#442nd

[cid5]

Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team standing at attention while their citations for bravery are read, near Bruyères, France, November 12, 1944.

[silly-poll-blog]

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[holy-ghost-fire]

A group of Japanese American soldiers and a white soldier pose with captured Japanese bolt-action rifles on Okinawa, July 1945. The soldiers are T/3 Akira Nakamura, 1st Lt. John Flagler, T/3 Shigeru Sato, T/3 Frank Mizuno, T/3 Harry Okano, T/3 Robert Oda.

[enbypalsidk]

OH THIS FUCKING BASTARD DRAFT DODGIBG PIECE OF SHIT THINKS HE HAS ANY PLACE IN TALKIGN ABOUT THE 442nd RCT

[victusinveritas]

Bill Mauldin’s cartoon, even the most pointed ones, could more readily be called “wry” in their observations than “fucking savage.” But not always.

[veny-many]

*Plo Koon will be appeared in the Clone Wars many screen time*

442nd: Finally, our time has come!

*With great 104th battalion!*

442nd: Ayo What

[foulwitchknight]

https://asamnews.com/2025/03/14/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-erasure-japanese-american-history-removed/

[captain-price-unofficially]

Pfc. Rudy Tokiwa (foreground) of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 3rd Bn., Co. K, escorts captured German soldiers. Orciano area, Italy, 15 July 1944

[usafphantom2]

A 442nd Tactical Fighter Wing A-10A, as it takes off from Richards-Gebaur AFB en route to Norvenick Air Force Base, Germany July 1984. USAF.

@kadonkey via X

[taikoturtle]

I just read an article that the army removed the history webpage of the 442nd regiment from their website. It was a unit comprised of all japanese americans during the war and also the most decorated. I don’t care whatsoever about the army but as a japanese american, this unit held major significance and the fact that it was removed after the DEI stuff ended is such a slap in the face.

[holy-ghost-fire]

A Japanese American soldier chats with Okinawan women doing laundry. Okinawa, 1945.

[usnatarchives]

These documents belonged to Army Private First Class Wataru Nakamura, a Japanese American soldier who fought with the acclaimed 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II.

Nakamura enlisted in the Army from Camp Rohwer, a Japanese internment camp in Arkansas. Nakamura fought with distinction in #WWII, and later paid the ultimate sacrifice for his heroism in Korea. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his bravery.

Nakamura’s military personnel record is among those that were damaged and salvaged after the 1973 fire in St. Louis. After the dirt and debris from the fire were cleaned from these documents, technicians placed these pages in protective polyester sleeves.

[robot-roadtrip-rants]

So this series of posts reminded me of something that really fucking bothers me. While the 442nd are rightfully lauded for their spectacular accomplishments, I’d argue that a different unit of nisei contributed even more to the American war effort.

I’m talking, of course, about the Japanese-American veterans of the Military Intelligence Service (MIS).

Let’s take a moment here and do a little exercise in military logistics. It’s the 1940s and you’re in charge of running the American war effort against the Axis Powers. You want to know as much as possible about your enemy, right? The more you know about their troop movements, strategies, supply lines, morale, etc., the better you’ll be able to counter their efforts and stage attacks. Now, you and your allies have some pretty sharp fellas working on cracking your enemies’ codes, so you’ve actually got a big ol’ pile of communications to go through. There’s just one problem: your enemies don’t use English.

But hey! You’re America! Land of immigrants and all that! Don’t speak German? There’s plenty of German-Americans who do! Don’t speak Italian? There’s plenty of Italian-Americans who do! Don’t speak Japanese? HMMM. WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING TO FIND A BUNCH OF JAPANESE SPEAKERS???

These excerpts come from American Patriots, an anthology of stories from the MIS interpreters put out by the Japanese-American Veterans Association of Washington DC. I know it’ll take a minute, but I want you to read every goddamn word. I *NEED* you to feel the weight of those events:

The United States military was crippled by its lack of Japanese interpreters. They knew they were crippled even before Pearl Harbor. To fix that handicap, they recruited men from literal concentration camps. Not only did those men rise to the occasion, but other men from other camps volunteered to serve. This country did not deserve their loyalty, but they still served. And no one fucking talks about them.

Wow! That’s amazing! Surely there’s a bunch of movies and books and documentaries about these guys, right? America loves a good patriotic WWII story!

There's almost no media about the Japanese translators. American Patriots is the only book I’ve come across in real life, and that only happened because I stopped by the Japanese American Veterans Association's booth at the Cherry Blossom Festival. There's a few history books, mostly by Japanese-American groups, and a couple of articles, but that’s about it. They're all pretty old (American Patriots came out in 1995). Nobody fucking talks about the nisei translators.

The next time you bring up the heroic service of the 442nd Regiment, bring up the heroic service of the Japanese translators of the MIS. The next time you discuss the contributions of POCs to the US military, I want you to discuss the Japanese translators. The next time you get angry about how Asian-Americans are ignored by American culture, I want you to get angry about the Japanese translators. This is an important piece of American history, and it’s always overlooked, and I’m sure we all know why. Let’s change that.

Further reading:

Nisei Linguists from Washington in World War II

Military Intelligence Service

JAVA's compilation of nisei members of the MIS Hall of Fame

JAVA's research archive

[superbdragoncollection-stuff]

The most decorated US Army unit in history was the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. They were a segregated Japanese American unit, many of them drawn from the internment camps.

None of them were Japanese. Few if any had even seen it. They were all Americans. Some of them had relatives at Pearl Harbor, or came directly from Hawaii.

They are and remain the most decorated unit. They had to replace the equivalent of three times the number of men in the unit from the amount of purple hearts. They had countless decorations. They fought across Europe from Italy to France to Germany. They saved a lost Texas battalion, they liberated concentration camps, and even captured a one-man German submarine!

Those are the sort of people the conservatives are claiming are 'worthless DEI hires'. The best soldiers ever produced by the United States, hobbled by prejudice and bigotry, who still yet hold the record for decorations, medals of honor, and in 2012 got medals from France.

Trump would have you believe these men should have been put to death.

[redsamuraiii]

M R M I Y A G I - A Karate Kid Prequel

One week to the season finale of Cobra Kai and I happened to listen to a song by Fort Minor called Kenji, which is about Japanese-American living in an internment camp during World War 2 and how many like him overcame adversity and survived the war.

It got me reminded of Mr Miyagi who served in the 442nd Regiment in Europe to fight the NAZI. In The Next Karate Kid (1994), he was shown going to Arlington National Cemetery for a commendation for Japanese-Americans who fought in the 442nd.

I thought it would be great if they could do a prequel story of a younger Miyagi, with Yukie, Sato and his wife he met in America, who later died during child birth, and what he went through from the time he went to war in Europe to the time where he first met Daniel.

Poor Miyagi got his heart broken throughout the trilogy.

Part I, he remembers his wife and unborn child who died in internment camp while he was at war in Europe.

Part 2, he remembers his first love, Yukie and his father, whom he felt he had wronged for leaving them behind.

Part 3, he remembers the good boy, Daniel whom he’s afraid of losing (to Terry), after all he had lost in his lifetime.

Miyagi to me, is the true hero of the franchise. 

How often do we meet someone who had gone through so much pain, loss and suffering, being betrayed, discriminated and belittled but faced them with grace, patience and dignity?

He did not let his tragic past turn him into a bitter and angry person that blames the world, wallowing in self-pity. He rise above the storm becoming a better person and helping others.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

It's a shame Hollywood couldn't make a movie about actual non-white heroes in WW2, like the 442nd Regimental Combat Unit or 761st Tank Battalion. But, no, they went with the mail(wo)men who, while they did do something important, wasn't nearly as important as the ones who suffered and died in the war.

Yeah but all those other units are filled with icky men. How can we have girlbosses with no girls to boss?