Honorable Judge Griffith & Honorable Commissioners: 
My name if Yeiichi (Kelly) Kuwayama. I was born in New York City and raised among many newly arrived families of Irish, German, Italian, Czech, Scandinavian, Greek and old line Anglo Saxons of English and Scotch extraction. This country started with 2 million population (1770) in the Thirteen States. It is now 293 million who mostly came through Ellis Island on the East Coast, although some came through Angel Island on the West Coast. 
I do know that in school to be called a Kyke, aWop or a Kraut stung and was resented. They are simple words, but they had derogatory connotations and most people did not understand what derogatory connotation, but they knew it was not friendly, therefore it ended up with fisticuffs. Guys being beaten up. But these immigrants gave us Einstein (a Jew), Fermi (an Italian) who made the first atom bomb, and of German extraction, General Eisenhower . 
Although I was drafted a year before Pearl Harbor and I was transferred around from Coast Artillery, Quartermaster, Station Hospital Surgical tech, which showed discrimination and a quandary as to what th~ Army should do with me, On the West Coast, it was from what Shosuke Sasaki tells meone different story .The term Jap was used in a derogatory and demeaning manner and it stung and was resented. More so, when stores came up with "No Japs allowed", etc. 
When the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was formed of Niseis (Japanese Americans) from Hawaii and mainland U.S., lvolunteered. There was an excess of medical sergeants, but I was assigned as a platoon medic with Co. E. and went overseas with them. We went into the lines above Rome with the 100th Battalion made up originally of Hawaiian Niseis who had preceded us and ended up decimated by the Rapido River crossing, Anzio and Cassino. They formed our lst battalion. 
Units of the 442nd went in as glider troops for the landings at Marseille and the whole unit made the push up the Rhone valley up to Bruyeres and Biffontaine in the Vosges mountain area of France. Then we were assigned to the 36th Texas Division. The Ist battalion of the 141 st Regiment had been surrounded by the Germans. Two attempts to contact and rescue them had failed. The 442nd were assigned the mission to rescue them. This was the route to southern Germany. In order to rescue them the 442nd suffered 800 casualties to save 241 men. By this action Governor Connelly of T exas made the men of the 442nd honorary Texans which we are proud to be. 
Saburo Tanamachi came in as replacement at that time. He was from Beaumont Texas, a true Texan. He was assigned to a squad ofinfantry men. One of the openings was as BAR man, a man who carried the automatic rifle with immense fire power, but it also 

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became ,he focus of enemy firepower since it would be best to get the man with the greatest fire power. Saburo knew this, but took the BAR man position. He was killed on October 29, 1944. He won his Silver Star and Purple Heart posthumously. I was also wounded on October 29, 1944 and got my Silver Star and Purple Heart. 
The rescue of the lost battalion decimated the 442nd and, our replacements had been diverted to the bulge in Belgium and Holland; so, the 442nd went to the Maritime Alps between Italy and France. In the spring the 442nd replenished was sent to Italy where we pushed into the Po valley through the Apennines from Spezia. 
The Germans had been beaten. We knew it and we did not want to be the last man to die. Daniel K. Inouye, now U.S. Senator, received a battlefield commission and was assigned to the Third platoon from the Ist platoon. He made the last charge where he lost his arm and received the Congressional Medal ofHonor. 
And yet when he returned to the United States in San Francisco, he encountered "No Japs Allowed" and when he went for a haircut he was told no Jap hair cut. He was originally from Hawaii. He resented it. I, hearing of it, resented it. Jap Road by affiliation leaves a bad taste. Ifpossible, through the goodness of your heart, Jap Road should be changed. Mayumi Road, Tanamachi Road or Old Farm Road might be offered as suggestions. Jap roads leaves a bad connotation among loyal patriotic Japanese Americans. 
As a fellow honorary Texan, I know you are an independent people. I was recently honored in France with the Medal of the Legion ofHonor mainly on behalf of Japanese Americans soldiers who died in France. The French wanted to express appreciation to 
lOO American veterans with the medal at the 60th Anniversary of D-day for the U. S. help in two world wars. The French had assisted us with 5,000 Frencb soldiers under Rochambeau and the Fre~ch fleet under Admiral Jean Paul at the time of the American revolution. The British had reinforcements for Cornwall. They weren't in time. We might not have won the Revolution. We are now a global power, militarily and economically. Texans as well as all Americans must exhibit compassion, flexibility and recognize sensitivities. I ask you to exercise that power and change the name ofJap Road. 
Yeiichi (Kelly) Kuwayama July 19,2004