442nd Infantry Regiment

A story of men who fought with extraordinary courage for a country that had betrayed them, who proved their loyalty through sacrifice, even as their own government imprisoned their families, and who became one of the most decorated units in the history of the United States military.

This is the story of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the Japanese-American soldiers whose motto was, Go for Broke.

Picture this.

It's October 1944 in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France.

But the cost is staggering.

The rescuing unit suffers over 800 casualties to save those 211 men.

The soldiers who made this incredible sacrifice were Japanese Americans, members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, fighting for a nation that had branded them enemy aliens and imprisoned many of their families in internment camps.

This is the story of the 442nd, the Japanese American soldiers who fought with unmatched courage and became the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in American military history.

And so I Googled Asian Americans guns World War II because I wanted to see if I had any personal connection to these firearms that I was going to be performing with.

And the very first Google result that came up was about the 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the former of which is nicknamed the Purple Heart Battalion.

And so the 100th Battalion was earned this nickname through all of the courageous and fierce fighting and the victories that they accomplished in the European theater.

And as a native Californian who went through public school, kindergarten through college, I had never heard of these guys.

I believe it was one of the most highly decorated regiments in World War II history, if not even more

broadly.

In fact, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team is the most decorated unit in United States military history for the time being.

and the time and duration of service.

And ultimately, that death march is interceded by the U.S. Army.

The artillery battalion of the legendary 442nd Regimental Combat Team intercepts them.

These are Nisei soldiers, Japanese-American soldiers.

And a lot of their parents and sisters and brothers were in American internment camps in the United States.

Prior to that, we had segregated units, the, uh, Black units.

In World War II, we had the Japanese-American unit, which I might add was the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which fought in Europe.

To this day, it's the most highly decorated infantry unit, uh, of its size and, uh, length of service.

It was a unit that everybody wanted them assigned to them because of their bravery.