Honor Before Glory
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
OVER THE COURSE OF MORE THAN THREE YEARS, THE COMPLETION of this book would not have been possible without a host of remarkably supportive family, colleagues, and strangers, from San Diego to eastern France. I’m always amazed and grateful when so many people who are strangers at the outset are willing to research, review, revise, and refine to make a project the best it can be on a particular subject.
But I first must start with those closest to me. My wife, Marjorie, is my rock and far stronger than she realizes. Her review of the manuscript was absolutely vital to its clarity. Our cat, Tazi, was a patient and silent wingman during hundreds of predawn writing sessions in our home Office. Never a peep, never an edit. And every author needs cheerleaders. Garrett and Sara, my son and daughter-in-law, were unfailing in their enthusiasm and interest in Dad’s project. I cannot thank or express the depth of my love and appreciation for my family.
This book would not exist without the expertise, support, and enthusiasm of Bob Pigeon, executive editor at Da Capo Press, and my agent, Scott Mendel. Bob is a crackerjack editor, and Scott is a steadying hand on the rudder of my journey as an author. Project editor Amber Morris and copy editor Annette Wenda organized, finessed, polished, and shepherded my prose from the computer to the bookshelf. I am enormously grateful for their expertise and collaboration. I look forward to more projects supported by the very professional production, marketing, and sales staffs at the Perseus Books Group.
Herve Claudon and Gerome Villain live only a few miles from where the rescue mission took place and have made it their lifework to preserve its legacy. Their knowledge and firsthand research were critical to this project, and I’ll forever be grateful to Gerome for accompanying me on the ridge where the rescue mission took place. Herve provided near-scientific data, analysis, and manuscript review that were invaluable. I cannot thank Herve and Gerome enough for their assistance. Juerg Herzig in Switzerland has also researched and written extensively on the subject.
Michael Higgins and Elliot Archilla graciously shared vast information about their fathers’ involvement. Michael in particular has contributed significantly to preserving the legacy of this remarkable mission. Evan Archilla has written extensively as well. Similarly, one of the men rescued, Eason Bond, welcomed me into his home and shared his vivid memories—a journey made possible by Mike Bond, Denise Bond, and Rod Davis. Many others, including Barbara Berthiaume, Louie Morrison, Alton Chung, Keith Yamaguchi, and Julian Hiraki, shared their family histories and other story collections with me.
Institutions also contributed. Chris Brusatte, Summer Espinoza, and Benjamin Abbott of the Go For Broke National Education Center opened archives rarely seen by others. Lisa Sharik of the Texas Military Forces Museum was equally forthcoming and helpful at the outset. Lauren Zuchowski of the Japanese American National Museum steered me in productive directions, while Linda McLemore introduced me to the Japanese American Citizen League of San Diego. Tom Ikeda at Densho, the Japanese American Legacy, provided valuable photo input. Tiffany Ujiiye at the Japanese American Citizens League made dozens of World War II publications available.
I must also acknowledge the authors who blazed this trail before me. Although Honor Before Glory is based on rarely seen and relatively new oral histories, the work of C. Douglas Sterner, Robert Asahina, Franz Steidl, Lyn Crost, Mawayo Duus, and others cannot be overlooked.
Others who provided the fruits of their personal research included Roger L. Eaton, Dave Kerr, Junwo James Yamashita, and Matthew Henry. USS Midway Museum volunteer Yaeko Sunada courteously verified my use of Japanese words. She’s a great example of the eight hundred volunteers aboard Midway who preserve the legacy of those who serve. Midway’s military historian extraordinaire, Karl Zingheim, was always at the ready to answer a question or clarify an otherwise arcane military point. Jack Harkins helped me understand the extraordinary demands of a commanding officer on the battlefield.
To be sure, organizations such as the 442 Veterans Club in Hawaii, National Japanese American Historical Society, and Americans of Japanese Ancestry World War II Alliance have all preserved a foundation of documents, oral histories, and writing that makes books such as this possible.
I cannot overlook some of those closest to me. Successful novelist and longtime friend Richard Setlowe has graciously served as my mentor for years. He seized on the cen
tral appeal of this book at the very outset and helped chart a course that kept me focused on the essence of this remarkable story. Similarly, my good friends and colleagues at Champ Cohen Design Associates in Del Mar, California—John Champ, Randy Cohen, Jo-lin Govek, and Nick Kass—translated a congested battlefield into maps with clarity that will be of great value to readers.
They have all contributed to helping preserve the legacy of young Japanese Americans who defeated the enemy on the battlefield as well as prejudice at home. I will forever be grateful for their support and encouragement.
NOTES
CHAPTER 1
1. Michael Higgins, interview, Martin L. Higgins Jr. Family Papers Collection, Go For Broke Association.
2. Itsumu Sasaoka Distinguished Service Cross citation.
3. Lucian Truscott, Command Missions, 430.
4. Scott McGaugh, Battlefield Angels: Saving Lives from Valley Forge to Afghanistan, 84.
5. Harley Kilgore, letter to President Franklin Roosevelt, February 19, 1942.
6. FDR letter to the secretary of war, February 1, 1943.
7. Harrison Gerhardt to Abe Fortas, undersecretary of the interior, July 13, 1944, www.the442.org.
8. “Army & Navy, No Problem.”
9. Barney Hajiro, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
10. Ibid.
11. George Sakato, oral histories, Go For Broke Association, Library of Congress, and C-SPAN.
12. Robert Wagner, “The Odyssey of a Texas Citizen Soldier,” 82.
13. Susumu Wellesley, Charlie Company, 51.
14. William Breuer, Operation Dragoon: The Allied Invasion of the South of France, 62.
CHAPTER 2
1. Jimmie Kanaya, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
2. Martin Higgins, oral history, Go For Broke Association; Harry Huberth, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
3. 442nd: Live with Honor, Die with Dignity (documentary, directed by Junichi Suzuki, 2010).
4. E. P. Stewart, “Inspector General’s Report, U.S. Army,” in Investigation of Conditions Affecting General Welfare of Members of the 442nd Combat Regimental Team (Japanese-Americans), October 2, 1943.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Mutt Sakumoto, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
8. Kanaya, oral history.
9. U.S. Army, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Division, History of Operations After Battle Report (October 1944), 31.
10. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 283.
11. Jack Wilson, unpublished first-person recollection, Gerome Villain Collection.
12. Franz Steidl, Lost Battalions, 54.
13. Woon Sung Han, Unsung Hero: The Col. Young O. Kim Story, 129.
14. Ibid., 122.
15. Higgins Family Papers Collection, Go For Broke Association.
16. Sakato, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
17. 442 Regimental Combat Team, “A Challenge to Democracy,” 305.
18. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 283.
19. Nathan K. Watanabe, The 100/442nd Regimental Combat Team’s Rescue of the Los Battalion: A Study in the Employment of Battle Command, 53, 92.
20. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 288.
CHAPTER 3
1. Edward Guy, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
2. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 286.
3. James Comstock, The Farmboy Who Went to WWII, 20.
4. Erwin Blonder, oral history, Digital Collection of the World War II Museum, http://www.ww2online.org/view/erwin-blonder; Shirlee Blonder, phone interview with the author, May 2015.
5. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 291.
6. Nelson Akagi, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
7. Kats Miho, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
8. Ibid.; Akagi, oral history.
9. Kelly Kuwayama, oral history, Library of Congress.
10. Rocky Matayoshi, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
11. Kenji Ego, oral history, Go For Broke Association. During his interview he reflected, “I’ve thought about this insensible war. The horror of war. There is no glory in war.”
12. Kuwayama, oral history.
13. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 295–297.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Jim Tazoi, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
17. Al Takahashi, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
18. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 302, 298.
CHAPTER 4
1. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 299.
2. Arthur Cunningham, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
3. Ibid.
4. Rudy Tokiwa, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
5. Ernest Uno, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
6. Jim Tazoi, oral history, Utah WWII Stories, KUED-TV, Salt Lake City.
7. Ibid.
8. Takahashi, oral history.
9. Steidl, Lost Battalions, 19–20.
10. Ibid., 21–22.
11. Takahashi, oral history.
12. Morris Courington, Cruel Was the Way, 32.
13. Minoru Masuda, Letters from 442nd, 103.
14. U.S. Army, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Division, History of Operations After Battle Report (October 1944).
15. Wick Fowler, “Hell on the Hill,” Dallas Morning News, November 6, 1944.
16. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 309.
17. Ibid.
18. Lawrence Ishikawa, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
19. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 314.
CHAPTER 5
1. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, October 28, 1944, transmissions, 3.
2. Ibid., 2.
3. Al Tortolano interview, KMJ Radio podcast, 2011.
4. Harry Huberth, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
5. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 317.
6. “Like Something You Would See in the Movies,” Air Force Print News Today, October 29, 2014.
7. Steidl, Lost Battalions, 197.
8. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 318.
9. Young Oak Kim, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
10. Ibid.
11. “Saga of Lost Battalion,” Stars and Stripes, November 6, 1944.
12. “Hell on the Hill,” Dallas Morning News, November 6, 1944.
13. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 319.
14. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, “Regimental Journal, October 1944,” 4.
15. Ibid.
16. U.S. Army, 36th Infantry Division, G-3 Journal, October 28, 1944, transmissions, 4.
17. “Toughest of the Tough.”
18. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, “Regimental Journal, October 1944,” 3.
19. Ibid., 4.
20. Kenneth Inada, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
21. Tokiwa, oral history.
22. Ibid.
23. Kenneth Inada speech, June 11, 2005.
CHAPTER 6
1. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, “Regimental Journal, October 1944,” October 29, 1944, transmissions, 1.
2. Ibid.
3. Sakato, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
4. Letter by Yuri Nakyama, http://arlingtoncemetery.net/tanamac.htm.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Higgins, interview, Higgins Family Papers Collection, Go For Broke Association.
8. Ibid.
9. Richard Lingeman, Sinclair Lewis, 460.
10. Wagner, “Odyssey of a Texas Citizen Soldier.”
&nb
sp; 11. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, “Regimental Journal, October 1944,” 5.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 329.
15. Ibid.
16. Sakumoto, oral history.
17. Robert Asahina, Just Americans: How Japanese Americans Won a War at Home and Abroad, 180.
18. Lyn Crost, Honor by Fire, 190.
19. Rudy Tokiwa, oral histories, Go For Broke Association and Library of Congress.
20. Crost, Honor by Fire, 193.
21. Masayo Duus, Unlikely Liberators: The Men of the 100th and 442nd, 206.
22. Ed Ichiyama oral history, Go For Broke Association.
23. Hajiro, oral history.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. Edward Yamasaki, And Then There Were Eight, 167.
28. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, “Regimental Journal, October 1944,” 6–7.
CHAPTER 7
1. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, “Regimental Journal, October 1944,” October 30, 1944, transmissions, 1.
2. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 334.
3. Ibid., 335.
4. Duus, Unlikely Liberators, 210.
5. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 335.
6. Hawaii Nikkei History Editorial Board, Japanese Eyes, American Heart: Reflections of Hawaii’s World War II Nisei Soldiers, 260–261.
7. Masao Yamada, letter to Colonel Harrison Gerhardt, October 31, 1944.
8. Sakumoto, oral history.
9. Yamasaki, And Then There Were Eight, 175.
10. JAVA Advocate (Japanese American Veterans Association newsletter), September 2010, 13.
11. Gene Airheart, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
12. Kazuo Takekawa, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
13. Yamasaki, And Then There Were Eight, 85.
14. Ibid.
15. Al Tortolano, oral history, Go For Broke Association.
16. Chester Tanaka, Go For Broke: A Pictorial History of the Japanese American 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 92.
17. Duus, Unlikely Liberators, 211.
18. Asahina, Just Americans, 192.
19. U.S. Army, 442 Regimental Combat Team, 141st Infantry Journal, 343.