Japanese American Soldiers of World War II

March 5, 2022 Stan

Immediately after the outbreak of World War II when the United States entered the war against Japan, some young American men of Japanese heritage tried to show their patriotism by enlisting in the United States Army. When they went to sign up, however, they found that they were refused the opportunity to serve their country because all the people of Japanese ancestry had been reclassified as non-citizens or enemy aliens even if they had been born in the United States. The Constitution did not protect these innocent Americans.

The majority of the Japanese Americans and their immigrant parents in the mainland United States at that time lived in California or other parts of the West Coast. These people were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated in “America’s concentration camps” during World War II after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. Although the order could have been used against others, it was a racist move which allowed the military commander in the Western Defense Command to move the Japanese Americans and immigrants out of California, Washington, and Oregon. The military commander in Hawaii chose not to execute the order.

From the time that Japanese immigrants arrived on the shores of this “land of opportunity” in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s, they had endured discrimination and prejudice. As the Japanese farmers started to find some success, they were looked upon as a threat by other people in agriculture. They were generally treated unkindly and unfairly. When the war broke out, they were looked upon as the enemy even if they were American citizens.

Some time after the people of Japanese descent were housed in the ten incarceration camps which had been constructed in remote and desolate regions of the country, it was decided that a segregated unit of Japanese Americans would be formed in the U.S. Army. It became known as the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was combined with the 100th Battalion of Japanese American soldiers from Hawaii. The young men who were imprisoned in the camps were asked to volunteer for the Army which some did. Some Japanese Americans who were living in relative freedom outside of the camps also signed up. Others were drafted. This unit fought in the European theater. Another group of young Japanese American men was recruited to join the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). They were people who had or who developed Japanese language skills. They were used in the Pacific theater to intercept Japanese radio transmissions.

When the Second World War ended and Japan surrendered, the Japanese American soldiers were praised by President Harry S. Truman. He stated that they had fought not only the enemy, but they had fought prejudice and had won.