…need to foresee and prepare for the problems that were sure to arise in a community composed of many racial groups one of which made up a third of the population and were subjects of or claimed as such by the potential enemy. Among the groups specifically organized and actively working for this purpose with the cooperation of the Army and the FBI were the Committee for Inter-Racial Unity in Hawaii, Oahu Citizens Committee for Home Defense and the…

…where he worked as a youth minister, volunteering for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT), he felt compelled to go with them. “My father joined because he was anti-fascist and he wanted to take care of the boys from Hawaii,” said Higuchi’s daughter, Jane Fukunaga. Higuchi’s application to join the U.S. Army as a chaplain was initially rejected because the Army did not want chaplains of Japanese ancestry, even if they were Christian. It took let…

…under martial law. Chaos ensued. Fear and suspicion of the local Japanese community grew unchecked, and in some communities, neighbors, colleagues and friends turned on each other. “FBI men came to our house and roughed up our father,” said a decorated veteran, recalling how his hard-working, merchant father was treated. “I had to restrain myself from roughing them up, too.” The FBI also began rounding up Buddhist and Shinto priests and even a fe…

…ted men of the mostly Japanese, Hawaii-based battalion. They reflected the complicated demographics of Hawaii, where European, Polynesian and Asian races and cultures had mixed for nearly a century. In a battalion where Hawaiian names like Kaholokula and Kapuniai were intermixed during roll call with Kato, Diamond, Planas, Oba, and Goo, it was sometimes not possible to tell the ethnicity of the hapa soldiers by their names, as some of those with H…

…d Graham Salisbury’s book, “The Eyes of the Emperor.” Lt. Ernest Tanaka (B Company) Lt. Rocco Marzano (Headquarters) Herbert Ishii (Headquarters) – cook 24 enlisted men from B Company, Third Platoon Robert Goshima Masao Hatanaka (KIA) Harry Hirasuna Tadao Hodai Masami Iwashita Fred Kanemura John Kihara Tokuichi Koizumi James Komatsu (KIA) Katsumi Maeda Koyei Matsumoto Toshio Mizuzawa Taneyoshi Nakano Ray Nosaka Seiei Okuma Tokuji Ono William Takae…

…we were former Prisoners of War who had a change of heart. One of the most common questions asked of us was: “What do you think that Japanese will do to you if they capture you?” Our stock answer: “I don’t know what they’ve planned for us, but they’ll have to run like hell to catch us.” And then, there was the GI who asked us to say “Lala Palooza”. He had read somewhere that the Japanese had trouble with the letter “l”, and with typical American r…

…early days of combat, Fukuda was platoon leader in Company E, then became company commander of Able in December. He had moved rapidly up the promotion ladder and when he became Executive Officer of the 100th in May 1944 and received his gold leaf, he was reported to be the first Nisei to become a field grade officer in a line outfit. A little over a year later, immediately after the end of the European war, Fukuda took command of the 100th, repla…

…it that God had a purpose for everyone; the purpose of those who were killed was to die for their country. The purpose of those who survived was to look forward to going home, starting families and careers, and rebuilding communities by being good citizens. “I can still hear those comforting words today,” said Akamine. “That sermon and my work here at Punchbowl help me remember those who died so that their sacrifices were not in vain.”…

…Looey motioned me to stand fast and listen to what he had to say about the coming night’s mission. Able company was leading the assault, he said. That meant tailing along with the lead platoon for this medic — my first time up. The mere thought of it should have turned my stomach cold, but at this moment I could feel a warm feeling of pride surging through me in the knowledge that I was let in on the briefing — me, a private and a non-combatant at…