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PERSONAL QUEST LEADS DOD CIVILIAN TO GO FOR BROKE
(Schofield Barracks, HI – April 2, 2008) – When Brett Ogata returned home after living in a tent in Kuwait and Afghanistan for five months, he went on a quest to find information about his great uncle, a World War II soldier who was killed in action during the battle of Monte
Cassino.
Ogata, an information technology specialist with the Department of Defense (DOD) and a member of the Naval Reserves, knew very little about his great uncle, Bunta, not even his real first name.
Bunta, a Nisei from Hakalau, Hawaii, had been a sergeant with the famed 100th Battalion, Company D. But Brett needed to know more and immediately headed for the Internet where he came upon the web site, www.goforbroke.org. Uncertain that anyone would respond, he sent a blind email to the Go For Broke National Education Center and was assisted by the resource center’s Gisela Shimabukuro.
Soon, Shimabukuro had uncovered four Ogatas. Brett showed the four to his grandmother, who immediately recognized the name of Masayoshi Ogata, who died in Italy on January 25, 1944.
Searching the rest of the Go For Broke web site, Brett was also able to read a detailed account of the infamous battle, considered one of the most harrowing and tragic of any phase of the war in Italy.
The battle to take Monte Cassino from the Germans was the last campaign completed by original 100th. By February 1944, only 521 Nisei remained of the 1,500 who had made up the battalion five months earlier. British and Indian soldiers who relieved the 100th saw first hand what the battalion had done and praised them. War correspondents called them "little men of iron," and the 100th was dubbed the "purple heart battalion."
After that, the battalion received replacements from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the two units were combined to form the 100th/442nd.
Of his quest to "find" his uncle, Brett Ogata says, "I feel compelled to let people know about the sacrifices JAs (Japanese Americans) have made."
