…and control of my hands. Yep, Colonel Turner, it takes more than a single German mortar shell to put me out of commission – my spirits are still okay so I’m happy. Remember how you used to laugh after my one-man mission [smoking?] the crossing of the Volturno River? You used to tease me as the “man living on borrowed time”. Well, I guess I’m going to live on borrowed time for quite a while to come. Do tell me – what is the dope on our puka puka c…

…cond crossing of the Volturno River in the Alife area was highlighted by a German counterattack, with 14 tanks which was broken up by the accurate gunnery of our Cannon Company firing 1000 shells within a half an hour. The 133rd Infantry then fought in a series of battles at Pratella, Ciorlano, the 3rd Volturno River crossing and S. Maria Olivetto. The first recorded bayonet attack was launched by the 100th Bn. during this series of engagements. W…

…with a jargon of pidgin-English dialect that would have broken the back of German intelligence. “No come see me boy. You know me, I’m only a buck private. We wen go look for you guys but you guys no was. The way them bullets was coming, if you was in my place, I tell you, you no can talk. The place was more hot than hot. And who you calling — !” The NEBELWERFERS screamed and we all scattered . . . . A fresh battalion of troops of the 133rd infantr…

…t wide and fifty yards long…from Thomas D. Murphy’s “Ambassadors in Arms.” Combined with the rains and a dam blown by the Germans, the Liri was a flooded valley as the 100th jumped off after midnight on the 24th of January 1944. Able and Charlie companies were at less than half their normal strength. Calvin Shimogaki as a platoon sergeant, together with Robert Fukumoto and Shizuo Toma, were attached to Able. It wasn’t long before the company came…

…ins of Northern Italy. It happened because of war. My journey ended in the German cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg. Late spring in Mannheim was living in a comfortable basement of an apartment on the banks of the Neckar River flowing from Heidelberg. Couples among the bulrushes of the Neckar River upheld its name. Picking bing cherries off a tree outside the apartment complex was a first for me. A jeep ride helping Pete, strongman from Utah, deli…

…est of the Infantry units of the 36th. However, I know from having been in combat that those who have not been shot at in combat have no real idea of what it is like. The Germans were fighting for every inch of ground at this time since you guys were getting near the Rhine River approaches into the Fatherland. Germans always fought like hell, but now they were even more determined not to let you into Germany. About a week after the Lost Battalion…

…uard supply trains running between Casablanca and Tunisia. “Our battalion commander protested, saying that we didn’t come all this way to guard a train. We came here to fight,” recalled Young Kim, 68. A battalion assigned to Italy was reassigned and the 100th was quickly sent in to replace it. They joined the 34th Division and stormed the beaches of Salerno. The unit saw action in Montemarano, Volturno, Cassino and, finally, captured the beachhe…

…ir 88’s and burp guns on the memorable morning of September 29, 1943, Able Company was committed into action. Subsequent actions at Alife and the first Castle Hill saw the Able men right in the midst of things. While acting as battalion reserve before the last Volturno crossing the company was subjected to its first taste of bombing at which time casualty was heavy. Prior to the Coli battle companies “E” and “A” were reorganized under the single b…

…to Monte Corvino Rovelle on the 27th of September. Enroute, captured first German prisoner who walked in and surrendered. “Ache! Soldiers of the super race?” First KIA, SHIGEO JOE TAKATA of Company B, killed by ricocheting machine gun sniper bullet on the morning of September 28 in skirmish with a machine gun nest in the vicinity of Montemarono off the Avellino Rd. One more KIA plus several wounded were to be recorded before this first day of actu…

…ican soldiers who fought discrimination to join the Army. Kim went on to become captain of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He is credited with leading a daring daylight mission in Anzio, Italy, where he and another soldier crawled across a wheat field to capture German soldiers. They secured intelligence information that was credited with helping the Allies capture Rome. Later, his unit helped liberate several French towns. Five years after Worl…