Nisei soldiers hailed for 'showing us the true meaning of courage'
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
About 250 people attended the 61st Anniversary Memorial Service honoring the 442nd Regimental Combat Team yesterday morning at the National Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.
Bert Nishimura, left, and others at the 61st Anniversary Memorial Service at Punchbowl watch a Black Hawk helicopter fly over, symbolizing the search for lost comrades.
The turnout was small in comparison to the more than 1,000 people at last year's big 60th anniversary memorial, which was part of a week-long celebration.
But for those who showed up to honor members of the 442nd RCT and the 100th Battalion attached to it, the sentiments were no less heartfelt.
Keynote speaker Lt. Gen. James Campbell, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, pointed out what most present already knew:
"No combat unit of its size is more decorated in the history of the United States Army."
In addition to 9,486 Purple Hearts, those decorations include 587 Silver Stars, 33 Distinguished Service Awards and 21 Medals of Honor.
All the while the 442nd was paying dearly to earn so many decorations, it remained segregated from the regular armed forces because of questions about the loyalty of Japanese Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Campbell acknowledged how the legendary unit has served as an inspiration to generations of soldiers since World War II.
"Thank you for leading the way for us, for showing us the true meaning of courage, and for securing the freedoms we enjoy today," he said. "You're all heroes to us."
Following the ceremonies — which included a 21-gun memorial salute and a fly over by an Army Black Hawk helicopter symbolizing the search for lost comrades — surviving vets chatted amongst themselves and made small talk about those among their dwindling ranks who are "still around."
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
Most clung to their copy of the memorial program. The cover featured a black-and-white photo taken in March 1943 showing hundreds of volunteer soldiers standing at ease on the lawn of Ionai Palace. These were the men who would become the 442nd RCT.
ABOVE: Bert Nishimura, center front, was the only 422nd Nisei officer promoted to captain.
At the front of all those soldiers stood a young first lieutenant by the name of Bert Nishimura.
"That's me," Nishimura said yesterday, pointing to the picture. "I was the camp commander for the 442nd volunteers on O'ahu."
Nishimura, now 85, said he was one of only two second-generation Japanese-American officers in the 442nd. The brass wanted the officers to be Caucasian, he said.
"I think I was a token officer," he added with a laugh. "That's as good a story as any."
When the 442 liberated Bruyeres, France, on Oct. 19, 1944, Nishimura was promoted to captain.
"And I was the only Nisei promoted to captain in the 442nd — ever," he said. "The 100th Battalion had captains. But in the 442, I was the only one."
Such was the bias that the all-Nisei combat unit routinely faced.
But following the war, according to Campbell, President Harry Truman told the 442, "You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice, and you won."
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
Many of the surviving veterans who were referred to as heroes yesterday said they didn't regard themselves as such.
Edwin Imamura, Rodney Yamashiro and Amy Imamura visit the gravestones of members of the 442nd RCT.
"Those are the real heroes," said Ed Ichiyama, 80, motioning toward the cemetery's Section D, which contains the graves of an estimated 400 men from the 442nd who were killed in action in Italy and France.
Among those buried there is Ichiyama's pal, Sgt. Goro Matsumoto, who died on Oct. 29, 1944, in the Vosges Mountains of France during the famed battle to save "The Lost Battalion" — 275 Texas soldiers trapped behind fortified enemy lines.
The mission of the 442nd was to save the battalion, which it did — but at a cost of 600 wounded and more than 200 killed.
As Edwin Imamura stood amid the graves in Section D, he looked at the marker of Mitsuo Tanji, who also died in France in October 1944. Tanji was 22.
"That was my best friend," said Imamura, 81. "We went through school together, from kindergarten on. We both graduated from Leilehua High School in Wahiawa in 1940. We both joined the Army at the same time. Same day — March 20, I believe. We were both in F Company. His older brother, Yukio, was in the 100th Battalion. He's still alive."
But, Imamura, who visits the grave at least once a year, wasn't in the battle that killed his buddy. That's because he had been wounded earlier in Italy. Imamura recovered and reunited with the seriously depleted 442nd during the "Champagne Campaign" to guard the French-Italian border. It was there he learned that Tanji had been killed.
He spoke of his friend as a fine artist, an excellent soldier and a true gentleman who didn't smoke or drink.
"Not like me," he added with a chuckle. "I'm a rascal."
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
