Grace Aiko Obata Amemiya, a 2016 inductee into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame, has made two great commitments based on her experiences as a Japanese-American held in a World War II internment camp, and as a mother of a disabled son. She has volunteered at Woodward Resource Center, the YWCA and the Special Olympics for many years, and has committed to sharing her story of internment with all who are not aware of this injustice.

At the age of 95, she continues to tell this story of grace, forgiveness and service through hundreds of speeches across the state of Iowa and beyond.

Amemiya was born on in 1920 in Vacaville, Calif., the youngest of six children born to Japanese immigrants. Her father died when she was 10 years old, and Grace decided to dedicate her life to service by becoming a nurse. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Amemiya was held at Turlock assembly center, then at Gila, Ariz., where one of the country’s 10 internment camps was located. Once her internment ended, Amemiya attended St Mary’s School of Nursing in Rochester, Minn. She spent her final six months of nurse training as a senior cadet nurse in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, working at Schick General Army Hospital in Clinton.

“Grace greatly impressed me with her enthusiasm, her engaging humor, and her dedication to community service. For years, she has visited schools and communities in Ames, Iowa, and other venues, to ensure that people understood the injustices that had been wrought upon Japanese-American citizens during World War II, so that the government of the United States might never repeat them,” said Zina Mirksy, associate dean in the University of California School of Nursing. “Her focus is upbeat and uplifting, rather than bitter or recriminating, and youth respond eagerly to her and her message.”