Considering History: A Proposal for Some New National Holidays

This series by American studies professor Ben Railton explores the connections between America’s past and present.

In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has floated the idea of renaming two military-related American holidays — May’s Victory in Europe (VE) Day and November’s Veterans Day — as Victory Days in order to “start celebrating our victories again!”

Whatever we think of the premise of changing the focus of these existing commemorations, I would argue that we have few very national holidays that honor specific American communities, figures, and events. So here in May, with VE Day just behind us and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month ongoing, I want to propose a handful of new national holidays that would celebrate the kinds of victories that have truly made America great.

Sadao Munemori Day

No World War II American soldiers were more illustrative of its victories than the 442^nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team. As I highlighted in this Considering History column and discussed at length in this one, the 442^nd became by the war’s end the most decorated military unit in American history.

If a 442^nd Regiment Day doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, we could dedicate a national holiday to one of its most iconic individual soldiers, Sadao Munemori, who took part in the heroic rescue of the Lost Battalion and then gave his life rescuing fellow soldiers in Italy (and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor). I propose August 17, his birthday, as Sadao Munemori Day!

VVV Day

Many of the soldiers who became part of the 442^nd were first members of an even more inspiring group, the Varsity Victory Volunteers (VVV), Japanese American college students in Hawaii who volunteered for the Hawaii Territorial Guard (HTG) after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, were expelled from the HTG due to anti-Japanese racism, and petitioned the territory’s military governor requesting the opportunity to serve, writing, “Hawaii is our home; the United States, our country. We know but one loyalty and that is to the Stars and Stripes. We wish to do our part as loyal Americans in every way possible.” After Emmons accepted their request they became known as the Varsity Victory Volunteers, and formed the core of the 100^th Infantry Battalion that would help convince military brass that Japanese American soldiers should be allowed to serve in the armed forces. I propose February 25, the day they left college for the army in 1942, as VVV Day!

Vicente Lim Day

Japanese Americans weren’t the only Asian American soldiers to serve with distinction in World War II. In this Considering History column on AAPI Medal of Honor recipients I highlighted the amazing life and military career of Vicente Lim, who migrated to America from the Philippines during the U.S. occupation of the islands, became the first Filipino graduate of West Point in 1914, and served with the World War I Philippine Scouts. When World War II broke out, he was named Deputy Chief of Staff for the Army of the Philippines, and led those forces throughout their campaigns against the Japanese, continuing to do so as a guerrilla leader once the islands fell to the Japanese in April 1942. He was captured and illegally executed in a POW camp, but for his decades of military service in both the U.S. and the Philippines he was posthumously awarded both a Purple Heart and a Distinguished Service Star from the U.S. Army. I propose June 12, the day in 1914 that Lim graduated from West Point, as Vicente Lim Day!

Yuri Kochiyama Day

World War II’s military victories and heroism would not have been possible without support on the home front, and one of the most inspiring examples of that support came from a young women imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp. In this Considering History column I wrote about Yuri (Nakahara) Kochiyama, whose activist life would include a friendship with Malcolm X, participation in the Puerto Rican occupation of the Statue of Liberty, and successful lobbying of Congress for reparations for internment. But her first activist efforts were undertaken in that internment camp on behalf of Japanese American soldiers like her twin brother Peter and her future husband and fellow activist Bill Kochiyama — organizing a group of young women, known as the Crusaders, to send letters and care packages to soldiers; and then publishing the soldiers’ responses in her camp newspaper column, “Nisei in Khaki.” I propose May 19, Kochiyama’s birthday in 1921, as Yuri Kochiyama Day!

Fred Korematsu Day

Finally, there are the ideals for which American World War II soldiers and their supporters won those inspiring victories. On the home front, those ideals were tested as they so often are during wartime, and with the policy of Japanese internment the nation fell fall short of upholding them. Yet in response we have iconic examples of critical patriots such as Fred Korematsu, whose battle for his own freedom and rights in the face of internment I highlighted in this Considering History column. While Korematsu lost his case before the Supreme Court, his efforts helped hasten the end of internment, and were just the beginning of a lifetime of activism and advocacy that sought to push the nation to be a genuine and enduring beacon of freedom, equality, and democracy. He expressed the goals behind those efforts, saying, “People should have a fair trial and a chance to defend their loyalty in court in a democratic way.” As those goals, like Korematsu’s battles and victories, echo just as fully into 2025 as do these other World War II heroes, I propose one final national holiday, January 30 (Korematsu’s birthday) as Fred Korematsu Day!