. Chinese American Veterans recognition project and to learn how to apply for one of the limited free personal medal replicas , go to https://www.caww2.org/campaign-1.
Chinese American History Sites 