James H. Mukoyama, Jr., Major General
Major General James H. Mukoyama, Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 3, 1944. He retired from the Army in May 1995, after more than thirty years of total active and reserve component service, including two combat tours. He is honored by the Pritzker Military Museum & Library.
Major General James H. Mukoyama, Jr. was commissioned as a Regular Army Infantry Second Lieutenant in 1965 upon graduation from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature, where he also earned a Master’s degree in the Teaching of Social Studies in 1966.
During his five years on active duty, General Mukoyama served as a platoon leader in the demilitarized zone in the Republic of Korea and as an infantry company commander in the 9th Division in Vietnam. He was the youngest General Officer in the entire United States Army in 1987, and subsequently the youngest Major General three years later. In 1989, he became the first Asian-American in the history of the United States to command an Army division.
Among General Mukoyama’s decorations and badges are the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, 3 Bronze Stars, Purple Heart, Parachutist Badge, Expert Infantryman’s Badge, and Combat Infantryman’s Badge.
Since his retirement from active federal service in 1995, General Mukoyama has volunteered and participated in numerous organizations, both governmental and non-profit charitable, benefitting our military, veterans, and the community.
In addition to his full-time civilian position as Executive Vice-President and Chief Compliance Officer of a national stock brokerage firm, General Mukoyama spent seven years as the Vice-Chairman of the National Memorial to Patriotism dedicated in Washington, DC in 2001. He is a life member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Military Order of the Purple Heart. He is also a disabled veteran.
Mukoyama served for five years, the last two as Chairman, on the Advisory Committee for Minority Veterans for the Department of Veterans Affairs traveling throughout the nation on behalf of minority veterans to improve services and information to the field. His local community activities involved eight years as President and Board Member of a senior citizens subsidized housing apartment complex in an inner city Chicago neighborhood; six years as a hospice patient volunteer with his wife; and more than a decade as a volunteer instructor for the Military Ministry of CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) in the Command Religious Program at the Great Lakes Naval Recruit Training Center Chapel, where he has participated in the training of Navy Recruit Instructors since 2010.
Additional activities include the National Veterans Network, a non-profit organization that obtained the award of the Congressional Gold Medal to Japanese-American World War II veterans in 2012 with Mukoyama in charge of the design of the Medal.
In January 2013, General Mukoyama answered a calling to devote his life to the ministry of Military Outreach USA, a faith-based 501(c)(3) organization serving our military --- Active, Guard, Reserve, Veterans --- and their families, to cope with the visible and invisible wounds associated with military service to our great nation. In order to serve as the President and Executive Director, Mukoyama’s 38-year career in the financial services industry, where he had been a member of the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange, ended.
In May 2013, the Governor of the State of Illinois issued a Proclamation honoring General Mukoyama as the State of Illinois Veteran of the Month for his commitment and contributions to veterans and their families. In October 2013, Mukoyama was included in the inaugural class inducted into the University of Illinois Army ROTC Hall of Fame.
In May 2015, Mukoyama was appointed Co-Chair of the Patient Advisory Council for the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, IL, the first joint Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affair medical facility in the nation. General Mukoyama has been listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America since 1994.
He lives in Glenview, Illinois, with K.J., his wife of over forty years. They attend Willow Creek Community Church where he has led a men’s small group for over a decade, co-directs a monthly men’s breakfast, and founded a military ministry program.
Book Dedicated: The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today by Thomas E. Ricks
