Honoring Veterans: Army Veteran Raymond Yoshihiro Aka

Raymond Yoshihiro Aka served in the Army during World War II from 1941 to 1947, though he was drafted in 1939. During the war, he served as a language specialist. His service locations included Camp Roberts in California, Fort Sam Houston in Texas, Camp Savage in Minnesota, and he also served in Japan. Aka was part of the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), a unit that played a crucial role in intelligence during the war.

Although specific awards and honors received by Aka during his service are not available in public records, it is known that soldiers of the MIS, like Aka, were collectively recognized for their contributions with the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor given to a U.S. military unit. This recognition came more than 50 years after the end of World War II, highlighting the belated appreciation for the MIS’ invaluable work.

After the war, Aka continued to serve in a civilian capacity, contributing to the postwar reconstruction of Japan. He was involved in projects like drafting of the Japanese Constitution, election reform and the establishment of the police reserve. His expertise in linguistics and his work with the Japanese Defense Agency at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo were highly regarded. In recognition of his efforts to strengthen U.S.-Japanese relations, Aka was honored by the Japanese emperor with the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays, a rare distinction.

Aka died in January 2006 at the age of 90 in Walnut Creek, California. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

We honor his service.

A portion of this story was generated by AI. None of the data we reported included personal or sensitive information, and it was fact-checked and edited by a human copy editor prior to publishing.

Nominate a Veteran for Honoring Veterans

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It’s easy to nominate a Veteran. All it takes is an email to newmedia@va.gov with as much information as you can put together, along with some good photos. Visit our blog post about nominating to learn how to create the best submission.

Veterans History Project

This Honoring Veterans profile was created with interviews submitted to the Veterans History Project. The project collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from Veterans and better understand the realities of war. Find out more at http://www.loc.gov/vets/.

Prompt Engineer: Joseph Torralba

Editors: Tayler Rairigh

Researchers: Jacoryn Whatley, Raphael Romea

Graphic Designer: William Vega