…ll in SS hands at that time. More fun don’t you think? Anyway I got into a german warehouse and was fooling around when a booby trap let loose. Didn’t damage anything but started a gas attack of some sort and drove me and out in a hurry and coughing like hell. When I rejoined the outfit I was among the first to be there and here I was roaming wide of my beam. They were delayed because of some tactical reasons which I happened to just ignore. On th…

…bed a mine-infested mountain to capture Hill 600. Captain Taro Suzuki, our company commander, went to the aid station with a wounded shoulder. Beside the ruins of a building, Corporal Masao Hatanaka, with his fingers cut off, was preparing to go to the aid station. Hearing a shell coming, I made a move to the walls of the building, but Sgt. Ted Hirayama stopped me. As I dove into the drainage ditch, the zeroed-in building was demolished and Cpl. M…

…That evening we went forward to join the 100th in the frontlines. Near the company command post lay a dead soldier who was killed in combat that day and he was only about 19 years old and had joined the 100th only a short time ago. The next day dawned bright and clear and as I sat next to the platoon messenger we heard a loud explosion nearby. One of our men had stepped out of his foxhole into a field of beautiful red poppies and had died instantl…

…were not forced today. “They’re really anxious to get into action,” their commander said. “I’ve been with them since this outfit was organized and I wouldn’t trade my command for any other in the army.” “They feel they’ve got a chance to prove they’re real Americans and demonstrate their loyalty.” “The average stature of the whole unit is only five-feet-four, but the officers have said they can outmarch and outwork most ordinary troops. They are…

…n the morning with our machine guns set in position, we opened fire on the German positions and soon were engaged in a duel with the German guns. Tracers were flying all over the place. It was like an old fashioned Fourth of July fireworks display. Then our guns began to jam. Mud which had gotten into the receivers were beginning to cake up with the head of firing and we had to hand-force the bolts forward to keep the guns firing. It was at this c…

…As we were hurrying back to their farmhouse, I kept a vigilant eye on the German side. I saw a flash. I knew it was German artillery firing. I yelled to the men to dive into the ditch alongside the road. No sooner did we land in the ditch when the first shell burst on the road. Then another and another and some more. The repercussion was terrific. Everytime[sic] a shell burst on the road, I felt my body lift up a few inches although I was hugging…

…ises to join hands with the advancing Americans. This is how Jean Drahon becomes attached to the 36th Division as a scout. And that is how come, one day in the Battle of Bruyeres, with the 100/442 now attached to the 36th Division, one Larry Kodama, fighting in a land halfway ’round the world from his home in Hilo, stands, pistol in hand, wondering whether it’s not time to quit and get the hell out of there when he hears the numerical designation…

…Battalion”. What do you do? What can you do? What should you do? Word had come to the battalion command posts that the situation of the “Lost Battalion” was becoming desperate. Relief had to be effected immediately. Absolute fearless courage and complete disregard for personal safety was displayed by the officers and the enlisted men of the 3rd Battalion of the 442nd Combat Team. There was one chance and the battalion took it. What occurred next,…

…there, 1,432 soldiers of the 100th landed at Salerno, Italy, on Sept. 22. Combat with the Germans came seven days later, along with the l00th’s first KIA, Sgt. Joe Takata. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the first of many to be awarded in the unit. The 100th helped push the Germans northward, fighting along the Volturno River to Monte Cassino and Anzio. Cassino was remembered as the toughest of all the battles in the…

…e Star. Upon his promotion to Major, he became the first Asian American to command a regular U.S. combat battalion in a war, the 1st Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th U.S. Army Division. He was able to convince this battalion to adopt an orphanage in Seoul, where more than 500 war orphans received supplies and monetary support to ensure their survival. It was the only U.N. military unit on the frontlines to adopt an orphanage during the war….