The 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, was a unit composed of Japanese Americans that fought in Europe during the Second World War. The families of many of its soldiers were subject to internment. The 442nd was designed as a self-sufficient fighting formation, and fought with distinction in Italy, south France and Germany, becoming one of the most highly decorated units in the history of the U.S. Army.
Background
Most Japanese Americans who fought in WWII were Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans born in the U.S.. Nevertheless, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese American men in the mainland U.S. were categorized as 4C (enemy alien), non-draftable, and they and their families were removed to internment or relocation camps.
In Hawaii, a large proportion of the population were of Japanese descent: internment was not practicable, so curfews were imposed instead. General Delos C. Emmons (commanding general of the U.S. Army in Hawaii) decided to discharge Japanese Americans from units of the Hawaiian Territory Guard and National Guard. Many volunteered to continue in non-combat roles, until, on June 5 1942, a special unit of 1,300 Japanese Americans, the Hawaiian Provisional Battalion, sailed for training on the mainland. They landed at Oakland, California on June 10, 1942 and became 100th Infantry Battalion two days later (the "One Puka Puka") and were sent to Camp McCoy.
The 100th performed so well in training that, on February 1, 1943, the U.S. Government reversed its decision on Japanese Americans serving in the armed forces. President Roosevelt announced the formation of the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team (the "Go For Broke" regiment), famously saying "Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry."
Training
The nucleus of the new unit was the 100th Infantry Battalion, which relocated to Camp Shelby in Mississippi. Eventually, the 100th was joined by 2,600 volunteers from Hawaii and 800 from the camps on the mainland. The 442nd was designed as a self-sufficient fighting formation, and came to include four infantry battalions (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 100th), the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, the 232nd Engineering Company, an anti-tank company, cannon company, service company, medical detachment, headquarters companies, and the 206th Army Band.
Initially, there was tension between volunteers from the Hawaiian Islands (known as "buddhaheads", from the Japanese/English term buta-head, meaning "pig-headed") and those from the mainland ("katonks", stone head; also alleged to be the sound of an empty head hitting the ground). The rivalry between the Hawaiian Islanders and the mainlanders dissipated after visits were organised to the internment camps where the mainlanders' families were being held.
Although they were now permitted to volunteer to fight, Americans of Japanese ancestry were generally forbidden to fight in a combat role the Pacific theatre. No such limitations were placed on Americans of German or Italian ancestry who fought against the Axis Powers in Europe. While the 442nd trained in Mississippi, the 100th departed for Oran in North Africa to join the forces destined to invade Italy.
Combat
The 100th landed at Salerno on September 26 1943. After obtaining its initial objective of Monte Milleto , the 100th joined the assault on Monte Cassino. The 100th fought valiantly, suffering many casualties. It sailed from North Africa with 1,300 men on September 22, 1943, but by February 1944 could only muster 521. The depleted unit joined the defence of the beachhead at Anzio until May 1944, and then added momentum to the push for Rome, but was halted only 10 miles from the city. Some believe that the 100th was deliberately halted to allow non-Japanese soldiers to liberate Rome.
The remainder of the 442nd (other than the 1st battalion, much of which had already been sent as replacements for the 100th, and the remainder of which remained in the U.S. to train further replacements) landed at Anzio and joined the 100th Battalion in Civitavecchia north of Rome on June 10 1944. The 100th Battalion was allowed to keep its unit designation in recognition of its ditinguished fighting record. The combined unit continued in the push up Italy, before joining the invasion of southern France, where the 442nd participated in the fight to liberate Bruyeres in south France, and famously rescued "The Lost Battalion" at Biffontaine . Over a five-day period, from 26 October to 30 October 1944, the 442nd suffered over 800 casualties, nearly half of its soldiers, while rescuing 211 members of the Texan 1st Battalion of the 141st Regiment which had been surrounded by German forces in the Vosges mountains since 24 October.
The 522nd Field Artillery Battalion remained in France, and joined the push into Germany in late 1944 and 1945. Scouts from the 522nd were among the first Allied troops to release prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp. The remainder of the 442nd returned to Italy to continue the fight against the Gothic Line established by German Field Marshal Kesselring in the Apennines.
The 442nd suffered an casualty rate of 314 percent.
Decorations
Fighting in the European theatre, the 442nd became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service, earning it the title, the "Purple Heart Battalion." The 442nd received 7 Presidential Unit Citations (5 earned in one month), and its members received around 18,000 awards, including:
After the war
The unit's exemplary service and many decorations did not change attitudes of the general U.S. population to people of Japanese descent after World War II. Veterans were welcomed home by signs that read "No Japs Allowed" and "No Japs Wanted", and many veterans were denied service in shops and restaurants, and had their homes and property vandalized.
Anti-Japanese sentiment remained strong into the 1960s, but faded along with other once-common prejudices, even while remaining strong in certain circles. Conversely, the story of the 442nd provided a leading example of what was to become the controversial model minority stereotype.
The 442nd was demobilized in Honolulu in 1946, but reactivated in 1947 in the U.S. Army Reserve. It was mobilized in 1968 to refill the Strategic Reserve during the Vietnam War. Today, the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, survives as the only infantry unit of the Army Reserve. The unit has its headquarters at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, and elements based in Hilo, Hawaii, American Samoa, Saipan, and Guam.
In August 2004, the battalion was activated for duty in Iraq as one of the manuver battlions of the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade, Hawaii Army National Guard. The unit mobilized at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, engaged in training at Fort Bliss, Texas through the end of 2004, and completed its validation at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) in Fort Polk, Louisiana. As of March 2005, the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry is serving in LSA Anaconda in the city of Balad, located about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Prominent Members
- Daniel Inouye, U.S. Representative from Hawaii (1959-1962); U.S. Senator from Hawaii (1962-) as of 2005
- Spark Matsunaga, U.S. Representative from Hawaii (1962-1976); U.S. Senator from Hawaii (1977-1990)
External links