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Episode #706 of Hometown Heroes, airing November 6-8, 2021, prepares us for Veterans Day 2021 with the stories of two of the more than 16 million Americans who served in uniform during World War II. A new documentary will debut on the History Channel on Veterans Day, November 11, 2021, entitled Hidden Heroes: Nisei Soldiers of WWII:

Clarence Suzuki was one of more than 33,000 Americans of Japanese Ancestry who served in U.S. Armed Forces during World War II. You’ll hear how he experienced December 7, 1941 in his native Honolulu, HI, and also how he became one of more than 6,000 Nisei to contribute to the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). In 2011, Suzuki traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to all Nisei veterans of WWII. The National Veterans Network produced the video below this week in honor of the tenth anniversary of that long-awaited ceremony:

This episode also features excerpts from the World War II memories of Bill Barrett, who turned 102 years old this week and continues to volunteer as a docent at the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum in Pueblo, CO. You can still find Barrett in the gift shop there every Saturday.