…ile his listeners began to quiet down as if they expected to hear about an experience commonly shared. The evening had begun with ribald stories, but now the mood had changed into one of nostalgia and sentimentality. “Spooky grumbled as he followed me out of the tent; as usual he was on the losing end of a poker game. He thought I was going to give him another detail and began to tell me that he had just come from one. ‘No, Spooky,’ I said, ‘I’m n…

…” Shimizu was a scout, private first class, in the 3d Squad, 3d Platoon, A Company, l00th Infantry Battalion. The battalion, comprised mostly of AJAs, draftees plus those in the Hawaii National Guard at the time of Pearl Harbor, was the first combat infantry unit to be organized in the history of the U.S. Army. It entered combat in Italy at Salerno Beach, south of Naples, in September, 1943 and fought its way through some of the most prolonged and…

…war zone, so anyone considered non-productive to the war effort could not come to Hawaii. So we had to wait out the war on the Mainland,” Fukuda said. When the war broke out, Aki Nosaka and her sister had taken up their uncle’s offer to work with him in New York City. When Executive Order 9066 was issued in February 1942, the sisters hurriedly moved east. Their parents, however, were interned at Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming. The si…

…Discharged, he signed up with the Army Reserves and so was called to service in the Korean War. Today, he keeps himself busy on contract as a public affairs consultant to several petroleum companies. Reflecting back on his MIS experience, Amioka says, “That’s how I came to spend three Christmases in Japan. But the first one was the best.”…

…eaction to her? Mary describes herself as the talkative type: “It probably comes from my experience of meeting new and different people all the time when my father was moving around from place to place. I was young then and loved meeting others.” For the wounded and quiet GI, far removed from Kipahulu, Mary’s talkativeness, then, was a good antidote. As is typical of most Japanese, Mary doesn’t express herself in terms of love, but often repeats,”…

…uty, they were caught napping and were held at gunpoint and searched. That experience and the questioning of their loyalty motivated Oki to join the new Hawaiian Provisional Battalion that was being formed with Nisei enlisted men. Oki became an original member of Headquarters Company in the battalion which was renamed the 100th Infantry Battalion after landing in Oakland, California. Two of his brothers died fighting for Japan. His wife’s brother,…

…we were lucky we did not get killed.. NOTE Some time ago I wrote about my combat experience, nothing special, and gave copies to each of my adult family members because it was easier to do it this way since we rarely got together and even if we did get together the subject did not come up or even if it did, it was sometimes awkward to talk about , not something enjoyable. I also gave a copy to the 100th and the 442nd. So, if you really want to kn…

…Shurei Hirozawa SIGHTS & SOUNDS OF BATTLE Shurei Hirozawa The 100ths First Experience in Combat The First and Second Crossings of the Volturno Third Crossing of the Volturno and Battle for the Hills Cassino, the 100th’s Toughest Battle Anzio Battle of Belvedere and on the Arno The 100th’s Triumph at Bruyeres and Biffontaine Cracking the Gothic Line FOR CONTINUING SERVICE A Letter from Mrs. Spark Matsunaga Helen H. Matsunaga A Place to Shoot the Bu…

…the view that trust breeds trust. In mid-1940, the FBI investigated and recommended prosecuting the 240 community volunteers of Japan’s consulate, charactering them as “consular agents” who had failed to register with the U.S. State Department under terms of recently-passed U.S. security legislation. Short opposed this move, arguing that it would diminish the good will that was developing with the Nisei soldier. If we expect loyalty from a second…