[3] Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Vincent Okamoto, a decorated veteran with the 25th ID during Vietnam, was a driving force in the creation of the memorial.

[3][4] During the Vietnam War, unlike in World War II and Korea, the United States military had become integrated, while the children of interracial marriages were coming of age in greater numbers, and the process of distinguishing Japanese ancestry among those with non-Japanese fathers or who had been adopted proved difficult.

Enlistment and casualty records were of little assistance and frequently inaccurate, occasionally listing Japanese Americans as "Indonesian" or "Eskimo".

The Japanese American Cultural & Community Center agreed to host the memorial on their property at 244 San Pedro Street.

[4] Every spring and fall, local youths from the community volunteer in a “Spit & Polish” event to help clean and maintain the memorial while also learning about some of the individuals listed, and every fall, the Nisei Week Queen and her court pay their respects to the men, many who were not much older than the girls themselves when they sacrificed their lives for the community.