In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military discharged 5,000 Japanese-American soldiers and categorized all Japanese-American men as "4-C" — enemy aliens.
The dismissal was devastating to young nisei who had pitched in to help, some even guarding vulnerable areas against attack, in the hours and days after the Japanese assault. Undeterred, they formed the Varsity Victory Volunteers, a civilian work force that built barracks, dug ditches, broke rock and built roads.
Impressed with the show of loyalty, the War Department in 1943 created an all-nisei combat unit — the 442nd Regimental Combat Team — which was to include 1,500 volunteers from Hawai'i. More than 10,000 men volunteered.
The recruitment didn't go as well on the Mainland, where the War Department had hoped to attract 3,000 more volunteers. Less than 1,200 turned out, representing a Japanese-American community stung by the forcible internment of thousands of their own.
According to the Go For Broke Educational Foundation, the local and Mainland volunteers clashed early but came together during basic training. By May 1, 1944, they were ready to be dispatched to war zones in Europe.
The 442nd RCT consisted of the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, 232nd Combat Engineer Company, 206th Army Ground Force Band, Antitank Company, Cannon Company, Service Company, medical detachment, headquarters companies, and two infantry battalions.
The 2nd and 3rd Battalions joined the noted 100th Battalion in Italy.
It didn't take long for the nisei soldiers to prove themselves worthy. Rallying behind their now-legendary battle cry "Go for broke!" the combined 442nd/100th fought their way through Italy before joining the invasion in Southern France. There they realized a defining moment as they liberated the town of Bruyeres and rescued 211 members of the 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry (the so-called "Lost Battalion") in Biffontaine, losing nearly half of their numbers in the process.
The 522nd Field Artillery Battalion fought in France then participated in the release of prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.
In all, about 14,000 Japanese-Americans served in the 442nd/100th. As a unit, they earned an unprecedented 18,000 awards, including 9,486 Purple Hearts, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, eight Distinguished Unit Citations and 21 Medals of Honor.
While 442nd/100th veterans returned home a source of pride and redemption for their local community, they quickly turned their hard-earned goodwill into a political revolution.
By the time the soldiers returned home from the war, nisei citizens comprised the largest voting block in the territory. Daniel K. Inouye, who had lost his arm in battle, and other nisei veterans set out to turn the Democratic Party into a legitimate political contender and a vehicle through which to achieve social and economic parity.
With Jack Burns as chairman, the party courted working-class voters of all nationalities and slowly distanced itself from the ILWU and its supposed communist associations.
By 1954, the nisei-driven party was poised to send a message to the entrenched Republican power base.
Inouye wasn't at the podium the night the Republicans' so-called "Truth Squad" interrupted yet another Democratic Party meeting to air allegations of communist sympathy. But the returning war hero was the first to act.
As Inouye would later write, a member of the group grabbed a microphone and accused the Democrats of being a pawn of the ILWU, which, by not-so-subtle implication, meant that they were soft on communism.
"For a long moment, I just sat there, the slanderous innuendo ringing in my ears," Inouye wrote. "Then I got to my feet and went to the microphone."
And on that night, with the Truth Squad laying down the challenge, it was Inouye who spoke loudest.
"I know I speak for my colleagues on this platform when I say that we bitterly resent having our loyalty and patriotism questioned by cynical political hacks who lack the courage to debate the real issues in this campaign," Inouye said.
He held up his empty right sleeve and continued, "I gave this arm to fight fascists. If my country wants the other one to fight communists, it can have it."
The Democrats went on to win 22 of 30 seats in the Territorial House, 10 of 15 in the Senate, and control of most city and county councils.
