442nd Combat Team in Italy and resettlement news, July 1944

Vol. 19, No. 2, July 15, 1944. 8 pages. View this issue

The Japanese American soldiers fighting in Italy filled this 8-page issue. The Fifth Army announced that the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was attacking toward the port of Livorno, with the 100th Infantry Battalion spearheading the assault. Pvt. Kungo Iwai wrote from the foxholes about holding a hill for Major James Lovell, and Pvt. Shizuya Hayashi received the Distinguished Service Cross. The editorial “Go for Broke!” praised the unit, and Larry Tajiri’s column looked at the race-baiters.

On the home front, the War Relocation Authority reported 1,517 departures from the centers in April, with Illinois receiving the most. The Los Angeles Times backed a bill to deport aliens and “disloyal” citizens of Japanese ancestry. Saburo Kido urged Nisei to vote, Joe Grant Masaoka wrote about evacuee farmers in Idaho, and Bill Hosokawa profiled photographer Jun Fujita. News from Tule Lake and a Canadian Elections Act debate also appeared.

What’s in this issue

National

• Wunt Leads WRA Centers in Relocation; Illinois Received Largest Number of Evacuees in April, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The War Relocation Authority reported that 1,517 evacuees left war relocation centers on indefinite leave during April 1944, with Illinois receiving the largest number. Minidoka led the centers in departures with 260, and the total indefinite leaves issued through April 30 reached 18,114.
• Newspaper Backs Bill to Deport Group, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Los Angeles Times editorially supported the McFarland-Johnson bill to deport all aliens and disloyal citizens of Japanese ancestry. The paper urged Congress to pass the measure when it reconvenes.
• Report Shows No Sabotage by Canada Nisei, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Deputy Commissioner John A. Shirras of the British Columbia Provincial Police reported no acts of sabotage by persons of Japanese ancestry in the province since hostilities began. He criticized race prejudice agitators for fomenting hatred of Japanese Canadians.
• Report Hawaii Nisei Proving Good Citizens, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Newton R. Holcomb, territorial director of the War Manpower Commission, reported that Americans of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii were all employed and working as good citizens in the war effort. His report reviewed the manpower situation and noted their contributions to war production.

Military & Veterans

• Nisei Combat Unit Drives on Livorno Port, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Fifth Army announced that the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was attacking toward the strategic port of Livorno, with the 100th Infantry Battalion spearheading the assault. The report marked the first official confirmation that the Combat Team was in action in Italy.
• Japanese Americans Wipe Out German Sniper Nest, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A platoon led by Sgt. Harold Tsukuno of Seattle wiped out three German snipers and captured three more after reconnaissance officers came under fire. The engineers’ action was the talk of an American division.
• Nisei Doughboy Kills 18 Germans on One-Man Rampage in Italy; Hero Gets DSC, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Pvt. Shizuya Hayashi of Oahu, Hawaii, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for killing eighteen Germans in a one-man attack during a flank assault with the 100th Infantry Battalion. The Stars and Stripes reported that he also forced four others to surrender.
• Nermans Surprised to Find Nisei Fighting in Europe, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Sgt. Nakasato of the Territory of Hawaii was wounded near Venafro after his platoon knocked out a German observation post. He was struck by shell fragments and later received the Purple Heart.
• New York Nisei Wounded During Anzio Fighting, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Pvt. Henry Tasaka, a former ward of Five Points House in Spring Valley, N.Y., was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds suffered on the Anzio Beachhead. The medal was received by the mission’s superintendent, Dr. William H. Mandrey.
• Report 442nd Combat Team Engaged in Initial Test in Allied Campaign for Italy, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Fifth Army announced that the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up entirely of Japanese American soldiers, was attacking toward Livorno with tank support. The 100th Infantry Battalion, now part of the 442nd, was spearheading the assault.
• Nisei Sergeant All Alone in Italian Town, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Sgt. Alfred Tomita of Buhl, Idaho, got far ahead of tank destroyers while making bypasses and found himself alone in a town the enemy had just evacuated. He spent the wait cleaning rubble from the streets.
• Four Japanese Americans Reported Wounded in Action Recently on Italian Front, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The War Department listed four Japanese American soldiers as wounded in action, presumed to be with the 100th Infantry Battalion in Italy. The casualties included two from the western United States and two from Hawaii.
• Cooks With Nisei Battalion Anxious for Combat Action, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Sgt. Elmo Okido of Honamu, Hawaii, said cooks and drivers of the 100th Infantry Battalion went to the front and that one company relied on C rations after its cooks were killed or wounded at Cassino. He praised the infantrymen who accepted the Nisei as comrades.
• Nisei Unit Lives Up to Name, Says Army Newspaper, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Go for Broke, the weekly of the 1st Battalion of the 442nd Infantry at Camp Shelby, reported that the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were in action in Italy. The paper said they spearheaded the attack up the west coast shoreline to a point four miles north of Cecina.
• Novice Boxing Tourney Held by Japanese American Troops, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The First Battalion of the 442nd Infantry held a novice boxing tournament before a crowd of 500 at Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on July 5. Ten bouts were staged, arranged by S/Sgt. Henry Oshiro, a Hawaiian AAU and CYO champion.
• From the Foxholes of Italy: The Fighting 100th Infantry Held the Hill for the Major, by Pvt. Kungo Iwai, page 2. Pvt. Kungo Iwai recounts how Major James Lovell, commander of the 100th Infantry Battalion, was wounded leading an attack on the hill commanding Cassino and how Sgt. Gary Hisaoka rushed under fire to rescue him. He describes the men’s morale and their determination to hold the hill for their commander.
• With the Nisei in Italy: Soldiers of Hawaii Dream of Home in Muddy Italy, by P.C. Staff, page 2. At a Japanese American command post in Italy, Hawaiian soldiers relaxed to island music while preparing for night duty. The unit’s commander presented Silver Stars to two men, and the soldiers discussed the Germans’ changed attitude and their longing for Hawaii.
• Veteran Likes News, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Pfc. Thomas Higa of Honolulu, wounded in the back by shrapnel at Cassino with the 100th Infantry Battalion, stopped in Denver en route to Camp White and spoke about his experiences at relocation camps. He said he wants another crack at the fascist enemy.
• Wounded Veteran of 100th Infantry Wants More Action, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Oregon Journal interviewed Pfc. Thomas Higa, a Purple Heart recipient, while he was briefly at the Portland Union Station USO. Higa said he is just an American fighting for his country and wants to return to combat.
• Famed Merrill’s Marauders Back Rights of U.S. Nisei, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A sergeant in Merrill’s Marauders wrote to the Pacific Citizen praising Japanese American soldiers fighting in Burma and singling out Sgt. Henry G. of Seattle for his courage. He condemned movements against Japanese Americans back home.
• GI Writer Tells Story of Nisei Nurses in U.S. Army, by Corp. Roy C. Fleischer, page 3. Corp. Roy C. Fleischer, writing in the Hartford Daily Courant, profiled Lt. Yaeko Suyama, a Japanese American army nurse at Fitzsimmons General Hospital who cared for wounded soldiers. Suyama said she wants to serve overseas and asked for fair treatment of Japanese Americans.
• Nisei Veteran Hopes for Chance to Visit Hawaii, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Pvt. Robert Aoki of Aiea, Hawaii, wounded with the 100th Infantry Battalion in Italy, awaited back surgery at Crile General Hospital in Cleveland. He hoped the operation would allow him to get a furlough home to Hawaii.
• Final Rites Held for Nisei at Camp Savage, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Military rites were held at Camp Savage, Minnesota, for Pfc. Yoshitaka Kataoka of Hakalu, Hawaii, who drowned in Lake Minnetonka on June 4 while retrieving an oar. His body was recovered June 21 and he was buried at Fort Snelling.
• Camp Savage Holds War Bond Rally, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Military and civilian personnel at Camp Savage took up more than half the camp’s War Bond quota at a rally on June 28. Bob DeHaven of WCCO Minneapolis served as master of ceremonies.
• 25 Nisei Called to Active Duty, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Twenty-five Japanese Americans inducted into the army in May were called to active duty on July 7 and reported to Fort Sheridan, Illinois. The men came from Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, and several smaller towns.

Community

• Evacuee Volunteers Fight Range Fire, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A range fire started by lightning on July 7 threatened the town of Shoshone, Idaho, until a crew including 60 evacuees from the Minidoka relocation center brought it under control on July 8.
• Seven Toledo Nisei Inducted Into Army, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Toledo Blade reported that seven Japanese Americans who resettled in Toledo from war relocation centers were being inducted into the army. The men were named in the report.
• Brooklyn Church Federation Leader Visits Topaz Camp, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Dr. J. Henry Carpenter, secretary of the Brooklyn Church Federation, visited the Topaz relocation center on July 13 en route to Manzanar. He was a leading figure in the fight for hostels for Japanese American evacuees in Brooklyn.
• 2,100 Graduate High Schools in Relocation Camps, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The War Relocation Authority reported that 2,100 seniors graduated from high schools in the ten relocation camps during June. Many of the boy graduates were being inducted into the army.
• Heart Mountain Youth Leaves for ASTP Training, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Frank Suto of Heart Mountain left for Ft. Logan, Colorado, for processing under the army’s new college training program, believed to be the first relocation center candidate to do so. He will attend the University of Missouri.
• Teiko Ishida Visits Milwaukee Council, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Teiko Ishida, secretary of the New York office of the JACL, made a brief visit to Milwaukee on July 6 en route to Minneapolis. The Milwaukee Nisei Council reported the visit.
• Helen Nakagawa Ordained Sister in New York City, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Helen Nakagawa, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nakagawa of Detroit, was ordained a Buddhist sister in New York City on June 30. The Minidoka Irrigator reported the ordination.
• Joe Grant Masaoka’s Column: Japanese American Evacuees Should Be Good Neighbors, by Joe Grant Masaoka, page 6. Masaoka describes evacuee farmers who succeeded in Idaho, from a seed producer on an island in the Snake River to a tofu maker. He also documents local hostility in Idaho towns and calls on evacuees to become good neighbors.
• Christian Church Leaders Plan National Group, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Seventy ministers from relocation centers and other areas met in Denver to lay groundwork for a national organization of Japanese Christian churches. The conference also planned religious education for communities where Japanese Americans have resettled.
• Hawaii Student Wins Research Prize, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Haruyuki Kamemoto, a senior in agriculture at the University of Hawaii, won the Dean prize for research for a project aimed at improving tomato production. The award was presented this year.
• Midwest Hostel Sponsored by Methodist Youth Groups, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Methodist youth groups contributed more than $1,200 to establish a hostel for Japanese Americans from relocation centers in the Midwest farm belt. The hostel was hoped to open in time for the summer farming season.
• Nisei at California Hospital Will Be Moved to WRA Camp, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Tettero Hidaka, a Gilroy-born Nisei who had been at the Santa Clara county hospital since before Pearl Harbor, was to be transferred to Heart Mountain after supervisor Joseph McKinnon pressed for his removal. A War Relocation Authority letter said the agency had agreed to consider removal but for a request to let him stay.
• Boise Valley Wins Baseball Tournament at JACL Bazaar, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Boise Valley All-Star team won a baseball tournament held July 4 in conjunction with the JACL Fourth of July Bazaar at the Caldwell WFA camp. About 1200 persons attended the all-day event, and half the concession proceeds went to the camp school fund.
• Mt. Olympus JACL Holds Meeting, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Mt. Olympus chapter of the JACL met at the Jensen home for an evening of entertainment including a basketball film, music, and community singing. Dan Oniki also demonstrated charcoal sketching.
• Hillcrest Group Publishes Magazine, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Japanese American patients at the Hillcrest Sanatorium in La Crescenta, California, published The Time, a sixteen-page mimeographed booklet. It includes staff messages, an article on tuberculosis, and patient stories.
• George Nakamura Awarded Degree, by P.C. Staff, page 8. George Nakamura, formerly of Sacramento, received a bachelor of arts degree from Adrian College in Michigan. He participated in many campus activities and held several important positions there.

Incarceration & Redress

• Final Rites Held for Youth Drowned in Irrigation Canal, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Final rites were held at Heart Mountain for Toru Shibata, 18, who drowned on July 1 while swimming in the Garland canal. His body was recovered about 450 yards from where he was last seen, and he is survived by his parents and a brother.
• WFA Will Pay Fare for Inductees Back to Centers, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Salt Lake City regional office of the War Relocation Authority announced that the War Food Administration will release evacuees on seasonal farm work who have been ordered to report for induction. Transportation back to the center will be provided upon proof of the induction order.
• Canada House Will Debate Anti-Nisei Bill, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Further debate was expected in Canada’s House of Commons on an Elections Act amendment that would deprive Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry of the vote for the duration of the war. A Senate motion to strike the provision was narrowly defeated 13 to 9.
• Seven Palo Alto Nisei Inducted Into Armed Forces, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Seven Japanese Americans, six of them from the Heart Mountain relocation center, were inducted into the army with the last group sent by the Palo Alto selective service board. The men were named in the report.
• Draft Evaders Sent to Prison in Washington, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A special railroad prison car carried 30 Nisei convicted of violating the selective service act from Cheyenne to McNeil Island, where they will serve three-year sentences. Sixty-three youths were convicted in the mass trial and all have appealed.
• WRA Reports All’s Quiet at Tule Lake Segregation Center, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A War Relocation Authority representative said all was quiet at the Tule Lake segregation center after the murder of camp community enterprises manager Yaozo Hitomi. Camp director Ray Best confined a segregee arrested in the investigation, though officials reported no arrests in the murder itself.
• Church Group Backs Rights of Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A resolution passed at the Church of the Brethren annual conference supported the right of Japanese Americans to return to West Coast homes at an early date. It also urged Brethren churches to welcome resettling evacuees into their services.
• Evacuee Worker Killed in Accident, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Masaichi Kurata, 43, a Hawaiian-born American of Japanese ancestry who came to Kenosha from a relocation center to work in a factory, died after a tractor ran over him. Injuries from the accident proved fatal.
• 198 Accepted for Army Induction at Central Utah Camp, by P.C. Staff, page 7. As of June 30, 198 of 263 Topaz residents called for preinduction physicals were accepted for military service. Twenty-one had been called to active duty and forty-six more were ordered to report for induction.
• Rohwer Youth Killed in Truck Accident, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Daitaro Toye, 8, of Rohwer died after he climbed onto a truck, fell off as it started to back up, and was run over. It was the first fatal traffic accident at the center, according to the Rohwer Outpost.
• Receives Demand to Suppress Paper, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Vancouver Mayor J. W. Cornett wrote to Canada’s Justice Minister demanding suppression of the Japanese Canadian newspaper The New Canadian or internment of its publisher. The Justice Minister declined comment beyond saying the letter would be answered in due course.
• Aliens Moved From Stockade at Tule Lake, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Interior Secretary Ickes disclosed that 26 aliens involved in the November Tule Lake disturbances were transferred to enemy alien internment camps over the past three months. All aliens have been removed from the stockade, though 25 citizens remain there.
• Easing of Coast Race Tensions Viewed by Monitor Writer, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Rodney Brink, California correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor, reported signs that bitterness toward Japanese Americans is lessening as the war moves closer to Japan. He cited a VFW encampment rejecting a permanent ban on evacuee return and a Methodist resolution supporting their return.
• Southern School Invites Nisei Girl Students, by P.C. Staff, page 8. H. G. Williamson, dean of Wood Junior College in Mathiston, Mississippi, offered scholarships to two Nisei girls to attend the college. The school aims to acquaint townspeople with persons of Japanese ancestry.
• Heart Mountain Farm Worker Shot Accidentally, by P.C. Staff, page 8. George Yamasaki, 41, a seasonal worker from Heart Mountain, was accidentally shot by farmer Julian Frost while Frost was hunting blackbirds near Cowley, Wyoming. Surgeons performed an emergency operation, and officials and workers said the shooting was accidental.
• Titus Named Head of Cincinnati WRA, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Harry Elwood Titus, a former Methodist pastor and Dayton church federation leader, was appointed relocation officer in charge of the Cincinnati district office. Robert M. Cullum, Cleveland area supervisor, announced the appointment.

Commentary

• Kaltenborn Hails Nisei Role in War Against Prejudice, by P.C. Staff, page 2. NBC commentator H. V. Kaltenborn sent a $100 check to help fund a scholarship for a Japanese American student at Wayland Academy in Wisconsin. In his letter he praised the contribution of young Japanese Americans to the war effort.
• Fighting the Race-Baiters, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Larry Tajiri argues that anti-Japanese agitators are losing ground as the war moves away from the West Coast, but Hearst press and congressmen keep pushing to block evacuee return. He criticizes congressional committees for leaking records and smearing Japanese Americans, and says the Nisei war record will ultimately answer the race-baiters.
• Go for Broke!, by P.C. Staff, page 4. This editorial celebrates the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an all-volunteer Japanese American unit now fighting in Italy, as a symbol of Japanese American loyalty. It argues that the justice due loyal Americans cannot long be denied and calls on Japanese Americans to be proud of their brothers in uniform.
• Canadian Contrast, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial contrasts the treatment of Japanese Canadians with that of Japanese Americans, noting Canada’s seizure and sale of evacuee property and its ban on military service. It concludes that Japanese Americans retain their franchise and property rights and that their wartime service strengthens their postwar claims.
• Nisei Voice: Fighting the Race-Baiters, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Tajiri’s column examines the easing of anti-Japanese hysteria on the West Coast while noting that racist organizations and the Hearst press are still seeking to keep the issue alive. He criticizes Representative Costello’s subcommittee for leaking files and smearing Japanese Americans.
• From the Frying Pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Bill Hosokawa profiles Jun Fujita, the Japanese-born cameraman who took a famous newspaper photograph for the Chicago Evening Post. Hosokawa notes that Fujita now runs a Chicago photography studio and is also a poet and boating enthusiast.
• The Problems of Minorities: There Is No Substitute for Complete Integration, by George Smedley Smith, page 5. Smith argues that the problems of minorities are the responsibility of the majority and that racial prejudice contradicts democracy abroad and at home. He urges Nisei to recognize their cross-cultural strengths and calls for full integration and restoration of citizenship rights.
• Editorial Digest: Racism in Nebraska, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The Grand Island Independent criticized the city council’s attempt to expel the handful of Japanese American evacuees living in the city and urged reconsideration. The editorial noted that local clergy had protested the action out of a sense of justice and Christian spirit.
• Is This the American Way?, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The Milwaukee Journal criticized the American Legion and West Coast organizations for denying honors and charters to Japanese American veterans and cemeteries. It argued that such actions show the nation has far to go to achieve the tolerance and democracy it fights for.
• Nisei Lend a Hand in Pacific War Effort, by P.C. Staff, page 5. This editorial argues that Japanese Americans, unable to serve in the air forces or navy, have been denied a visible wartime role until the 100th and 442nd units made the war personal. It urges civilians to match the sacrifices of soldiers through their home front efforts.
• Nisei Citizens and the Elections, by Saburo Kido, page 6. Kido urges Nisei to register and vote as a way to become part of their new communities and to counter race-baiters seeking discriminatory legislation. He warns that Congress may consider measures to deport alien Japanese after the war.
• Lary Smith’s Twisted Thinking, by Saburo Kido, page 6. Kido criticizes NBC commentator Larry Smith for questioning Nisei loyalty unless they fight Japan and for claiming Shinto shrines are in every Japanese home. He argues Smith’s reasoning is flawed and that Shinto plays a small role in Japanese American life.
• Barbecue Hints for Summer Days, by Ann Nisei, page 6. Ann Nisei offers summer barbecue suggestions, including lamb-ham kabobs, pigs in blankets, chicken, and two barbecue sauce recipes. She notes that most meats are off ration and suggests simple menus for backyard or apartment picnics.

Arts & Entertainment

• Sono Osato Cited as Best Dancer of Broadway Season, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Billboard magazine named Japanese American dancer Sono Osato the outstanding dancer of the Broadway season in its first Donaldson Awards. Osato was featured in the musical One Touch of Venus.

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