December 7th 1941 was a day that will always be remembered in infamy by the American public. On
this day, the callous bombings at Pearl Harbour shook the foundations of Western society and the
whole world braced for what was to come, including the Japanese themselves, with a general quoted
as saying "I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve."
Although the American public were understandably deeply affected by
this brazen act of violence on their own soil, there was yet another
group within the general population that remembered this day even darker than most,
those being the American-born children of Japanese-immigrants, also known as the Nisei.
Following the events in Pearl Harbour the American Government, and public alike,
developed a deep paranoia and negative stigma for anyone that looked Japanese.
It didn’t matter how patriotic an American you were, if you looked anything close to Japanese,
you were immediately treated with suspicion and contempt by most people. Although this stigma
was largely true on the mainland, I do have to quickly interject and say that on the Hawaiian
Islands this was very different as 2 out of every 5 Hawaiians were Japanese-American and there was,
in general, a much more diverse mix of races, meaning little-to-no discrimination.
With this being said when the internment camp policy was introduced, the Japanese
on the mainland were primarily affected due to their relatively minimal economic
or social contribution and were given a suitcase to take to a camp where many
would spend the rest of the war. The Japanese in Hawaii however, faced a different reality.
Due to their numbers and how important they were to the economic health of the island,
the US Government decided only to detain the main community leaders and influencers,
which numbered about 800, while leaving the rest to live under martial law and heavy surveillance.
Now we fast forward 1 or so years from initial internment. The US feels that it has
the Japanese-American internal threat contained and their armies are now entrenched in vicious
fighting in both the European and Pacific fronts against both the Japanese and Germans. Slowly but
surely, the US begins seeing the Japanese as a potential resource, and recruited many to fill
the ranks of translators, interrogators and even spies. Slowly but surely the Government becomes
a bit more relaxed and in 1943, rolls out a program to enlist masses of young
Japanese-American males to fill out the ranks of a whole new nisei only regiment called the 442nd.
As is to be expected, asking people who you’ve imprisoned and whose families you have imprisoned
to volunteer as a fighting force doesn’t always go down well, which is why initially on the mainland,
the draft goal of 3000 went unfulfilled, and only 1256 men volunteered. Conversely on Hawaii,
where internment camps were less of an issue, many Japanese-American Nisei saw
it as an opportunity to prove their patriotism for the country and eagerly signed up. Hawaii
thus smashed the 1500 men draft goal with over 10,000 men volunteering. Ultimately,
in the initial formation of the 442nd infantry combat regiment,
the US took a total of 800 Nisei from the mainland and 3000 from Hawaii, all of which
joined the pre-existing 100th Infantry Battalion, which was the first Japanese-American only unit
that had been formed in 1942. The 100th was later absorbed into the 442nd regiment,
and became the largest Nisei unit in World War 2, with only the officers being white.
As the months went by, more and more Nisei eventually succumbed to US recruiters and
the regiment continued to grow by the thousands to a max of around
14000 men. In order to avoid potential terrible treatment by Japanese captors,
Nisei were generally forbidden from fighting in the Pacific theatre, although as stated before,
the US did use Japanese translators and interrogators for their intelligence service.
With that said, upon completing their training this newly formed and newly reinforced 442nd
was shipped off from mainland America and bound for the shores of Italy. Despite
common misconceptions, the invasion of Italy was no cake walk. There were many
highly trained German divisions in the area and the 442nd bore the full brunt
of a thoroughly confused enemy. Regardless of the heavy resistance, the 442nd trudged along
and kept driving the enemy further and further North in the months of June and July of 1944.
They kept repeating this process and traded with the Germans blow for blow until the days of late
October, where they were to mount one of the most famous rescues in American World War 2
history. It was October 29th when the 442nd were finally told why they were being made
to attack the German line so ferociously. It was because the Germans had cut off an American Unit,
the 141st Regiment of the 36th Infantry, otherwise known as the Lost Battalion.
The Germans themselves were confused as well, and only realised the situation
when they spotted air supplies being parachuted down to the trapped Americans.
With this realisation, the fighting naturally became even more intense than it originally
was and the men of the 442nd plunged deeper and deeper into German lines,
desperate to poke a hole in it and rescue the lost battalion. There reached a point in the
battle where multiple Japanese companies had their backs to the wall and could not move an inch away
from their Foxholes without drawing fire. Upon realising this, one by one the men began to rise,
until eventually the full force of the Nisei began charging toward the German
Grenadiers screaming “Banzai”, yes, I know, very out of place for the European theatre.
Despite the Nisei taking massive casualties, the brazen attack had broken the German defensive
line, and despite a desperate defence, the German Grenadiers were routed in disarray,
and the Nisei had won the day. This was all thanks to the 3rd battalion of the 442nd, and by the time
they reached the trapped Texan unit they fought so hard for, they had lost 800 men, with one platoon
in Company I of the 3rd Battalion only having 2 men left standing. Not a single company in the
entire 3rd Battalion had over 100 riflemen left and ultimately, the Japanese-Americans
through their brave efforts managed to save the remnants of the lost battalion.
The 442nd after this, continued their march northwards and had their depleted
battalions replenished. Some notable events that happened after the rescue
of the lost battalion included the first US capture of the German midget submarine,
spotted by a Nisei soldier after stating he saw something that looked like a weird
animal in the water as well as the roaming unit Nisei detachment being the first to discover the
concentration camp of Dachau and liberate its satellite camps. Fun fact, this roaming unit
was called the 552nd field artillery battalion and supported nearly 2 dozen army units along a front
that spanned 1,100 miles wide along Germany. They completed every objective of their 52 assignments.
All in all the largely outcasted an ostracised Japanese-American unit in World War 2 managed
to pull off something no other unit could. They were the most decorated in US military
history, with the men of the regiment earning a total of 9428 Purple Hearts, 4000 Bronze Stars,
8 Presidential Unit citations and 21 medals of honour. They were involved in all facets
of the European theatre and in 2012 every surviving member of the unit was awarded
the Légion d’Honnuer for their actions contributing to the liberation of France.
With that said, there was only one Nisei who earned the Medal of honour during or
just after World War 2 and this was due to the public's continuing perception of the Japanese
as being evil. Although European theatre American Vets respected the Nisei immensely,
there were still plenty who stigmatised any Japanese they met, especially those that
had survived the pacific theatre, and many Nisei only received their medals of honour
and various other awards decades after the fact due to these racial tensions.
The Japanese themselves during World War 2 were barbarians and that is not a disputed
fact in history. It’s just unfortunate that the brave men of the 442nd were stereotyped in such
a way that negated their many achievements on the front lines. In order to honour these brave men,
I ask you to type a story or anecdote you have of any Japanese veterans you, your father or your
families ever met. Be sure to share this video as well if there’s anyone you know that would benefit
from a commemoration video like this, and as with most of my videos, I’ve only really brushed the
surface, so let me know if you want to learn more about these American beasts, whether they
be more about the Nisei in Europe like this video, or the ones who served in the pacfic.