Go For Broke Brochure 2

              _4*%T~	
B9I ^jKw* battle cry of courage
An Exhibit on
THE JAPANESE -AMERICAN
SOLDIER IN WORLD WAR II
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
6 AUGUST 1982 to 30 JULY 1983
An old American tradition has it that, during wartime, civilians will rise to be transformed into brave and battle-ready soldiers. Japanese-American soldiers built upon this
tradition during World War II, as students, clerks, farmers, fishermen, and professionals
became the "GO FOR BROKE!" heroes of European and Asiatic battlefields. What
makes their story unparalleled and able to inspire films, books, and museum exhibits is
that, while these soldiers were demonstrating their fierce loyalty to their country
overseas, many of their families were being confined unjustly in detention camps in
the United States.
THE IOOTH INFANTRY BATTALION, the first Japanese-American unit to serve in
Europe, was organized in June 1942 and consisted mainly of Hawaiian volunteers who
were already in the Army when the war started. The men of the 100th were trained in
Wisconsin and Mississippi and then sent to North Africa in the Autumn of 1943. The
100th then performed admirably in Italy, especially in the fierce fighting at Cassino and
Anzio. These soldiers' determination to win against all odds led to their having such
high casualties that they earned the name "The Purple Heart Battalion."
In February 1943, a general call went out for Americans of Japanese ancestry to volunteer for a special combat team. More than 11,000 men from Hawaii and thousands more
from the mainland responded, and the 442ND REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM was
formed with 3,000 men from Hawaii and 1,500 from mainland detention camps. The
442nd first saw action against German forces north of Rome in the summer of 1944.
In July of that year, the 100th was attached to the 442nd as one of its three infantry
battalions. Additional support units of the 442nd were the 522nd Field Artillery
Battalion, the 232nd Combat Engineers Company, the 206th Army Band, an antitank company, a cannon company, a service company, and a medical detachment.
In October 1944, the 442nd was the key unit in the liberation of the French town of
Bruyeres. Without rest, the undermanned 442nd was given the assignment of freeing a
unit that had become surrounded by German troops—the "Lost Battalion" of the
141st Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, of Texas. The Lost Battalion was rescued, but
the toll for the already depleted 442nd was high: more than 800 men killed or wounded.
In their 20 months of combat service before the war's end, the 100th Infantry Battalion
and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team successfully fought in seven major military
campaigns. Altogether, there were more than 18,000 individual decorations awarded
the 10,000 men of the two groups, thus making the 442nd as a whole the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of the United States.
The unusual story of the Japanese Americans who served in the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE (MIS) in the Pacific is little known to the general public even today.
The Army had started a Japanese language school at the Presidio of San Francisco in
November 1941. Soon after the war broke out, the school was moved to Camp Savage,
Minnesota, because of the removal of all Japanese persons from the West Coast. By
war's end, more than 6,000 people had passed through the school's language courses,
and 95% of the graduates were Japanese Americans.
The language school graduates served in every combat zone in the Pacific. They translated important documents, intercepted and deciphered coded messages, interrogated
prisoners, and were pivotal in persuading Japanese military and civilian personnel to
surrender. The thousands of Japanese Americans who served in the Pacific and Asia
did so quietly without fanfare. Sometimes they were assigned, as individuals, to the
front-line units as combat interpreters. Small numbers of them were also attached to
headquarters of larger units. Wherever they were assigned, they performed indispensable
intelligence work.
Because the Japanese Americans in the Pacific were so scattered and because of the
secret nature of their work, there was little publicity about their role in the war. Their
knowledge of the complex and difficult Japanese language and their ability to translate it into precise English gave the Allies an extraordinary advantage. These soldiers
were credited with saving countless Allied lives and with shortening the war considerably. Widespread recognition of the significance of their contributions is long overdue.
For the fighting men in Europe, though, combat awards and honors were many.
General Mark Clark, who headed the Italian campaigns, said: "Never did a Commander
have more to be proud of than I, in having you associated with me in that difficult war."
On 10 April 1946, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Army Chief of Staff, issued General Order
No. 34, which said in part: "The gallantry and esprit de corps displayed by the officers
and men of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in bitter action against a formidable
enemy exemplify the finest traditions of the armed forces of the United States."
This exhibit was conceived and organized by the United States Army and was first shown at the
U.S. Army Museum, Presidio of San Francisco, 7 March 1981 to 30 May 1982.