Following a bill signed in August 1930 by Franklin D. Roosevelt to mobilize the National
Guard of the United States, the selective service boards of the territory of Hawaii processed,
3000 enlistees, approximately half of which were Nisei that came from “ a microcosm of Hawaii: school teachers, factory workers, manufacturing officials, mechanics, agriculturists, salesmen, civil engineers, workers from sugar and pineapple plantations and from dozens of other Island occupations”(Crost). Their standing as a part of the educated working class lead many of the
Nisei to do particularly well in training, and “within a few months, many of them were privates, first class, and some had become noncommissioned officers” (Nakamura). Gaining much trust from their higher echelons, the Nisei were considered very valuable and loyal: “In June 1941, at a patriotic rally arranged by the Oahu Citizens Committee for Home Defense, General Herron's representative reported that that these soldiers of Japanese ancestry ‘will do much to aid the cause of national unity by spreading the gospel of Americanism among their own relatives and friends’” (qtd. in Nakamura).
However, all of that changed soon after December 7, 1941 and the attack on Pearl
Harbor. The Nisei were confiscated of their weapons and ammunition and discharged from their positions that they rightfully obtained in the Hawaii National Guard: “The issue of Japanese
American loyalty was a national problem and the administration responded on January 5, 1942 with a War Department directive which classified all Japanese Americans 4D, enemy aliens ineligible for the draft” (Odo).
In May 1942, following the threat of the Japanese takeover of Midway which could possibly lead to an invasion of the territory of Hawaii, “ Emmons, the military governor of the
Islands and General George Marshall, army chief of staff, determined that the Japanese
Americans were a potential security problem in the event of a Japanese invasion” (Odo), most especially the trained Nisei who basically knew the ins and outs of the Hawaii National Guard and other segments of the military. Having the trained Nisei stay in Hawaii was believed to be too high of a risk and could obviously lead to espionage and sabotage, so “later that month,
Marshall transformed them into the Hawaiian Provisional Infantry Battalion, and prepared to remove them to the mainland” (Odo). On June 5, 1942, 1400 Nisei along with white officers were shipped out of Honolulu Harbor set for San Francisco, where they were officially designated to the 100th Infantry Battalion
(100th Bn) with their motivation and motto,
“Remember Pearl Harbor.”
From there, the 100th Bn were transported to multiple camps for training initially Camp
McCoy, Wisconsin and to other Camps, including Camp Shelby, Mississippi, where they met and clashed with their mainland Japanese American counterparts. At these camps the 100th Bn weren’t only trained physically and mentally, “some of the all white officers and NCOs assigned to train them were schooled in psychology”(Sterner 16) watching and testing their loyalty.
Despite the immense distrust between some of the higher echelon officers the battalion quickly earned a “reputation for superior performance in the field,”(Odo) and were saw fit in every aspect to enter the war. On August 21, 1943, after the four basic training sessions, the
100th Bn left on the SS James Parker headed for Oran, Algeria.
Upon arrival, the 100th Bn were commanded to “guard supply trains” and “German
POWs”, however Colonel Turner, insisted they be “permitted to join allied forces pushing
Germans up the boot of Italy” (Odo). Succeedingly, the 100th Bn were attached to the 34th
Infantry Division and sailed to Salerno, Italy and landed on September 22, 1943.
From Salerno, the 100th Bn alongside other units of the Fifth Army took a five month journey working their way up the Apennine Mountains liberating
