Smoke still lingered in the air, covering the naval base at Pearl Harbor like a worn and tattered blanket. Naval personnel worked tirelessly to free the men trapped in the overturned battleship, the U.S.S. Oklahoma. With simultaneous operations against the Philippines and Malaysia, the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941 thrust America into a world war it had hoped to avoid. The very next day, President Franklin Roosevelt described the attack with the famous words of “A date which will live in infamy” and the President asked the assembled Congress for a Declaration of War against Japan. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Any expectations of an isolationist approach to the growing war lay scattered over the wreckage at Pearl Harbor; it truly was a world war. Unlike another period when America found itself immersed in another war in Southeast Asia, when many Americans sought ways to avoid the draft, following Pearl Harbor Americans by the thousands volunteered, some lying about their age or seeking out sympathetic doctors to gain entry into the Armed Forces. One group of Americans in particular, in the face of overwhelming prejudice, cast aside the deepest of emotional pain and raised their hand to defend the country they loved. These men formed what came to be known as the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, amassing a combat record throughout World War II that was unsurpassed.[i]
After the attack on Pearl Harbor,
the incriminating glare of both military and political leaders soon zeroed in
on the Japanese population, the Hawaiian Islands, and the mainland United
States.. While the military governor of Hawaii, General Delos Emmons,
emphasized that the country must “distinguish between loyalty and disloyalty
among our people,” United States policy quickly evolved into singling out the
Japanese-American population. Just days after the attack, FBI Director J. Edgar
Hoover notified authorities in Washington that 1,291 Japanese (367 in Hawaii,
924 on the mainland), 857 Germans, and 147 Italians were in custody, though
Hoover conceded that any mass internment of Japanese Americans could not be
justified for reasons of security. Even advisors cautioned President Roosevelt
against the racial hysteria that was quickly growing, especially toward Japanese
Americans. One editorial in a Seattle newspaper declared, “The government
should initiate instant and drastic orders sweeping all aliens, foreign and
native-born, so far inland that we can forget about them for the duration [of
the war].” Military commanders on the mainland rapidly crafted similar
sentiments that drove United States policy.[ii]
While charged with leading the
Western Defense Command, Lieutenant General John DeWitt brazenly admitted that
though many second and third-generation Japanese had been “Americanized, the
racial strains are undiluted…it, therefore, follows that along the vital
Pacific Coast over 112,000 potential enemies, of Japanese extraction, are at
large today.” In January 1942, DeWitt had claimed the eight western states instituted
a theater of operations and would be operated as such. Once again dismissing
any chance that a Japanese American could demonstrate loyalty to the United
States, DeWitt concluded “A Jap is a Jap is a Jap.” Soon, President Roosevelt embarked on legislation
that ripped Japanese Americans from their homes and communities.[iii]
In mid-February 1942, President
Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066 that directed the Secretary of War to
designate military areas “with respect to which, the right of any person to
enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the
Secretary of War or the appropriate military commander may impose in his
discretion.” Historian Ronald Takaki concluded, “The order did not specify the
Japanese as the group to be excluded, but they were the target.” Authorities in
Washington set in motion the internment of over 100,000 Japanese Americans.
Gaining a wide acceptance of approval from organizations like the American
Civil Liberty Union to unanimous concurrence by the United States Supreme
Court, as Thomas Sowell highlighted in his work, “Japanese Americans accepted
the internment as a grim fact of life and put their efforts into making the
best of a bad situation.” Sowell pointed out, however, that not a single Japanese
American was ever charged with sabotage during the entire war.[iv]
Under the directive of General
DeWitt, less than two months later notices appeared on telephone poles,
storefronts, and bulletin boards for the removal of Japanese Americans from
their homes, taking basically whatever they could carry on their backs. Selling
other possessions or leaving items to the care of sympathetic neighbors,
Japanese Americans boarded trains to destinations from California to further
east in Arkansas, ten internment camps in total. When some Japanese Americans
challenged the removal in court, the United States Supreme Court declared the
president’s directive justified as a part of “military necessity.” As Sowell
had pointed out, the Japanese Americans just had to make the best of a very bad
situation.[v]
It was not long, however, when
the question arose if the United States should allow Japanese Americans to
serve in the Armed Forces? Given the policy just enacted for the internment of
thousands of Japanese Americans, one’s initial reaction might be a resounding: how
could they? Secretary of War Henry Stimson opposed the idea, questioning once
again the loyalty of Japanese Americans. U.S. Army Chief of Staff, George
Marshall, however, disagreed, stating he would accept Japanese Americans as
volunteers. Some in Washington concurred with Marshall, perhaps limiting
Japanese Americans to serve as translators or interpreters. President
Roosevelt, though, did not want to deny any American their right to serve. He
stated:
Americanism is
not, and never was, a matter of race and ancestry. A good American is loyal to
his country and to the creed of liberty and democracy…Every loyal American
citizen should be given an opportunity to serve his country wherever his skills
will make the greatest contribution.
It was February 1, 1943, almost
one year to the date when he signed Executive Order No. 9066 that President
Roosevelt authorized the creation of the 442nd Regimental Combat
Team, made up exclusively of Japanese American soldiers, led by Caucasian
officers. “Most of those eligible,”
Thomas Sowell underscored, “seized the opportunity to prove their loyalty in
combat.” One Japanese American who joined the 100th Battalion, later
to merge under the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, was told by his
parents that ‘you fight for your country.’[vi]
 |
| 442nd Regimental Combat Team training in Mississippi (Photo: Library of Congress) |
Constituted before the 442nd, the
100th Battalion saw action first, arriving in Italy from North
Africa in September 1943. Conducting operations against and around Monte
Cassino, in the space of around seven months, the battalion sustained over 900
casualties, 300 killed action, earning the title as the “Purple Heart
Battalion.” In the summer of 1944, the
battalion merged with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT). Once
assembled, the regiment saw action at Luciana, Italy, and the Arno River, where
their first test came against a German SS battalion, a crack unit in the German
Army. Driving back German resistance, the regiment earned its first
Presidential Unit Citation, while suffering casualties up to near-quarter of its
strength. Soldiers like Jack Wakamatsu drove fearlessly into the German
defenders: “During his company’s movement to better defensive positions,
Sergeant Wakamatsu directed by radio the withdrawal of three platoons and
several litter cases… He then directed their rearward movement, despite
concentrated sniper fire, until they safely reached the company lines.” In the
fall of 1944, the army moved the 442nd RCT to France as part of the
allies' drive to defeat Hitler in Europe.[vii]
 |
| The 442nd RCT in Europe (Photo: Library of Congress) |
One Japanese American who fought
in Italy was Kazuo (Kaz) Masuda, who won the Distinguished Service Cross for
his actions, though he did not live to receive it. As a staff sergeant, Masuda
led his men in fierce fighting against the Germans. When enemy fire cut off
communications, Masuda went out 200 yards and provided covering fire with a
mortar he had acquired. Obtaining more ammunition, Masuda held his position for
over twelve hours. For his actions, the United States awarded him the
Distinguished Service Cross. However, Masuda was killed a few weeks later along
the banks of the Arno River in Italy. General Joe Stillwell presented the award
to Masuda’s family, accompanied by a young officer and future President of the
United States, Ronald Reagan. General Stillwell mentioned:
The amount of
money, the color of one’s skin, do not make a measure of Americanism. …The real
American is a man who calls it a fair exchange to lay down his life in order
that American ideals may go on living. Judging from such a test, S/Sgt. Masuda
was a better American than any of us here today.
Here was an American whose family
occupied housing in an internment camp, yet he was fighting and dying for his
country. Those ideals and values that General Stillwell praised still apply
today, with each generation having the challenge and opportunity to ensure
those ideals may go on living and prospering for future generations.[viii]
Having moved to France in October
1944, in the area of the deep forests surrounding the Vosges Mountains, the 442nd
RCT came to the rescue of the 141st Infantry Regiment, which had
become trapped and surrounded by German forces. Crawling and scrapping for
every inch of land, the soldiers of the 442nd RCT eventually reached
their comrades, however, at a frightful cost. The 442nd sustained
over 800 casualties, just under 200 of them killed in action. One soldier of
the 141st Infantry Regiment, the rescued unit, cared little that the
442nd RCT consisted of Japanese American soldiers. He declared, “Here
was a brother of mine coming up to save my life.” Another soldier indicated,
“It was really ironical that we were so glad to see Japanese, but, boy, they
are real Americans.” And real Americans they were indeed.[ix]
By the war’s end, the 442nd
RCT was remembered as the most decorated unit for its size and length of
service in the history of the United States military. The United States awarded
over 4,000 Purple Hearts, 4,000 Bronze Stars, 560 Silver Stars, 21 Medals of
Honor (many of these upgraded), and seven Presidential Unit Citations across
the 18,000 that had served in the regiment throughout the war. In 2010,
Congress passed a bill that awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to all members
of the 100th Battalion, 442nd RCT, and those who served
in the Military Intelligence branch during the war. And three years after the
war ended, two men of the 442nd RCT, Fumitake Nagato, and Saburo
Tanamachi became the first Japanese American soldiers to be buried at the
sacred Arlington National Cemetery.[x]
While much of the reputation the
442nd RCT earned helped assuage some of the bitter feelings toward
Japanese Americans during and after the war, there were still challenges these
courageous men had to face. One future U.S. Senator from Hawaii and
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, Daniel Inouye had stopped in San
Francisco on his way back to Hawaii. Having lost his right arm in combat
fighting for his country, Inouye entered a barbershop for a haircut, only to be
told that the establishment did not serve Japs there. Here was a brave soldier,
in full uniform, sparkling with his much-deserved military decorations only to
be told he could not get a haircut.[xi]
In 1988 President Ronald Reagan
signed the Civil Liberties Act, which distributed over $1.6 billion in
reparations to Japanese Americans and their descendants. Arguably long overdue,
President Reagan stated, “The [442nd] soldiers’ families were being
denied the very freedom for which so many of the soldiers themselves were
laying down their lives.” With families whisked away to internment camps, many
of these soldiers left them behind to fight for the very country that had
undertaken such measures against them, as American citizens.[xii]
In the mid-1990s, the Army
stationed my family and me at Fort Lewis, Washington. As a young company-grade
officer, my brigade commander tasked me to produce a display for the occasion
of Asian American History Month. I did some research and came across the story
of the 442nd RCT, a unit I was only vaguely familiar with from past
readings of military history. As I dug deeper, I became aware of some former
members of the 442nd RCT living in the Seattle area, not far from
Fort Lewis. My wife and I made the journey to a small part of the city, where I
met several veterans from the regiment. We were both struck by their humility
and deep patriotism — everyone, including all their family members. I think of
that gathering often, especially in divisive times like the one in which we currently
live. Whether along political, cultural, racial, or ethnic lines, the chasm
seems to expand almost daily. These men, these families, these Japanese
Americans, can still teach us much about our country and ourselves. What does
it mean to be an American? What is the system of values and principles that
mark each of us as Americans? We need to look no further than the men of the
442nd Regimental Combat Team. Beyond being heavily burdened with the
internment policy their country had imposed upon their families, they sought
neither glory nor medals but to simply prove to one and all that they, too,
were Americans. And they were willing to fight and die for that same country.
Notes
[i]
Schweikart, L., & Allen, M. (2007). A
Patriot's history of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the
War on Terror. Sentinel, 593-597.
[ii]
Takaki, Ronald (2008). A different mirror: A history of multicultural
America. Back Bay Books, 342-343; McGaugh, Scott (2016). Honor before
glory: The epic World War II story of the Japanese American GIs who rescued the
lost battalion. Da Capo Press, 18.
[iii]
Takaki, A different mirror, 343.
[iv]
Ibid., 344; Sowell, Thomas (1981). Ethnic America: A history. Perseus
Books Group, 172-173.
[v]
McGaugh, Honor before glory, 18-19; Takaki, A different mirror,
344-345.
[vi]
McGaugh, Honor before glory, 20; FDR letter to the Secretary of War,
February 1, 1943; Sowell, Ethnic America, 174; Takaki, A different
mirror, 348.
[vii] Ibid., 349; “They Were superb: The 442nd Japanese-American Unit in World War II and Self-Sacrifice.” Accessed at AP-088-All-2.pdf (billofrightsinstitute.org) on November 11, 2021; Takaki, A different mirror, 349.
[viii] “Kazuo Masuda: A Hero’s Story.” Accessed at EC-AZ-Galvin-Lesson3-Student.pdf (janm.org) on November 11, 2021.
[ix] Shiosaki, Fred. “The Rescue of the Lost Battalion.” Accessed at World War II book.indd on November 11, 2021; “They were superb: The 442nd Japanese-American Unit in World War II and Self-Sacrifice.”
[x] “Going for broke: The 442nd Regimental Combat Team.” Accessed at Going For Broke: The 442nd Regimental Combat Team | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org) on November 11, 2021; McGaugh, Honor before glory, 207.
[xi] Takaki, A different mirror, 349-350.
[xii] McGaugh, Honor before glory, 207.
