Japanese-Americans in WWII: From the 100th Infantry Battalion to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

 

Japanese-Americans Were Vital to the WWII War Effort

Katie Lange DOD

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, many Americans were distrusting and fearful of Japanese-Americans living in the U.S. Fearmongering led to many of those Japanese-Americans being barred from military service, with their draft status changing from “draft eligible” to “enemy alien.” About 110,000 of them were even relocated to internment camps all along the U.S. West Coast.

Americans with Japanese ancestry were eventually able to overcome the mistrust and join four U.S. military units – the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which were segregated, as well as the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion and the Military Intelligence Service.

How They Helped the War Effort

The 100th Infantry Battalion was the first all-Japanese-American fighting unit in U.S. military history. It was formed after Hawaii’s military governor, Army Lt. Gen. Delos Emmons, gathered several pre-war Japanese-American draftees and sent them to combat infantry training in the summer of 1942.

The battalion joined combat in North Africa in June 1943. A few months later, it was sent to Italy, where its soldiers saw fierce combat, earning the nickname “the Purple Heart Battalion” because of the high casualty rate.

They would eventually join up with the 442d Regimental Combat Team (RCT) .

The 442d Regimental Combat Team (RCT) was activated on 1 February 1943, composed of American-born Japanese called “Nisei” (NEE-say), or second generation. Some volunteered from Hawaii, others from the ten relocation centers on the mainland. The commander and most company grade officers were Caucasian; the rest of its officers and enlisted men were Nisei. The team included the 442d Infantry Regiment with three battalions, the 522d Field Artillery Battalion, and the 232d Engineer Company. After a year of individual and unit training at Camp Shelby, Missippi, the unit deployed to the Mediterranean in May 1944. The 1st Battalion remained at Camp Shelby to train replacements and was redesignated the 171st Infantry Battalion (Separate).

The 442d RCT joined the 100th Infantry Battalion in Italy and entered combat on 26 June 1944, attached to the 34th Infantry Division. Over the next two months the newcomers fought as well as their predecessors, earning nine Distinguished Service Crosses (while the 100th earned three more). On 10 August 1944, the 100th Battalion formally became part of the 442d RCT as its first battalion.

In September the 442d RCT was reassigned to Seventh Army for the invasion of Southern France. It was attached to the 36th Infantry Division for the drive into the Vosges Mountains. In four weeks of heavy combat in October-November 1944, the 442d RCT liberated Bruyeres and Biffontaine and rescued a “lost battalion” that had become cut off from the 36th Division. For this the 100th, 2d, and 3d Battalions, 442d Infantry, and the 232d Engineer Company were each awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation [later redesignated as the Presidential Unit Citation (PUC)] .

After duty in the Maritime Alps guarding the French-Italian border, the 442d RCT was reassigned in March 1945 to Fifth Army for the Po Valley campaign. Attached to the 92d Infantry Division, an African-American unit, the 442d RCT helped drive the Germans from Northern Italy. One of its soldiers, Pfc. Sadao S. Munemori, was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.

The 442d RCT was demobilized and inactivated in August 1946.

While anti-Japanese fears were rampant in 1942, Army Col. Moses Pettigrew and several other military leaders believed Japanese-Americans would be excellent combat soldiers, so they fought to start a Japanese-American combat unit. President Franklin D. Roosevelt finally approved its creation in February 1943.

The unit, which became the 442nd, fought in southern France and Germany after joining up with the 100th Infantry Battalion in Italy in June 1944. It was able to liberate Bruyeres and Biffontaine in southern France, rescue a U.S. battalion that had become cut off from its division, and help an African-American unit drive the Germans from northern Italy.

Because of the 442^nd RCT’s success, the draft was reinstated in the internment camps back home, and several other battalions and companies were incorporated into it, including the 100th Infantry Battalion. Due to its size and length of service, the 442nd RCT became the most highly decorated regiment in the history of the U.S. More than 18,000 individual decorations for bravery, 9,500 Purple Hearts and nine Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded, while 21 men received the Medal of Honor.

“Anybody can shoot one rifle, but not everybody can speak Japanese.”

The Military Intelligence Service was comprised of more than 6,000 Japanese-Americans from Hawaii and the mainland, including several men from the 100th Infantry Battalion who were recruited into the MIS when it was first formed in late 1942.

Many of them worked as linguists in the Pacific theater to defeat the country from which their ancestors emigrated. They accompanied reconnaissance patrols, listened for information dropped by loud Japanese soldiers outside defensive perimeters, and they even interpreted enemy commands.

These men might be some of the most covert Japanese-Americans to take part in the war effort, largely because their work was classified for more than 30 years. But they were credited with saving thousands of lives, as well as helping bridge the two cultures during the post-war occupation of Japan.

The 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion, which included nearly 1,000 Japanese-Americans, was tasked with constructing major projects in Hawaii. Known as the “Chowhounds,” the 1399th was activated in April 1944.

Over the course of the rest of the war, its soldiers constructed more than 50 vital defense facilities on the island of Oahu, including jungle training villages, ammunition storage pits, the Flying Fortress airfield at Kahuku, and a million-gallon water tank that’s still in use today.

Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur tried to assign the 1399th to the Philippines twice, but the War Department refused to put them in direct conflict with the Japanese enemy, saying they were too important to Hawaii’s defense.

Following the war, the 1399th received many accolades for their contributions and excellent service. These men are considered the unsung heroes of the Japanese-Americans’ contributions to the war efforts.