Hood River native Minoru Yasui has been named by President Barack Obama to posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.  The White House made the announcement Monday.  Yasui, born in Hood River in 1916…was the first to intentionally defy a military curfew imposed upon Japanese-Americans in 1942. He was sent to prison, including nine months in solitary confinement in the Multnomah County Jail, and fought his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld his conviction.  Yasui spent the rest of his life appealing his wartime conviction, until his death in 1986, the year his conviction was overturned by a federal court.  Yasui was the first Japanese-American graduate of the University of Oregon School of Law.  Oregon Congressman Greg Walden nominated Yasui for the award earlier this year, and said in a statement today that “For decades, Minoru Yasui fought tirelessly to defend and expand basic rights for all Americans. Though he faced discrimination and hatred during World War II, his belief in America never wavered.”  There are 17 Medal of Freedom recipients this year, with the award ceremony scheduled for November 24.