Huang Xu

ESL33B
4/19/2015
Go For Broke
--Epic Story of Japanese American Soldier
True heroes deserve to be remembered. The Pearl Harbor is on the Island of
Oahu, Hawaii. It used to be a peaceful and beautiful island, before the attack.
However the morning in December 7, 1941, the island became purgatory. The
barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to
destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and
almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the
attack, and another 1,000 were wounded (History.com). This attack brought infinity
anger to Americans, The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked
Congress to declare war on Japan; Congress approved his declaration with just one
dissenting vote (history.com). As a result, the attack directly caused America join the
World War II. In February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt agreed to put thousands of
Japanese American immigrants into internment camps, because American government
thought they were enemy. However some of the young Japanese Americans who were
in the camp volunteered to join in the Army, and proved they were American. They
fought for their country; they deserved to be called heroes.
After the Pearl Harbor attack, American people believed that Japanese Americans
were threats. They put them into 9 different internment camps. More than two-thirds
of the Japanese who were interned in the spring of 1942 were citizens of the United
States (Ross). Japanese Americans needed to live in the camps, and classified as
enemy. Even the churches did not accept them: they didnt allow Japanese to enter or

pray. In January 1943, the U.S. War Department decided to build a combat team were
all Japanese American. The soldiers were both form Hawaii and the mainland.
Japanese-Americans who had been classified as enemy aliens could now volunteer to
fight for their county. Despite the hostility they had endured from neighbors and
former friends after the Japanese attack and the knowledge that their own country
distrusted Japanese in general and had interned thousands hundreds of Japanese
Americans volunteered to fight for America, said Akita, who volunteered in March
1943 to be part of the new outfit (Hasenauer). As we can see, although Japanese had
misunderstanding by others, they still stand out when their country needs help.
However, even though most of the second generation of Japanese American, which is
called Nisei, volunteered to join the military, people still do not trust them. A
Honolulu police officer, who later became governor of Hawaii, came to my high
school gymnasium, stood on the stage and addressed all the young people. Oba said.
He pointed his fingers at us and said, repeatedly, You must volunteer, to prove your
loyalty (Hasenauer). That was not fair, these Japanese Americans were born in
America, and spoke English, got American education. They are Americans, and they
do not to prove that. My county needed me, Oba said. So, I volunteered for
patriotisms sake. And I was among the first to be accepted (Hasenauer). Oba said
what most young Japanese American wanted to say. They knew that their country
needs them. Maybe some of them wanted to prove their loyalty, but there were
numbers of them believed that they needed to fight. Although they got
misunderstanding, they still loved their country and fight for it, they deserve to get
respect and to be called heroes.
The Japanese American soldiers had a famous fight when they were in France,
they sacrificed themselves and saved people, just like what heroes should do. There

were two famous all-Japanese American military units, the100th Battalion and the
442nd regimental combat team. The first all-Japanese American Nisei military unit
was the 100th Battalion, which was the designation for the unit which was formed
from the Japanese Americans who comprised a large part of the Hawaiian National
Guard. These Nisei were sent to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin for combat training and
later were moved to Camp Shelby, Mississippi for additional training(Marshman).
And next American government built another unit called 442nd regimental combat
team. The soldiers in the 442nd were Nisei from Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, and
California. And more detail, The 442nd Infantry Regiment consisted of a number of
units: Regimental Headquarters Company, a medical detachment, First, Second, and
Third Battalions, 232nd Engineer Company, and 552nd Field Artillery Battalion
(Marshman). After join the army, these young men got trained in Hawaii. Than, they
had been sent to Europe battle grand. After nearly a year of training on the U.S.
mainland, the 100th was deployed to North Africa in September 1943, where it
participated in the attacks on Monte Cassino, the breakout from Anzio and the final
Allied Offensive push from Rome to the Arno River. In August of that year, the 100th
was reorganized and became part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT),
another Japanese-American unit, under which it would serve for the rest of the war.
And in same year, which was 1944, in October 23, the 442nd had been sent to France.
They had a famous battle to save another unit called Lost Battalion. In that fight,
442nds valiantly fought saved 1st battalion, 141st Infantry, which is originally called
Texas National Guard. The 141st unit had been surrounded and cut off by German
armies. The 442nd saved them, and many of the soldiers in 141st remember the cold
rain and the ferocity of combat in a fog-shrouded forest straight out of a fairy tale
(McLemore). The 141st was hopeless, they have no food, and less of water. Even their

radio was running out of battery. Lt. Blonder had the only working radio in the
battalion. Its batteries normally lasted two days in combat. He made them last six
days as he sent out cryptic messages for help and to coordinate targets for
headquarters artillery (McLemore). They did know what to do, but they got a
message said that help was coming, so they keep waiting. However, it was very hard
to fight with German. At last, the 442nd lost almost 800 people in that battle. Kenneth
Inada, 85, remembers as a young sergeant the intensity of the combat. We fought
from tree to tree. It was really hell. Afterwards, you'd just shake, wondering when it
would end, he said. But in war, you take care of the guy next to you. We couldn't
leave the Texans behind (McLemore). The war was terrible, but these brave
Japanese never thinking about leave their allies. They are tough, they went fight, and
they go for broke. On Oct. 30, the exhausted 442nd broke through to the Lost
Battalion. Pvt. Matsuji Sakumoto approached the stunned Texans and asked, Do you
guys need any cigarettes? The Japanese-Americans were suddenly swamped by dirty,
bearded GIs who hugged them and shook their hands (McLemore). I believe when
Taxes finally met these Nisei soldiers, they must think the 442nd were angles. Not only
saved their lives, but also gave them cigarettes. One thing we should notice is the 141st
was built by Texas, which were true Americans at that time. A true American
team was saved by a soldiers were classified as enemy, that was satiric. However, for
the soldiers in 141st, these Japanese American were heroes. I can't describe the
feeling, Mr. Blonder said. We owed them our lives. As bad as we had it, we didn't
suffer like those guys. They're the heroes of this story (McLemore). The reason they
did this, to sacrifice themselves, is they wanted to prove they are true Americans.
You'd think we'd be bitter, Mr. Shima said. But we did it because we were soldiers
and because we wanted to prove loyalty to a government that had disowned us

(McLemore). A hero always saves people when they need help. When Texas needed
help, they showed up and saved them. They were not super heroes form the comic
books, they would get heart, they would die, but they still fight for others. Only heroes
can do this, these Japanese soldiers were real heroes!
Because of the special fight, and all other things they did in the war, they earned
9,486 Purple Hearts and 680 were killed in action, which is what heroes deserve to
have. After the war, the soldiers in 442nd regimental combat team were awarded
18,143 individual decorations for bravery, including: 1 Congressional Medal of
Honor; 52 Distinguished Service Crosses; 1 Distinguished Service Medal; 588 Silver
Stars; 22 Legion of Merit medals; 19 Soldiers Medals; 5,200 Bronze Stars and 14
Croix de Guerre, among many other decorations (Marshman). And also the 442nd
combat team was the most decorated unit of American military history. Sadao S
Munemori was the men who earned Congressional Medal of Honor after the war. And
the Medal of Honor is the highest Honor in United States. After about half century, on
June 21, 2000 President William J. Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to another 22
soldiers in the 442nd team. The reason why they did not get it to these soldiers directly
after war was American government did not want to make Japanese American heroes.
There was still had a bad racism even Japanese Americans proved their loyalty. I am
glade the U.S. government corrects their mistake at last, and proved these Japanese
Soldiers are heroes, gave these heroes the honor they should get.
There are three reasons that Japanese American should be called heroes. First
although the soldiers from 442nd was been misunderstanding, and their family were in
the camp, they still fight for their own country. Second, they bravely fought for Lost
Battalion earned respect form other units. They were classified as heroes instead of
enemy. Last but not least, they got the honor after the war, and got it fully after over

fifty years. The American government admits they were wrong, and gave honor to
these heroes. As a result these Japanese American soldiers are the heroes of America.

Work Cited:
Hasenauer, Heike. "Go For Broke! (Cover Story)." Soldiers 5. 8.11 (2003): 8.
MasterFILE Premier. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Marshman, Dr. Michelle. Go For Broke The All Japanese American 442nd
Maranzani,Barbara. Unlikely World War II Soldiers Awarded Nations Highest Honor.
History.com. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
McLemore, David. "For Texans in the 'Lost Battalion,' real heroes were JapaneseAmerican." Dallas Morning News, The (TX) 18 July 2008: Newspaper Source
Plus. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Pearl Harbor. History.com. 2009. Web. 19 April 2015.
Ross, Shmuel, and Villanueva, Ricco. Japanese Internment in WWII.
infoplease.com. 20002007 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease. Web. 31
Mar. 2010
"442Nd Regimental Combat Team." Pacific Northwesterner 57.2 (2013): 56-57.
America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.