…ined the Chicago Nisei Post. I served as Second Vice-Commander, First Vice-Commander, Commander, and Historian. One of the greatest honors of my life was being made Commander of The American Legion Chicago Nisei Post 1183. The men who liberated me from the German Nazis and the Italian Fascists made me their Commander! Hard to believe, but true. In the meantime, I often wondered about the fate of that young soldier named Paul Sakamoto. The name stu…

…had been in battle for 18 months, and the 442nd, which had nine months of combat experience under its belt. They also wanted the Nisei soldiers in their units. The Gothic Line In five months of fighting, the 5th Army had not been able to break through the Gothic Line, the last major German defensive line in Italy. To surprise the enemy, the three battalions of the 442nd were to create a diversion on the left flank of the planned offensive. They h…

…e Italian village of Pozzilli. Doctors were not normally sent to frontline combat, but Kawasaki insisted on going. As he was walking up a path, a 100th soldier stepped from the bushes and motioned him to be silent: there were German Tiger tanks directly below. The tank crews saw him at the same time and began firing 88-mm shells. He suffered a severe injury to his left leg and passed out from the lack of blood. Kawasaki woke up on a surgical table…

…s. His father, John Alexander Johnson, was an agronomist for C. Brewer and Company, one of Hawaii’s largest sugar companies. Jack grew up among the Islands’ elite, attending prestigious Punahou School. But instead of going to the Mainland for college like most of his classmates, Jack entered the University of Hawaii (UH), where he joined the school’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program. A good student, he would eventually be named stud…

…jor surgery. Speed is the key note of treatment for more casualties may be coming or we may have to move forward or withdraw, depending on the situation… I stress speed, because the faster we take care of them the better will be the outcome of each individual.” The doctor tried to separate his emotions from the impersonal medical task of trying to save as many wounded soldiers as possible. But in one particular instance, Kainuma found himself taki…

…alion’s advance was discovered, a couple of riflemen from one of the rifle companies were sent back to lead Dog Company forward through the mine fields. It was getting dark but the company had to push through because its heavy weapons would be needed to fight off the expected counterattacks by the Germans. Turtle was the machine gunner in the 3rd Squad of the Second Platoon. Doc Hosaka was his squad leader and Chuji Saito the section leader; Harry…

…pertaining to them. In January 1944, the 100th ran head-on up against the Germans in the battle for Monte Cassino, the strategic mountaintop monastery, which the Germans occupied. The brothers had been separated, although there was nothing unusual about that. Wallace was in the rears with the kitchen crew. The last time he had seen his younger brother was during a rest period about three weeks earlier. On January 25, 1944, Herman-by then a sergea…

…boys and backed them up 100 percent! “On one occasion, I remember when our company, E Company, was moved up to take over A Company’s place because they got shot up. We had one of the boys in the cornfield, wounded on the leg… (Lovell) got good scolding from the Colonel because he went off the road and into the bushes to go get the person in the cornfield. He picked him up and carried him back. The Colonel said, “You’ve got no business going out th…

…ing forces. Toshio remembers he was shot and wounded three months into his combat experience in Italy. He was hit four times, once in the elbow and twice in the chest. On the fourth incident, a bullet hit a quarter that was in his watch pocket near his waistline; part of the quarter was bent 90 degrees. Toshio was a scout when he was shot going through Cassino, Italy. Captain Sakae Takahashi of B Company was nearby, saw that Toshio was wounded and…