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| 100th at Anzio beachhead marching
toward Luneuvio, Italy, where the 100th spearheaded the
breakthrough of the German defensive line. |
100th INFANTRY BATTALION
“Remember Pearl Harbor”- that was the motto of the
100th Infantry Battalion. The men were there on that day of infamy,
when Japan bombed their city, harbor, country and home. At the
time, the men were loyally serving in the Hawaii National Guard.
They guarded the shores, cleared the rubble, donated their blood,
and aided the wounded.
Three days after the attack, their rifles were taken away and
they were guarded at gunpoint even when they went to the latrine.
Why? Their parents came from the country that attacked America.
They were Nisei - American-born sons of Japanese immigrants. The
next day the men were given back their rifles and resumed their
duties, but the atmosphere of fear, hatred and suspicion continued.
In 1940, the Japanese were the largest ethnic group, representing
more than 37 percent of the islands’ population, and almost
half of its vital workforce. False rumors accusing Japanese-Americans
of sabotage and espionage were circulated. Some wanted to move
Oahu’s entire Japanese-American community (158,000) to Molokai
- a place known for its leper colony. Fortunately, many respected
civic and military leaders interceded, and all the Japanese-Americans
were not interned, like they were on the mainland.
Many military officials were horrified that half of Hawaii’s
defense force looked like the enemy, especially given the impending
Japanese attack on Midway, an island about 1,500 miles northwest
of Oahu. They planned to discharge the Nisei soldiers in the Hawaii
National Guard as soon as white replacements arrived. Again the
civic leaders interceded. They pointed to the exemplary behavior
of the Varsity
Victory Volunteers who were former college students and ROTC
cadets. These patriotic Nisei performed backbreaking work in spite
of being dismissed from military service and declared enemy aliens.
They convinced the War Department to form a special unit of Japanese-American
soldiers.
On June 5, 1942, at midnight, about 1,400 Nisei from the Hawaii
National Guard boarded a ship. Most of the men didn’t get
to say goodbye to their families, and didn’t know where
they were going. Five days later they landed in California. To
ensure that no mainlanders would see them, the army hustled the
soldiers onto waiting trains and hid them behind drawn window
blinds. Some soldiers thought they were going to a U.S. concentration
camp , but instead, they went to Camp McCoy in Wisconsin. From
June to December they trained there.
About 25 of the Japanese American soldiers were sent to a secret
training mission on a small island near the mouth of the Mississippi
River . Some top military officers thought that the “Jap”
soldiers smelled differently, and that the Nisei soldiers would
give off a similar scent. So for three months these 25 Nisei were
ordered to train attack dogs to “smell Japs.” Of course
the training didn’t work.
Dog training, and even the unit’s name - the 100th Battalion
- were signs of the War Department’s uncertainty on how
to use the Japanese-American soldiers. Typically battalions are
called first, second and third, and are part of a regiment. But
the 100th Battalion was an orphan, with no regiment. In February
1943, the 100th was transferred to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. They
had been training for nine months, but still had no assignment.
In May, the 100th participated in war maneuvers and impressed
the top brass, including the chief of army ground forces. The
excellent training record of the 100th, and a steady stream of
petitions from prominent civilian and military personnel helped
convince President Roosevelt and the War Department to re-open
military service to Nisei volunteers. These volunteers would later
become the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Upon hearing of the 100th’s performance, George Marshall,
Chief of Staff offered the battalion to his generals. Marshall
later wrote:
