page_title: Military history of Asian Americans
section_title: World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of Asian Americans / 20th century / World War I
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Bhagat Singh Thind in his U.S. Army Uniform, from 1918. Thind enlisted in the U.S. Army, and trained at Camp Lewis, Washington.
context_page_description: Asian Americans, who are Americans of Asian descent, have fought and served on behalf of the United States since the War of 1812. During the American Civil War Asian Americans fought for both the Union and the Confederacy. Afterwards Asian Americans served primarily in the U.S. Navy until the Philippine–American War.
  At the beginning of the 20th century, Asian Americans began to attend U.S. military academies, and the first Asian Americans were awarded the Medal of Honor. World War I saw Asian Americans serving as "non-whites" in the National Army. After World War I, Asian American service fell into obscurity until World War II when significant contributions by Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Korean Americans were documented.
  With the desegregation of the U.S. military in 1948, segregated Asian American units ceased to exist, and Asian Americans served in integrated armed forces. Asian American combatants in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts were awarded the Medal of Honor, and Asian Americans have continued to serve into the present day.
context_section_description: In April 1917, the U.S. entered World War I on the side of the Allies. The U.S. Insular Government of the Philippine Islands created its own national guard units to join the effort, but did not see combat. The units were demobilized at Camp Thomas Claudio in 1918. Within the United States, a draft was started, and alongside Hispanic and Native Americans, Asian Americans were drafted as "non-whites" filling out the "white quota" in the National Army. The majority of Asian Americans did not see combat. Indian American Bhagat Singh Thind served in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Camp Lewis, Washington in 1918. Thind a Sikh was the first U.S. serviceman to be allowed for religious reasons to wear a turban as part of their military uniform. A few saw combat. Private Tomas Mateo Claudio, who had studied at the University of Nevada and became the first, and only, Filipino American to die during the war, being killed at Château-Thierry in 1918; Private Henry Chinn who was killed in action in the Argonne Forest while serving in the "Lost Battalion"; Sergeant Sing Kee, another member of the Lost Battalion, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross; and Sergeant Major Tokutaro Nishimura Slocum who served in the 328th Infantry Regiment, 82d Infantry Division. In the Navy, the number of enlisted Filipinos peaked at more than 5,700 by the end of the war.  Several thousand Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipinos eventually served in the U.S. military during World War I.
  Many Asian American military veterans were allowed to become naturalized citizens. For instance, some Filipino participants were allowed to become naturalized citizens. but others had to overcome numerous legal obstacles.  For example, although many Japanese aliens in America volunteered during World War I under the belief that they would be eligible for naturalization, 400 Japanese immigrant veterans in Hawaii who were initially allowed to be naturalized in 1919 had their citizenship rescinded in 1922. Notably, Hidemitsu Toyota, who had served in the US Army for seven years, had his petition for naturalization brought before the US Supreme Court, but in 1925 the court ruled in Hidemitsu Toyota v. United States that "that a person of the Japanese race may not be naturalized".  It was not until 1935, with the passage of the Nye-Lea Act, that the 400 Japanese immigrant veterans who had had their citizenship revoked, along with 100 other Asian immigrants, were successfully naturalized. Another example, Cesario Agudo Buensuceso (a Filipino American who resided in Chicago after the war), initially attempted to naturalize after serving during World War I, but was denied in 1924; it was not until after World War II that he was able to naturalize.
caption: During World War I, Indian American Bhagat Singh Thind, who served in the U.S. Army, was promoted to sergeant and was stationed at Camp Lewis, Washington in 1918. Thind, a Sikh, was the first U.S. serviceman to be allowed for religious reasons to wear a turban as part of their military uniform.[58]
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