Pressing their bodies against one another and seeming to hold onto the barbed wire, the birds show individual effort to escape restraint with the need for communal support and interdependence on one another.

[11] There is an "Honor Wall" central within the memorial which lists the names of the 800-plus Japanese Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces who died in service during World War II.

It reminds us of the battles we've fought to overcome our ignorance and prejudice and the meaning of an integrated culture, once pained and torn, now healed and unified.

[11]The memorial honors Japanese American veterans who served in the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd RCT, Military Intelligence Service and other units.

Individually, Soldiers earned 21 Medals of Honor, 29 Distinguished Service Crosses, one Distinguished Service Medal, more than 354 Silver Stars, and more than 4,000 Purple Hearts, as noted by Chief of Staff of the Army General Raymond T. Odierno during a November 2, 2011, ceremony in Washington, D.C. at which 40 Japanese Americans were presented the Bronze Stars they had never received.

[13] A year prior to this ceremony, President Barack Obama signed legislation on October 5, 2010, to grant the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team in recognition of their dedicated service during World War II.

[14] The U.S.Department of Defense described the November 9, 2000, dedication of the memorial: "Drizzling rain was mixed with tears streaming down the faces of Japanese American World War II heroes and those who spent the war years imprisoned in isolated internment camps..."[15] The Department of Defense Armed Force Press Service reported on November 15 that an estimated 2,000 people attended the dedication "to commemorate the heroism and sacrifice of Japanese Americans who fought and died for the United States...They also came to honor the more than 120,000 men, women and children who maintained their loyalty even though they were put in desolate internment camps.

"[15] Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy de Leon spoke at the dedication, noting, "one of the great ironies of World War II was that Japanese Americans of the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion were among the first allied troops to liberate several sub-camps of the Dachau concentration camp complex.

Akamu created the sculpture entitled "Golden Cranes" of two Grus japonensis birds, which became the center feature of the Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II.

Allowed only what they could carry, families were forced to abandon homes, friends, farms and businesses to live in ten remote relocation centers guarded by armed troops and surrounded by barbed wire fences.

The 100th infantry battalion and 442nd regimental combat team, fighting in Europe, became the most highly decorated army unit for its size and length of service in American Military History.

In 1983, almost forty years after the war ended, the federal Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians found that there had been no military necessity for the mass imprisonment of Japanese Americans and that a grave injustice had been done.

In 1988 President Ronald W. Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act which made an apology for the injustice, provided minimal compensation and reaffirmed the nation's commitment to equal justice under the law for all Americans.