Going for Broke: Japanese American Soldiers in the War against Nazi Germany

425 Pages·2013·34.1 MB·English

by  Dr. James M. McCaffrey

Japanese a merican soldiers
in the War against nazi germany
J a m e s m. m c c a f f r e y
Going for Broke
CAMPAIGNS AND COMMANDERS
general editor
Gregory J. W. Urwin, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
advisory board
Lawrence E. Babits, East Carolina University, Greenville
James C. Bradford, Texas A&M University, College Station
Robert M. Epstein, U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies,
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
David M. Glantz, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Jerome A. Greene, Denver, Colorado
Victor Davis Hanson, California State University, Fresno
Herman Hattaway, University of Missouri, Kansas City
J. A. Houlding, Rückersdorf, Germany
Eugenia C. Kiesling, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York
Timothy K. Nenninger, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Bruce Vandervort, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington
Going for Broke
Japanese American Soldiers
in the War against Nazi Germany
James M. McCaffrey
University of Oklahoma Press : Norman
Also by James M. McCaffrey
This Band of Heroes: Granbury’s Texas Brigade, C.S.A. (Austin, Texas, 1985)
Army of Manifest Destiny: The American Soldier in the Mexican War, 1846–1848
(New York, 1992)
(with John F. Kinney) Wake Island Pilot: A World War II Memoir
(Washington, D.C., 1995)
Surrounded by Dangers of All Kinds: The Mexican War Letters of Lieutenant Theodor
Laidley (Denton, Texas, 1997)
(ed.) Only a Private: A Texan Remembers the Civil War (Houston, Texas, 2004)
The Army in Transformation, 1790–1860 (Westport, Conn., 2006)
Inside the Spanish- American War: A History Based on First- Person Accounts
(Jefferson, N.C., 2009)
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
McCaffrey, James M., 1946–
Going for broke : Japanese American soldiers in the war against Nazi Germany
/ James M. McCaffrey.
pages cm. — (Campaigns and commanders ; volume 36)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8061-4337-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. United States. Army.
Infantry Battalion, 100th. 2. United States. Army. Regimental Combat Team,
442nd. 3. World War, 1939–1945—Regimental histories—United States.
4. World War, 1939–1945—Participation, Japanese American. 5. World War,
1939–1945—Campaigns—Europe. 6. Japanese American soldiers—History—
20th century. I. Title.
D769.31100th .M44 2013
940.54'1273—dc23
2012042873
Going for Broke: Japanese American Soldiers in the War against Nazi Germany is
Volume 36 in the Campaigns and Commanders series.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of
the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on
Library Resources, Inc. ∞
Copyright © 2013 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing
Division of the University. Manufactured in the U.S.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise- - except as permitted
under Section 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act- - without the
prior written permission of the University of Oklahoma Press. To request
permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions,
University of Oklahoma Press, 2800 Venture Drive, Norman OK 73069, or
email [email protected].
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Dedicated to the memory of
Staff Sergeant Carl K. Morita,
Headquarters Battery,
522nd Field Artillery Battalion,
442nd Regimental Combat Team,
United States Army

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 3
1. Pearl Harbor and After 17
2. Birth of the 442nd 53
3. Training 70
4. Trial by Fire 113
5. Going Overseas 169
6. The 442nd in Italy 187
7. Fighting in France 227
8. Final Battles 294
9. Peace 322
Epilogue 346
Notes 351
Bibliography 387
Index 401

Illustrations
Soldiers playing a game of craps 88
Trainees receive instruction on 37mm anti-t ank gun 100
A soldier receives mule-h andling tips 123
Nisei soldiers visit a wounded comrade in a U.S. hospital 137
A pilot and observer prepare for takeoff 198
A 105mm howitzer in action in Italy 204
Soldiers rest in newly liberated Leghorn, Italy 210
Nisei soldiers ride in a captured German utility vehicle 213
Fighting bunker 243
Hollow artillery projectiles intended for propaganda,
used to carry supplies 263
Soldier drying laundry 298
Nisei GI with a German girlfriend 325
Hula dancers entertain returning Hawaiian soldiers 341
GIs disembark from their transport ship in Honolulu 342
ix