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442 RTC/100 infantry batalion I'm a true 442 RCT fan

posted 20 years ago by Highice007
7 replies | jump to latest

A very sad act by the USA.
I've studied up on this after watching the movie. War hysteria was no excuse for locking innocent Americans up, and yes most of the people who were locked up were American citizens.
Many men from the camp ended up joining the 442 Regimental Combat Team/100 Infantry battalion, a unit made up of almost entirely Japanese Americans who were some of the most patriotic Americans who ever lived. The 442 RCT ended up being the most decorated unit of the war, suffering nearly 50% casualties. It received 7 presidential unit citations. I'm a big fan of FDR and can only think that he was lied too about the loyalty of Japanese Americans by racist in high places like General Dewitt. Dewitt probably convinced him that since the Japanese government had lied about wanting peace that all "Japs" were like that. Probably not meeting any Japanese Americans he probably just thought Dewitt new what he was talking about, and had more experience dealing with the Japanese American population, Dewitt living in L.A.
I recently had the honor of meeting some 442 RCT guys last year in L.A., now in there 80's. They said they fought for us because they knew how much worse the dictatorship in Japan (Tojo's Japan) was and they wanted to prove to everyone that they were truely patriotic Americans.......They did!!!

I'm a true 442 RCT fan

[–] crazy_jen123 20 years ago

yea, it's a real shame that so many innocent people were forced to live in such persecution.

[–] jporter-6 17 years ago

The answer is in the movie itself.

Jack is asked whether or not it's
wrong to isolate the Japanese.
"It's a mistake," Jack says.
"Which frightened people in wartime
sometimes make."

By the, the 442nd was the outfit that
led the victory parade in Washington, D.C.
It another movie, "Go For Broke," there is,
at the end of it, a brief snippit of the
442nd/100th Combat Team color guard in that
parade advancing to receive presidential
citations on the the National and company
colors.

[–] jquark 19 years ago

Probably the most comprehensive and accurate paperback on the WWII Relocation camps is the 467-page "Personal Justice Denied", the 1982 official Report of the Commission of Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians.

My father was an original member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (Staff Sergeant) -- he was not incarcerated with the rest of his family only because he was already in the U.S. Army as of January 1942.

[–] Highice007 19 years ago

Cool!!! Is there a way I can get an autograph picture of your father? I didn't think to get 442 autographs when I was in L.A. Brain drain.:(

When clouds moisten rain forms, when rain dries clouds form

[–] jquark 19 years ago

Unfortunately, my father passed away several years ago.

"Only the Brave" (2005), a film by Lane Nishikawa starring Tamlyn Tomita amongst others, is in production and should soon be ready for release. Presumably, you could look for surviving U.S. Army 442nd/100th RCT veterans at its opening.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410403/

In addition, the secret role of Japanese-Americans in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Pacific campaign became declassified 30 years after the end of WWII -- credited by commanders as shortening the war by up to 6 months.

[–] gsy49 18 years ago

Two of my uncles, who have now passed away, were apart of the 442.

[–] photoseller 18 years ago

Check out the 1951 film titled Go for Broke! it is all about the 442nd RCT in WW2 for a film made in 1951 it is very good and shows some of what the men went through both during the war and at home, and yes the 442nd was the most highly decorated U.S. Unit of the war., my Father who like me was from Texas and was in the famed Texas Unit the 36th inf. div. during the war, at one point the 442 was attached to the 36th, it took awhile but the Texans of the 36th (also a highly decorated combat unit) fought along side the men of the 442, and for the most part came to respect them, it is ashame, but sometimes it takes an event like war to bring people together, after years of distrust of one another, the men discovered they were all americans striving to obtain the same things, and that life was not so different for one group over another. my Aunt is Japanese (from Japan) she married my Uncle who was stationed in Japan after the war, she has been an american since 1951, i was born in 1957 so to me she has and always will be my Aunt., this movie is amazing and I would tell everyone to watch it, it is very much an under rated special film.

“Do not fear death... only the unlived life.” - Natalie Babbitt