Loyalty, Liberty and Patriotism: The Men of the 442nd

This last weekend was Memorial Weekend. It is a time when many people decorate the graves of those who have fallen in military service. I was asked by a local group to speak at a commemoration of the soldiers of Japanese ancestry who fought in the Nisei unit of the United States Army in World War II, the 442nd. I would like to share my comments with you in today's blog.


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We have gathered here today to honor the memory of a unique group of fighting men. This group of men were members of one of the most highly decorated battalions in the Second World War: the 100th Infantry Regiment 442nd Regimental Combat Team, often known by their motto, “Go for Broke.” And go for broke they did. Those three words described the dedication and commitment and fighting spirit they brought to their task. But I would like to suggest that they be also known by three other words: “Loyalty, Liberty and Patriotism.” 


These men overwhelmingly volunteered for service during a period of U.S. History in which prejudice and bigotry ran strong against them. As anti-Japanese sentiment swept the West Coast like a contagion, a combination of white nativist groups, military fears, false information, war hysteria and outright racial prejudice culminated in the issuance of Presidential Order 9066 which directed the evacuation of Japanese American families from their homes in the West Coast states to Internment Camps further inland.

At first, people of Japanese ancestry were barred from enlisting in the service, but many internees petitioned the government for a chance to prove their loyalty.  In Hawaii Nisei soldiers of the 298th and 299th regiments of Hawaii National Guard were discharged from service. However, the Honolulu Civic Association lobbied strongly for the readmittance of these Nisei soldiers, as did members of the Emergency Service Committee, Morale Section, Military Governor’s Office. The Varsity Victory Volunteers, made up of Nisei citizens in Hawaii offered their services to assist the military in whatever way, and General Emmons was persuaded to reverse his decision and to form a regiment specifically for these loyal Americans. This led to the activation of the 100th Infantry Battalion, initially arriving in Oakland, California, and then training in Wisconsin. One benefit of training in Wisconsin was to expose these fair weather islanders to the rigors of rain and snow that they would face in Europe.


Of course, Hawaiians were not the only members of this regiment. Many Nisei soldiers from across the country were placed in this battalion. Many of them came from and had family in internment camps. It has been said many times that these brave men had two battles to fight: one against the enemy and one against prejudice. But if you look at it closely, both battles were against prejudice and bigotry. Nazism was built upon the pillars of White (Aryan) racial superiority and German Nationalism. 

What the Nisei soldiers were going to prove is that loyalty to the United States transcended racial identity and ethnic origin. The United States was founded on a set of ideals and a vision of a world in which all persons were endowed with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. All persons. 


Liberty. Not only was it threatened by the advance of Hitler and Mussolini in Europe and the advance of the Japanese Imperial Navy in the Pacific, it was being denied to their families and friends in their own country. It was a battle on three fronts: European, Pacific and Mainland United States.

We are here today because the men from the 100th Infantry Regiment and the 442nd fought that fight with great sacrifice, tremendous courage, and undying honor. The names on this plaque of persons from our communities who died in battle trace the history of the battles:
• Edward Ogawa, from Lava, died October 18, 1944. That was during the time of the battle for Bruyeres in France, and I presume that he was killed there.
• Kenichi Tsumaki died on November 7, 1944. That time frame places him at the rescue of the Lost Battalion.
• Hiroshi Fred Nagano died April 6, 1945. On April 5-6, 1945, 
442nd RCT made a surprise attack on Nazi mountainside positions in Italy, breaking through the Nazi Gothic Line in one day.
• From April 6-30, 1945, the 
100th/442nd RCT drove the enemy up the Italian coast to Genoa and Turin. It is during this time frame that the following deaths are recorded:
o Raito Nakashima, April 14, 1945
o Kiyoshi Murakami, April 19, 1945
o Roy Shiozawa, April 21, 1945
• Wataru Nakashima died January 9, 1946.

By the end of the War, the 100th, 442nd had lost 680 men in action, 67 were missing, and 9,486 had been awarded Purple hearts. It had fought in 8 major campaigns in Europe, received 8 Presidential Unit Citations, and 18,143 individual citations including 1 Congressional Medal of Honor, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, 1 Distinguished Service Medal, 560 Silver Stars with 28 Oak Leaf Clusters in lieu of second Silver Star awards, 22 Legion of Merit Medals, 4,000 Bronze Stars with 1200 Oak Leaf Clusters, 15 Soldier’s Medals, 12 French Croix de Guerre with 2 Palms representing second awards, 2 Italian Crosses for Military Merit, 2 Italian Medals for Military Valor, and 13 Air Medals.


Ingram M Stainback, former Governor of Hawaii, had this to say of this fighting unit: “The question has arisen whether those of alien parents, of alien cultures, of many nations, many races, white, black, brown, yellow, red can really and truly be knit by a common idealism into a nation, whether they have entered into and really become part of the warp and woof of the pattern of our national life or whether they are merely a heterogeneous mass of clashing colors…. (All those) listed on this monument have answered that question. Your deaths should silence for time those preaching racial intolerance – should forever still the tongues of discord that would divide our people. Your heroic sacrifice is not lost, but will mold and inspire the characters of generations yet unborn.”


These battles are still being fought in our land. It is a battle that hopefully will not require more deaths, but instead the dedication of the living to stand up for all those who look to America as a land dedicated to the ideal of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Prejudice and bigotry still stalks our land, calling for new generations to step forward and offer their lives to work for the highest ideals our country stands for.

Major General Jacob L. Devers will have the final word today. He said, “There is one supreme, final test of loyalty for one’s native land – readiness and willingness to fight for, and if need be, to die for one’s county. These Americans pass that test with colors flying. They proved their loyalty and devotion beyond all question. They volunteered for Army combat service and they made a record second to none. In Europe, their s was the Combat Team most feared by the enemy. In the Pacific, they placed themselves in double jeopardy, chancing the bullets of friend as well as foe. Everywhere they were the soldiers most decorated for valor, most devoted to duty. Their only absences without leave were from hospitals which they quit before recovered from their wounds, in order to get back into the fight for what they knew to be right. These men … more than earned the right to be called just Americans, not Japanese Americans. Their Americanism may be described only by degree, and that the highest.”


Three words: Loyalty, Liberty and Patriotism. These men were – and are – the embodiment of these words.

For further information on the 100th/442nd, go to their website: http://www.goforbroke.org. All Images are taken from that website.