Japanese American service in World War II
Encyclopedia
During the early years of World War II
, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage. As the war progressed, many of the young Nisei
, Japanese immigrants' children who were born with American citizenship, volunteered to serve in the United States military.
paved the way for the creation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was also an all-Nisei force.
was an all-Nisei U.S. Army regiment which served in Europe during World War II. The 442nd arrived in Europe after the 100th Infantry battalion had already established its reputation as a fighting unit. In time, the 442nd became, for its size and length of service the most decorated unit in U.S. military history
.
Holocaust historians have clarified that the Nisei 522nd liberated about 3,000 prisoners at Kaufering IV Hurlach. Hurlach was one of 169 subordinate slave labor camps of Dachau. Dachau, like Auschwitz
, Buchenwald
, Mauthausen
and Ravensbrück
, was surrounded by hundreds of sub-camps.
Pierre Moulin
in his recent book 'Dachau, Holocaust and US Samurais' writes that the first Nisei arrived at Dachau
's gate not on April 29, the date of the liberation of the camp, but on April 28, 1945.
; although no such limitations were placed on Americans of German
or Italian
ancestry who fought against the Axis Powers
. Up to this point, the United States government has only been able to find records of five Japanese Americans who were members of the Air Corps during World War II, one of them being Kenje Ogata. There was at least one Nisei, U.S. Army Air Force Technical Sergeant Ben Kuroki
, who participated in 28 bombing missions over mainland Japan and other locations.
(ATIS) as linguists and in other non-combatant roles, interpreting captured enemy documents and interrogating prisoners of war
. The initial training facility to prepare for their function was at Camp Savage
in Savage, Minnesota
. This decision was to locate them in a region where there was less racial prejudice towards the Japanese as compared to the West Coast
.
Japanese-American MIS linguists translated Japanese documents known as the "Z Plan
", which contained Japan's counterattack strategy in the Central Pacific
. This information led to Allied
victories at the Battle of the Philippine Sea
, in which the Japanese lost most of their aircraft carrier
planes, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf
. An MIS radio operator intercepted a message describing Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
's flight plans, which led to P-38 Lightning
fighter planes shooting down his plane over the Solomon Islands
.
, was conferred upon twenty-one members of the 100th Infantry battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of World War II. On October 5, 2010, the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, as well as the 6,000 Japanese Americans who served in the Military Intelligence Service during the war.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage. As the war progressed, many of the young Nisei
Nisei
During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...
, Japanese immigrants' children who were born with American citizenship, volunteered to serve in the United States military.
Servicemen in the U.S. Army
The majority of Japanese Americans serving in the American armed forces during World War II enlisted in the army.100th Infantry Battalion
The Japanese-American 100th Infantry Battalion was engaged in heavy action during the war taking part in multiple campaigns. The 100th battalion was made up of Nisei from Hawaii originally a part of the Hawaii National Guard. Their exemplary military record and the patriotism established by the Varsity Victory VolunteersVarsity Victory Volunteers
The Varsity Victory Volunteers was a civilian sapper unit composed of Japanese-Americans from Hawaii. The VVV was a major stepping stone in the creation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which would end up becoming the most decorated regiment in United States armed forces history.-History:On...
paved the way for the creation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was also an all-Nisei force.
442nd Regimental Combat Team
The Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team442nd Regimental Combat Team
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, was composed of Japanese-American enlisted men and mostly Caucasian officers. They fought primarily in Europe during World War II, beginning in 1944. The families of many of its soldiers were subject to internment...
was an all-Nisei U.S. Army regiment which served in Europe during World War II. The 442nd arrived in Europe after the 100th Infantry battalion had already established its reputation as a fighting unit. In time, the 442nd became, for its size and length of service the most decorated unit in U.S. military history
Military history of the United States
The military history of the United States spans a period of over two centuries. During the course of those years, the United States evolved from a new nation fighting the British Empire for independence without a professional military , through a monumental American Civil War to the world's sole...
.
522nd Field Artillery Battalion
The all-Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion was organized as part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team; but towards the end of the war, the 522nd became a roving battalion, shifting to whatever command most needed the unit. The 522nd had the distinction of liberating survivors of the Dachau concentration camp system, from the Nazis on April 29, 1945. Nisei scouts west of Munich near the small Bavarian town of Lager Lechfeld encountered some barracks encircled by barbed wire. Technician Fourth Grade Ichiro Imamura described it in his diary:- "I watched as one of the scouts used his carbine to shoot off the chain that held the prison gates shut .... They weren’t dead, as he had first thought. When the gates swung open, we got our first good look at the prisoners. Many of them were Jews. They were wearing striped prison suits and round caps. It was cold and the snow was two feet deep in some places. There were no German guards. The prisoners struggled to their feet .... They shuffled weakly out of the compound. They were like skeletons - all skin and bones ...."
Holocaust historians have clarified that the Nisei 522nd liberated about 3,000 prisoners at Kaufering IV Hurlach. Hurlach was one of 169 subordinate slave labor camps of Dachau. Dachau, like Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
, Buchenwald
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
, Mauthausen
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
and Ravensbrück
Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
, was surrounded by hundreds of sub-camps.
Pierre Moulin
Pierre Moulin
Pierre Moulin is French historian, specializing in World War II, Nisei Japanese Americans, the Holocaust as well as Hawaiian history .-Biography:...
in his recent book 'Dachau, Holocaust and US Samurais' writes that the first Nisei arrived at Dachau
Dachau
Dachau is a town in Upper Bavaria, in the southern part of Germany. It is a major district town—a Große Kreisstadt—of the administrative region of Upper Bavaria, about 20 km north-west of Munich. It is now a popular residential area for people working in Munich with roughly 40,000 inhabitants...
's gate not on April 29, the date of the liberation of the camp, but on April 28, 1945.
Servicemen in the Army Air Force
Japanese Americans were generally forbidden to fight a combat role in the Pacific theatrePacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
; although no such limitations were placed on Americans of German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
or Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
ancestry who fought against the Axis Powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
. Up to this point, the United States government has only been able to find records of five Japanese Americans who were members of the Air Corps during World War II, one of them being Kenje Ogata. There was at least one Nisei, U.S. Army Air Force Technical Sergeant Ben Kuroki
Ben Kuroki
Ben Kuroki flew a total of 58 combat missions during World War II, and is the only Japanese-American in the United States Army Air Forces to serve in combat operations in the Pacific theater of World War II.-Biography:...
, who participated in 28 bombing missions over mainland Japan and other locations.
Military Intelligence Service
Approximately 6,000 Japanese Americans served in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), most of which were attached to the Allied Translator and Interpreter SectionAllied Translator and Interpreter Section
The Allied Translator and Interpreter Section , also known as the Allied Translator and Interpreter Service or Allied Translator and Intelligence Service, was a joint Australian/American World War II intelligence agency which served as a centralized allied intelligence unit for the translation of...
(ATIS) as linguists and in other non-combatant roles, interpreting captured enemy documents and interrogating prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
. The initial training facility to prepare for their function was at Camp Savage
Camp Savage
Camp Savage is the former site of a Military Intelligence Service language school operating during World War II. The school itself was established in San Francisco, but was moved in 1942 to Savage, Minnesota in the interest of national security. The purpose of the school was to teach the Japanese...
in Savage, Minnesota
Savage, Minnesota
Savage is a suburban city south-southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Scott County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city is situated on the south bank of the Minnesota River in a region commonly referred to as South of the River, comprising the southern portion of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the...
. This decision was to locate them in a region where there was less racial prejudice towards the Japanese as compared to the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
.
Japanese-American MIS linguists translated Japanese documents known as the "Z Plan
Z Plan (Japan)
The Z Plan is a set of captured World War II documents describing Japanese military plans to counterattack the Americans in the central Pacific ocean for one last decisive battle...
", which contained Japan's counterattack strategy in the Central Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. This information led to Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
victories at the Battle of the Philippine Sea
Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...
, in which the Japanese lost most of their aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
planes, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf
Battle of Leyte Gulf
The Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the "Battles for Leyte Gulf", and formerly known as the "Second Battle of the Philippine Sea", is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history.It was fought in waters...
. An MIS radio operator intercepted a message describing Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Isoroku Yamamoto
was a Japanese Naval Marshal General and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and a student of Harvard University ....
's flight plans, which led to P-38 Lightning
P-38 Lightning
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament...
fighter planes shooting down his plane over the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
.
Recognition
The nation's highest award for combat valor, the Medal of HonorMedal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
, was conferred upon twenty-one members of the 100th Infantry battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of World War II. On October 5, 2010, the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, as well as the 6,000 Japanese Americans who served in the Military Intelligence Service during the war.