Q: What military unit was the most decorated in World War 2?
A: The Japanese American “Go for Broke” Nisei 100th.
As a military unit, their record in North Africa and Europe was extraordinary. After almost two years of fighting, the 100th/442nd emerged from the war the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history.
Oh the irony,
and the beauty of this. I am moved every time I hear about these fellows. They looked discrimination and Japanese camps in America in the eye and said WE WILL SHOW THEM. They risked their lives for this country more than any other military unit in all of American history. They had something to prove, and they proved it! They were every inch Americans first. Even to the point of being THE BEST Americans of all in this one area. In all of American history they defended this country with the most intensity and valor of all. God, you gotta love these men. They showed us. They showed us up….and mainly they helped us win this war! Time for a movie to be made about this. And a great movie it would be!
As a military unit, their record in North Africa and Europe was extraordinary. After almost two years of fighting, the 100th/442nd emerged from the war the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history.
They fought in seven major campaigns in Europe, made two beachhead assaults and captured a submarine. In France, they liberated Bruyeres, and rescued the “Lost Battalion” — 275 Texas infantrymen who had been trapped inside German territory for almost a week.
In late spring of 1945, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion — part of the 442nd — was among the first Allied units to liberate prisoners from Dachau. Days later, heading farther south through Germany, the 522nd helped save more than 5,000 Jewish prisoners from the Dachau sub-camps who had been on a forced march toward the Bavarian Alps.
The unit’s valor earned more than 18,000 individual citations and eight Presidential Unit Citations. Known also as the “Purple Heart Battalion,” with more than 700 men killed and 9,500 Purple Hearts, they suffered the highest casualty rate in U.S. Army history.
But while the Nisei veterans are eager to talk about the past, they are not inclined to boast about their wartime accomplishments. Instead, they talk about the war in simple, unexaggerated language, without the flourishes or tales of mythical feats that war stories often engender. Theirs is a quiet pride — one rooted in historical fact.
“We weren’t going around bragging about what we did, because we didn’t think we did anything special,” said 522nd veteran George Oiye, 73. “It was just part of the war, as far as I’m concerned.” Classified as 4-C Enemy Aliens whose loyalty to the U.S. government was deemed “questionable” after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were ineligible to serve in the armed forces. But in February 1943, the government created a special all-Japanese unit, with Japanese enlisted men and Caucasian officers.
Most of the volunteers came from Hawaii, but roughly a third came from the mainland camps, where more than 110,000 Japanese Americans — including 70,000 native-born American citizens — had been put into internment camps. At first, the two groups appeared to have nothing in common but their Japanese ancestry. Where they came from, how they behaved, how they talked — everything was different.
At a 1945 White House ceremony honoring the 100th/442nd, President Truman commended the Nisei soldiers on their wartime accomplishments. “You fought not only the enemy, you fought prejudice, and you have won.”
In the late 1980s, Nisei veterans led the campaign for redress that resulted in a formal apology and compensation from the U.S. government to Japanese Americans who were interned.
I don’t know what got me thinking about these guys today. But it has always been a story I believe every American should know about. It is a story of heroism of gigantic proportions.
We owe them a debt. A huge debt. Remember this the next time you have that subtle ringing prejudice ringing in your mind. These guys helped beat japan and Hitler. While their families on the mainland were in camps they were out their defeating our enemies with a valor unsurpassed. Without them we might not have won this war. This was a very very close war.
Today is the date “that will live in infamy” when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Take a moment today to express gratitude to these average men who went on to make a mockery of the prejudice against them. Who became, simply, the greatest military unit in the history of this country!
Puts a smile on my face just thinking about this.
