When Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941,
Americans reacted with revulsion and horror. In the patriotic war
fever that followed, thousands of volunteers - including Japanese
Americans - rushed to military recruitment centers. Except for
those in the Hawaii National Guard, who made up the 100th Infantry
Battalion, the U.S. Army initially turned Japanese American
prospects away. Then, as a result of anti-Japanese fearmongering on
the West Coast, more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent
were sent to confinement in inland ""relocation centers."" Most
were natural-born citizens, their only ""crime"" their ethnicity.
After the army eventually decided it would admit the
second-generation Japanese American (Nisei) volunteers, it
complemented the 100th Infantry Battalion by creating the 442nd
Regimental Combat Team. This mostly Japanese American unit
consisted of soldiers drafted before Pearl Harbor, volunteers from
Hawaii, and even recruits from the relocation centers. In Going for
Broke, historian James M. McCaffrey traces these men's experiences
in World War II, from training to some of the deadliest combat in
Europe. Weaving together the voices of numerous soldiers, McCaffrey
tells of the men's frustrations and achievements on the U.S.
mainland and abroad. Training in Mississippi, the recruits from
Hawaii and the mainland have their first encounter with
southern-style black-white segregation. Once in action, they helped
push the Germans out of Italy and France. The 442nd would go on to
become one of the most highly decorated units in the U.S. Army.
McCaffrey's account makes clear that like other American soldiers
in World War II, the Nisei relied on their personal determination,
social values, and training to ""go for broke"" - to bet
everything, even their lives. Ultimately, their bravery and
patriotism in the face of prejudice advanced racial harmony and
opportunities for Japanese Americans after the war.
General
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