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"Let that be an inspiration" - Army Day celebrates service and sacrifice

The USS Midway Museum celebrates the Army, the military's largest branch.

SAN DIEGO — On the bow of the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum, a Gold Knight paratrooper floated gently down to earth.

It was apart of the famous museum's Army Day, a celebration of the military's largest branch.

"We're a Navy ship" said Scott McGaugh, the Midway's marketing director. "Everyone is serving our nation in a similar spirit of devotion and sacrifice."

Among the events happening on the flight deck was an enlistment ceremony, where a handful of recruits took their oath of enlistment. Leading that oath was Yosh Nakamura, a member of the famed 442nd regiment.

"Their motto was 'go for broke,'" he says. "Something that wasn't in their vocabulary was impossible."

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The 442nd was made up of primarily Japanese-Americans soldiers, many of whom had their families put in internment camps by their own government during the war.

"They formed quite a unit and they wanted to prove their loyalty," said Nakamura.

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The regiment ended up becoming the most decorated unit during World War II. Though many of the 442nd have passed on, their legacy has lived on through the younger generations. 

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Before leading the oath, Nakamura had the following advice for the young recruits: "Sometimes you will find out that you will be asked to do the impossible," said Nakamura. "Take the courage of the 442nd and let that be an inspiration."

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