Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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- Oct 7, 2001
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Today 5 April 2003, is a special 60th anniversary, and so many aren't even aware of it.
Well, today I'm making you're aware.....don't forget it.
HONOLULU — They were scrutinized, shunned and classified as “enemy aliens” by their own country, but that didn’t stop thousands from volunteering to fight and die for the United States.
The Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team was made up almost entirely of Japanese-Americans, some whose families were held in internment camps by the government they served. They had their loyalties questioned after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor but their unit emerged from World War II as one the most decorated in U.S. military history.
One of them is a U.S. senator.
More than 800 members of the 442nd from across the country, including five Medal of Honor recipients, are in Honolulu this weekend to attend the 60th anniversary of the unit’s founding.
The 442nd veterans, including members of the 100th Infantry Battalion it was attached to, will celebrate their valor in Europe and their victory over bigotry at home. They will also honor the thousands in their unit that gave their lives.
“Certainly, this is the last hurrah,” said veteran Ed Ichiyama, 79, co-chairman of the anniversary committee. The average age of the 442 is 82, he noted, “so we’re probably not going to have a 70th.”
The events began Friday with the veterans touring Pearl Harbor and the battleship Missouri, on whose deck the Japanese surrendered in Tokyo Bay in 1945. On Saturday they will attend a memorial service at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Their events conclude with a banquet Sunday to honor 442nd veteran Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii.
In 1945, Lt. Inouye was leading a platoon of the 442nd’s 2nd Battalion in Italy when it came under a hail of fire and he was shot in the stomach. He managed to toss two grenades before his right arm was shredded by a German rifle grenade. He continued to fight, throwing another grenade with his left hand and firing his Thompson submachine gun until he was hit in the right leg.
In the attack, 25 German troops were killed and eight were captured. Inouye was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2000 by President Clinton.
Inouye, 78, said that being a member of the 442nd is a key part of his decades of public service.
“There are certain milestones in my life that stand out, I think this is one of the most important milestones,” he said.
Ichiyama said his service has shaped both who he is today and his outlook on life. “Every morning I sit up and if I can listen to the birds, it’s a bonus,” he said.
Ichiyama has met with fellow members of the dwindling 442nd Veterans Club in Honolulu every month for more than five decades. Their motto “Go For Broke” is still prominently displayed there. He said they always tell the same stories, and because many have gotten hard of hearing, they seem like they are arguing instead of talking.
“Every month we win the war,” he said. “That’s what keeps us going.”
Ichiyama can’t forget the horrors of war, including hearing fellow U.S. servicemen crying out for their mothers as they slowly died at the Vosges Mountain in France during a bloody rescue of the 1st Battalion of the 141st Regiment. The 442nd suffered 814 casualties and rescued 217 men.
He also recalls the 442nd entering the Dachau concentration camp in Germany — the faces of the prisoners and the “stench of feces, urine and burning flesh.”
Ichiyama said one of the great ironies of World War II was when the Japanese-American soldiers came face to face with the Jews.
“We were reaching out to another persecuted minority, the Jewish people,” he said. “The only true crime was being Jewish or Japanese. So think about the compassion.”
About 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent were interned in 10 camps by the U.S. government for up to 3½ years.
“We’re probably considered patriots, but the super patriots of the war are the guys who volunteered from the internment camps,” Ichiyama said. “How can these guys volunteer for the very government that put them and their families in jail?”
When they returned from war, President Truman honored the 442nd, saying, “You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice and you have won.”
*Pass it on.....
Well, today I'm making you're aware.....don't forget it.
HONOLULU — They were scrutinized, shunned and classified as “enemy aliens” by their own country, but that didn’t stop thousands from volunteering to fight and die for the United States.
The Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team was made up almost entirely of Japanese-Americans, some whose families were held in internment camps by the government they served. They had their loyalties questioned after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor but their unit emerged from World War II as one the most decorated in U.S. military history.
One of them is a U.S. senator.
More than 800 members of the 442nd from across the country, including five Medal of Honor recipients, are in Honolulu this weekend to attend the 60th anniversary of the unit’s founding.
The 442nd veterans, including members of the 100th Infantry Battalion it was attached to, will celebrate their valor in Europe and their victory over bigotry at home. They will also honor the thousands in their unit that gave their lives.
“Certainly, this is the last hurrah,” said veteran Ed Ichiyama, 79, co-chairman of the anniversary committee. The average age of the 442 is 82, he noted, “so we’re probably not going to have a 70th.”
The events began Friday with the veterans touring Pearl Harbor and the battleship Missouri, on whose deck the Japanese surrendered in Tokyo Bay in 1945. On Saturday they will attend a memorial service at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Their events conclude with a banquet Sunday to honor 442nd veteran Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii.
In 1945, Lt. Inouye was leading a platoon of the 442nd’s 2nd Battalion in Italy when it came under a hail of fire and he was shot in the stomach. He managed to toss two grenades before his right arm was shredded by a German rifle grenade. He continued to fight, throwing another grenade with his left hand and firing his Thompson submachine gun until he was hit in the right leg.
In the attack, 25 German troops were killed and eight were captured. Inouye was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2000 by President Clinton.
Inouye, 78, said that being a member of the 442nd is a key part of his decades of public service.
“There are certain milestones in my life that stand out, I think this is one of the most important milestones,” he said.
Ichiyama said his service has shaped both who he is today and his outlook on life. “Every morning I sit up and if I can listen to the birds, it’s a bonus,” he said.
Ichiyama has met with fellow members of the dwindling 442nd Veterans Club in Honolulu every month for more than five decades. Their motto “Go For Broke” is still prominently displayed there. He said they always tell the same stories, and because many have gotten hard of hearing, they seem like they are arguing instead of talking.
“Every month we win the war,” he said. “That’s what keeps us going.”
Ichiyama can’t forget the horrors of war, including hearing fellow U.S. servicemen crying out for their mothers as they slowly died at the Vosges Mountain in France during a bloody rescue of the 1st Battalion of the 141st Regiment. The 442nd suffered 814 casualties and rescued 217 men.
He also recalls the 442nd entering the Dachau concentration camp in Germany — the faces of the prisoners and the “stench of feces, urine and burning flesh.”
Ichiyama said one of the great ironies of World War II was when the Japanese-American soldiers came face to face with the Jews.
“We were reaching out to another persecuted minority, the Jewish people,” he said. “The only true crime was being Jewish or Japanese. So think about the compassion.”
About 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent were interned in 10 camps by the U.S. government for up to 3½ years.
“We’re probably considered patriots, but the super patriots of the war are the guys who volunteered from the internment camps,” Ichiyama said. “How can these guys volunteer for the very government that put them and their families in jail?”
When they returned from war, President Truman honored the 442nd, saying, “You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice and you have won.”
*Pass it on.....
