Four-Four-Two
Page 19
He took another long, deep breath, and he felt a kind of lightness fill his chest. He had the feeling he was becoming himself again.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The accomplishments of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team were widely known by the end of World War II. But today, most people have no idea that an all-Nisei military unit ever existed, or that its soldiers fought so valiantly. Kathryn Shenkle, from the Center of Military History, United States Department of Defense, described the actions of the Nisei soldiers in a single sentence: The “100th Infantry Battalion, and the “Go For Broke” 442nd Regimental Combat Team is still the most decorated unit in U.S. military history.”3
The Go For Broke National Education Center published a document that provides a numerical depiction of what “most decorated” means in this case:
Japanese American WWII Soldiers—Awards, Honors, and Statistics4
Note: The accurate numbers of individual awards, honors, and personnel counts are disputed. Statistics vary depending on the source, and many of these statistics are still being updated as new information comes to light. This list features the most accurate statistics that we could find, based on substantial research and comparison between existing sources.
Note: The awards listed do not include those given by foreign governments.
MEDALS AND HONORS AWARDED TO THE 100TH/442ND REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM
Number of men served:
about 18,000
Presidential Unit Citations:
7
Medals of Honor:
21
Distinguished Service Crosses:
29
Silver Stars:
560,
plus 28 Oak Leaf Clusters in lieu of second Silver Stars
Bronze Stars:
4,000,
plus 1,200 Oak Leaf Clusters in lieu of second Bronze Stars
Legion of Merit Medals:
22
Soldier’s Medals:
15
Purple Hearts:
9,486
Meritorious Service Unit Plaques:
2
Army Commendation Medals:
36
Division Commendations:
87
Distinguished Service Medals:
1
Combat Casualty Rate:
314%
While all these figures are impressive, some deserve special attention. The total number of soldiers—including replacements over the entire length of the war—was about 18,000, and a total of 9,486 Purple Heart medals were awarded. A Purple Heart is presented to a soldier who is wounded or injured in battle. Some men were wounded but returned to battle, and then received a second or third Purple Heart. Even with those multiple awards taken into account, approximately half of all soldiers in the 100th/442nd received wounds.
The most telling statistic is the combat casualty rate of 314 percent. This means that the total number of soldiers in the regiment had to be replaced more than twice. For example, a platoon that started with approximately thirty men would have seen all thirty wounded or killed in action, then replaced, and this new platoon of men would also fall and have to be replaced. Some men made it all the way through the war, of course, but the majority did not survive unscathed. Eight hundred Nisei were killed in action, and most of those were members of the 100th/442nd. In addition, many suffered throughout their lives from serious wounds, and virtually all of them paid an emotional and mental price for having fought in some of the most difficult battles of the war.
Members of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team march into battle on a muddy French road near the Vosges Forest.
As was the case with my fictional character, Yuki Nakahara, many of the men who fought with the Four-Four-Two set out to prove their loyalty. Their actions certainly received praise, and some Americans did change their minds about Japanese Americans being “the enemy.” Still, the Japanese American soldiers who returned from the war, along with the thousands of families who were finally released from internment camps, were often subject to racist insults. While the character and personalities of Japanese people vary as much as in any group or culture, of course, the heritage that these abused people shared prepared them to respond to mistreatment with grace and restraint. They were excellent contributors to their communities, and gradually, other Americans respected them for that. Young people today may have difficulty imagining that Japanese Americans were ever the subject of such prejudice and cruelty.
Germany surrendered to the Allies on May 8, 1945, and then, with the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan in August of that year, the war in the Pacific also ended. On July 15, 1946, President Harry S. Truman met with the men of the Four-Four-Two on the Ellipse south of the White House. He reviewed the troops and presented them with a Presidential Citation—a recognition given to military units that distinguish themselves in battle. It was the seventh citation honoring their valor and effectiveness. These were President Truman’s words of commendation:
It is a very great pleasure to me today to be able to put the seventh regimental citation on your banners.
You are to be congratulated on what you have done for this great country of ours. I think it was my predecessor who said that Americanism is not a matter of race or creed, it is a matter of the heart.
You fought for the free nations of the world along with the rest of us. I congratulate you on that, and I can’t tell you how very much I appreciate the privilege of being able to show you just how much the United States of America thinks of what you have done.
You are now on your way home. You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice—and you have won. Keep up that fight, and we will continue to win—to make this great Republic stand for just what the Constitution says it stands for: the welfare of all the people all the time.5 [Italics added]
President Harry S. Truman reviews the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team after presenting them with a Presidential Citation, July 15, 1946.
It was perhaps premature for President Truman to announce that the victory over prejudice had been won, but change had begun in the hearts and minds of the American people and has continued to our day.
This history of racial prejudice during World War II should cause us to ponder our own time. We should ask ourselves: Are there people or groups of other national origins, races, religions, sexual orientations, or other arbitrary classifications whom I disrespect or misjudge? Those who hated Japanese Americans during World War II probably wonder at themselves now and regret the way they once behaved. It’s good for us to consider what attitudes toward groups or individuals we will someday regret. Better yet, couldn’t we discover and acknowledge our current prejudices and put them aside now?
• • •
I appreciate the assistance I received from the Go For Broke National Education Center. This organization and museum serves as an excellent starting place for anyone seeking to do further research on this subject. I’m also indebted to Jane Beckwith, president of the board of the Topaz Museum and Education Center in Delta, Utah. She has guided my research on the Central Utah Relocation Center for many years.
My wife, Kathy, read and reread this manuscript as she has all of my manuscripts during a whole lifetime of writing. She’s kind enough to make me feel good about the stories I write and, fortunately, tough enough to point out the weaknesses. She, along with my editor, Emma Ledbetter, helped me make extensive revisions to Four-Four-Two when I was hoping that I was almost finished. Thanks to the two of them, the novel is much stronger than it would have been. What a joy it is to share the process of researching and writing with such supportive, good people.
* * *
3. Shenkle, Kathryn (May 2006). “Patriots under Fire: Japanese Americans in World War II”. United States Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Center of Military History. Archived from the original on 23 June 2013.
4. Courtesy of Go For Broke National Education Center.
5. Harry S.
Truman, “Remarks upon Presenting a Citation to a Nisei Regiment,” July 15, 1946. The American Presidency Project website, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/index.php.
DEAN HUGHES is the author of more than eighty books for young readers, including the popular sports series Angel Park All-Stars, the Scrappers series, the Nutty series, the widely acclaimed companion novels Family Pose and Team Picture, as well as Missing in Action, Search and Destroy, and Soldier Boys. Soldier Boys was selected for the 2002 New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list. Dean Hughes and his wife, Kathleen, have three children and nine grandchildren. They live in Midway, Utah.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2016 by Dean Hughes
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hughes, Dean, 1943- author.
Title: Four-Four-Two / Dean Hughes.
Description: First edition. | New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2016] Summary: Forced into an internment camp at the start of World War II, eighteen-year-old Yuki enlists in the Army to fight for the Allies as a member of the “Four-Four-Two,” a segregated Japanese American regiment. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015043700 (print) | LCCN 2016019775 (eBook)
ISBN 978-1-4814-6252-5
ISBN 978-1-4814-6254-9 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: United States. Army. Regimental Combat Team, 442nd—Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: United States. Army. Regimental Combat Team, 442nd—Fiction. | World War, 1939-1945—Fiction. | Prejudices—Fiction. | Soldiers—Fiction. | Japanese Americans—Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Historical / United States / 20th Century. | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Prejudice & Racism. | JUVENILE FICTION / Historical / Military & Wars.
Classification: LCC PZ7.H87312 Fo 2016 (print) | LCC PZ7.H87312 (eBook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23 | LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015043700