Deja Vu and the Phone Sex Queen Excerpt

The purpose of this essay is to familiarize the reader with the United States Army's most decorated unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which included the famed l00th Infantry Battalion. It will trace the unit from its WWII beginnings to the present and emphasize the rich human legacy left by this courageous unit. In essence, this is the story of a remarkable people, the Japanese Americans. Terms often used to describe Japanese Americans are Nisei (children born to the immigrant Issei parents) and AJAÑAmericans of Japanese ancestry. At the outbreak of World War II, those of Japanese ancestry numbered approximately l60,000 in Hawaii, and l26,000 on the mainland, ll3,000 of whom were residing on the west coast (Daniels, 1940, p.21).

With the advent of conscription in l940, and by December 7 1941, the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, over l400 Nisei had been drafted in Hawaii. After basic training at Schofield Barracks they were assigned to the already federalized 298th and 299th Infantry Regiments of the Hawaii National Guard. When the National Guard was federalized, the Territory of Hawaii organized a Territorial Guard, in which over 300 Nisei, primarily University of Hawaii ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) cadets, had been recruited. (More about them later.)

The attack on Pearl Harbor brought all Issei and Nisei under suspicion. Some authorities even charged them with espionage and sabotage.1 Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, for example, demanded that all ethnic Japanese be transported to the mainland or be incarcerated on one island, Molokai. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, those being Hawaii Army commander, General Delos C. Emmons, FBI chief Robert L. Shivers and Army G-2 (Military Intelligence) Colonel Kendall J. Fielder (Tsukano, p. 54). Nevertheless, while they were not incarcerated, those 300 Nisei members of the Hawaii Territorial Guard were brusquely called in, their weapons taken, were discharged and sent home. They were not to be trusted. Other AsiansÑChinese, Koreans, Filipinos, Hawaiians and part HawaiiansÑwere kept in the Territorial Guard, but not those of Japanese ancestry. Racism apparently had triumphed. This was a crushing blow to these Niseis! Yet, these young men, undaunted, volunteered their labor services to the army, sans pay, as the Varsity Victory Volunteers (Tsukano, 1985, p.57).

The other l,400 Nisei soldiers who had already been drafted into the regular army posed a special problem for the top military leaders since many commanders had no faith nor trust in them. Amost certainly, many of these commanders felt that the draftee's Japanese facial and physical features would not allow them to serve in the Pacific against the Japanese. These Nisei soldiers were thus pulled out of the 298th and 299th, based on their ethnicity, and were temporarily assigned as a provisional battalion. Many of these Nisei felt that their battalion would be a labor unit, mopping up after the white troops. Discontent, low morale, and anxiety visited the battalion members. They wanted to be combat soldiers. They wanted to prove to all that they could be trusted, that their country was America and that they were all Americans, not Japanese. It was at this juncture that General Emmons requested the War Department to send the Nisei soldiers to the mainland for training as infantry soldiers (Duus, 1987, p.20). The Niseis were sent to the mainland in June l942 and assigned to the l00th Infantry Battalion. They began training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, conscription of Japanese Americans had been halted and Niseis eligible for the draft were classified 4C, "Undesirable," another crushing blow to the AJAs Their country did not trust them and would not give them an opportunity to prove themselves as patriots. All the other services refused to draft or enlist them too!

Introduction