…life. Interviewers are Warren Iwai and the writer, and Q stands for their questions and comments. MA is for Masao Awakuni, Masao was a member of the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company. He had started out as a rifleman but became a bazooka man when that weapon was introduced into the 100 sometime during its training period; he does not recall when. Q What did you fire at in training? MA Shucks! I don’t know! I assume it was imaginary things. Q But you h…

…d platoon: Lt. Norman Mitchell who was either the platoon leader or acting company commander, platoon sergeant Johnny Miyagawa, Sgt. Jack Gushiken, squad leader Mike Tokunaga, platoon sergeant Masanao Otake, and Kiyoshi Sagawa. Bear in mind that the strength of the 100th Battalion was down to 7 officers and 78 men – barely half a company! The picture of a battle, whether it is captured in the immediate aftermath, or a recollection years later, is…

…” 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…

…y, Wisconsin for basic training, he was among the group of soldiers from B Company to be selected for a secret mission. The army wanted to test a theory that dogs could be trained to attack Japanese soldiers based on a unique scent they supposedly possessed. Shipped to Cat Island, Mississippi, they were used as dog bait. After four months, the experiment was deemed a failure and the group rejoined their comrades who had moved to Camp Shelby, Missi…

…ion at Belvedere, for which the 100th was officially cited, the divisional commander had to commit the battalion sooner than expected, to outflank a tough German position. With little artillery support, the Nisei cut behind the position of some 500 Germans, knocked it to pieces, killed, wounded and captured 271 Germans. After the capture of Rome, the 100th was joined by its recently trained counterpart, the 442nd Combat Team, also Japanese-America…

…Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. There were two AJA officers who were promoted to command rifle companies when the unit moved out of Shelby: Capt Taro Suzuki, Co. B and Capt Jack Mizuha, Co. D! On embarkation orders on August 20, 1943, unit left by train for Brooklyn and subsequently at 5:00 a.m. the next morning, by ferry to board troop-ship the JAMES PARKER, a converted Banana cargo freighter and finally steamed out of New York Harbor, passed the Statu…

…se I had to go to a G-2 school in Maryland. I also wrote that I went 2 G-2 test already (once when I was with the 299th [crease in paper] and the other time before the outfit left for Europe. Both times I was told that since I can’t read or write the simplest Japanese words & couldn’t hardly understand what the interpretor said I was told that no sense of my going to school like that because I would never learn. & now with physical disability, dep…

…ally useful in combat in the Pacific theater, the suggestion noted.  The B Company soldiers would be used to test this theory. In the book “Japanese Eyes . . . American Heart: Personal Reflections of Hawaii’s World War II Nisei Soldiers,” Raymond Nosaka, selected for the project, recalled having his right arm wrapped in protective gear. “The dogs were trained to leap and attack the soldier’s throat. I was taught to quickly place my wrapped arm ove…