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Major General James H. Mukoyama, Jr. was born in Chicago in 1944, the second son to Japanese immigrants. He rose from humble, blue-collar roots to graduate from the University of Illinois and become the first Asian-American to command a US Army division. With more than thirty years of active and reserve service and combat tours in Korea and Vietnan, he earned the Silver Star, three Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart, and more. 

 

Beyond his military service, General Mukoyama has continued to be a trailblazer for Asian-Americans and minorities everywhere, serving as the Chairman of the Advisory Committee for Minority Veterans, Vice-Chairman of the National Japanese-American Memorial to Patriotism, and as a devoted member of the ministry of Military Outreach USA which seeks to serve veterans with visible and invisible wounds of war and to help them exit homelessness.