…e those in this room, there is a great reluctance to talk about their true combat experiences. These are too painful to recall so true war stories are not even discussed among themselves, let alone, to a non-combatant who cannot even begin to remotely relate to such experiences. But there exists a special camaraderie among wartime friends who shared these dreadful experiences, and, so we gather together whenever possible, such as this gathering to…

…tations are also awarded to the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, the 232nd Engineer Combat Company, and F and L Companies of the 442nd. November 13, 1944 – March 1945 Soldiers of the 100th/442nd RCT head south to the French Riviera. The 100th/442nd has lost so many men that it can’t be used as a regiment-sized force. Nearly 2,000 are wounded and in hospitals in Italy, France, England and the United States. The unit guards a 12-mile stretch of the French-It…

…e 442nd RCT, which included the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, the 232nd Combat Engineers Company, the 206th Army Ground Forces Band and the 100th Infantry Battalion from Hawaii. In October 1944, under personal orders from Maj. Gen. John Dahlquist, Col. Charles W. Pence (Commanding Officer of the 100th/ 442nd) and Lt. Col. Miller (its Executive Commander) were ordered to lead the 100th/442nd through the dark forests of the Vosges to save the Los…

…his area. But the rest of the Company did not fare so well. Lt Mazano, our Company Commander, and Lt Mitchell, our Company Executive Officer, were wounded and out of action. Our Squad was extremely lucky. But the battle was not over yet. This was just the beginning. At this moment, I realized that I had fired only three rounds, and these shots were fired into possible concealments, not directly toward a definite target. How could I have gone throu…

…position. Meeting up with Takao Kubota sometime later, he mentioned that a German tank had come up in their area and the bazooka specialist’s weapon misfired. By the time the replacement bazooka came by, the German tank had moved out of range. In this final successful engagement at the Anzio Beachhead, numerous members of the 100th were awarded DSCs. In recent years, two were upgraded to CMOH. They were Shinyei Nakamine (KIA) and Yeiki Kobashigawa…

…uvers gave cause for another tale of frustration. Mits was then in Charlie Company. The company was leading the battalion on a night march and the lead platoon had difficulty finding the cut-off road leading back to camp. It eventually did find it but as it turned out, it was the wrong one, so the whole battalion ended up marching an extra couple of miles before reaching camp late at night. The men of Charlie vented their anger at Mits for letting…

…ront, the 552nd was separated from the rest of the 422nd RCT, eventually becoming the first AJA unit to fight on German soil. The 522nd engaged in numerous battles, pursuing the retreating German forces, until on April 29, arriving at Dachau, they became one of the first Allied units to discover and to unlock to the world, the horror of the extermination camps. By the day of liberation, more than 40,000 people had been murdered in Dachau-80 percen…

…the war. Originally the Battalion Commander, his executive officer and his company commanders were white but all the rest of the battalion’s staff were AJA’s except for Second Lieutenant Young D. Kim who joined the battalion in the states after it had journeyed to Fort McCoy for intensive training and forming in June of 1942. Kim was the son of Korean immigrants and ended the war as the Battalion S-2 with the rank of Captain and a Bronze Star, Si…