Saburo Nishime was drafted in November 1941 and reported to Schofield Barracks on Oahu. He was transferred to Kauai and assigned to the 299th Infantry of the Hawaiian National Guard.
Nishime was wounded soon after the 100th arrived in Italy and after recuperating, returned to the battalion and served until Germany surrendered in May 1945. He was discharged from the Army in September 1945.
While Nishime was stationed at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin in 1942, he visited his brother Ralph over the Christmas holidays in Ann Arbor, where Ralph was a student at the University of Michigan. These letters were written to Ralph during the war and on his way back to Hawaii.