Екінші дүниежүзілік соғыстағы жапон-американдықтардың ерлігі

Japanese Americans serving the United States in World War II

During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes on the West Coast because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage. As the war progressed, many of the young Nisei, Japanese immigrants' children who were born with American citizenship, volunteered or were drafted to serve in the United States military. Japanese Americans served in all the branches of the United States Armed Forces, including the United States Merchant Marine. An estimated 33,000 Japanese Americans served in the U. S. military during World War II, of which 20,000 joined the Army. Approximately 800 were killed in action. The 100th Battalion and the 442nd Infantry Regiment became the most decorated unit in U. S. military history. The related 522nd Field Artillery Battalion liberated one or more subcamps of the infamous Dachau concentration camp. Other Japanese American units also included the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion, and the Military Intelligence Service.

The majority of Japanese Americans serving in the American Armed Forces during World War II enlisted in the army.

The 100th Infantry Battalion was engaged in heavy action during the war taking part in multiple campaigns. The 100th was made up of Nisei who were originally members of the Hawaii National Guard. Sent to the mainland as the Hawaii Provisional Infantry Battalion on June 5, 1942, the 1,432 original members of the 100th were stationed first at Camp McCoy and later at Camp Shelby for combat training. Their exemplary military record, and the patriotic activities of the Varsity Victory Volunteers, paved the way for the creation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in January 1943. The Battalion shipped out in August 1943, landing in North Africa before fighting in Italy, eventually participating in the liberation of Rome.

Meanwhile, an earlier decision to demote Nisei soldiers to 4 C class (enemy aliens ineligible for military service because of nationality) was reversed, and the Army in January 1943 issued a call for Japanese American volunteers. Most of the initial recruits came from Hawaii, as those on the mainland were reluctant to volunteer while they and their families remained in camp. The 2,686 accepted Hawaiians (out of 10,000 volunteers) and about 1,000 mainlanders were sent to Camp Shelby. The U. S. Army regiment served in Europe during World War II. Japanese Americans already in training at the start of the war had been removed from active duty shortly after Pearl Harbor, and the Army stopped accepting new Nisei recruits in early 1942. Despite resistance from military and War Relocation Authority leaders, the President eventually sided with the War Department, and on February 1, 1943, Roosevelt announced the creation of a segregated unit composed of Nisei soldiers and commanded by white officers. These men arrived in Europe after the 100th Infantry Battalion had already established its reputation as a fighting unit, and in time, the 100th/442nd became, for its size and length of service, the most decorated unit in U. S. military history. The 522nd had the distinction of liberating survivors of the Dachau concentration camp system from the Nazis on April 29, 1945. southwards from Dachau towards the Austrian border were found by troops of the 522nd just west of the village of Waakirchen, and cared for them until dedicated medical personnel took over. Pierre Moulin in his recent book 'Dachau, Holocaust and US Samurais' writes that the first Nisei arrived at Dachau's gate not on April 29, the date of the liberation of the camp, but on April 28, 1945. Two jeeps of forward observers with 522nd Field Artillery Battalion Captain Charles Feibleman, Kelly Nakamura (Driver), George Oide, Kenzo Okubo, Mike Hara, arrived first at the gates of Dachau but were told to wait for back up since the SS were still in the towers. The first class received their training at the Presidio in San Francisco, but in June 1942 the MIS Language School was moved to Camp Savage, Minnesota, which offered larger facilities, removed the complications of training Japanese American students in an area they were technically prohibited from entering, and had less anti Japanese prejudice. In August 1944, the language school was moved again to Fort Snelling. Most of the MIS Language School graduates were attached to the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) as linguists and in other non combatant roles, interpreting captured enemy documents and interrogating prisoners of war. (At the end of the war, MIS linguists had translated 18,000 enemy documents, created 16,000 propaganda leaflets and interrogated over 10,000 Japanese POWs.) However, MIS servicemen were present at every major battle against Japanese forces, and those who served in combat faced extremely dangerous and difficult conditions, sometimes coming under friendly fire from U. S. soldiers unable to distinguish them from the Japanese and often encountering former friends on the battlefield. The Nisei under Merrill's command proved themselves particularly intrepid and helpful, venturing into the enemy lines and translating audible commands to counterattacks, and shouting conflicting commands to the Japanese, throwing them into confusion. They soon became the best known Nisei in the war against Japan. The War Relocation Authority used their story to impress other Americans with Nisei valor and loyalty, even placing stories in local newspapers as the war waned in 1945 and the WRA prepared to release the Japanese Americans back into their communities. Over 5,000 Japanese Americans served in the occupation of Japan. Dozens of MIS graduates served as translators, interpreters, and investigators in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Thomas Sakamoto served as press escort during the occupation of Japan. He escorted American correspondents to Hiroshima, and the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Sakamoto was one of three Japanese Americans to be on board the USS Missouri when the Japanese formally surrendered. Arthur S. Komori served as personal interpreter for Brig. Gen. Elliot R. Thorpe. Kay Kitagawa served as personal interpreter of Fleet Admiral William Halsey Jr. Kan Tagami served as personal interpreter aide for General Douglas MacArthur. Journalist Don Caswell was accompanied by a Nisei interpreter to Fuchū Prison, where the Japanese government imprisoned communists Tokuda Kyuichi, Yoshio Shiga, and Shiro Mitamura.

The Akune family consisted of four brothers and four sisters. The brothers fought on opposing sides during World War II. Two of the brothers fought for the U. S. Another one served in the Japanese Imperial Army. Their parent, Ichiro, and Yukiye Akune immigrated to California, U. S. A., in 1918. They lost their mother and unborn brother in a birth complication on November 10, 1933. After their death the children traveled to Japan to live with their Father. The two oldest brother would eventually return to live in America, where they felt most at home. Once World War II broke out and the attack on Pearl Harbour commenced, contact between the separated family ceased. The two Akune brothers in the U. S. were among 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry imprisoned in relocation centers during the war. They were also among the 16,000 who eventually served the U. S. overseas in the war.

Japanese Americans were generally forbidden to fight a combat role in the Pacific theatre ; although no such limitations were placed on Americans of German or Italian ancestry who fought against the Axis powers. Up to this point, the United States government has only been able to find records of five Japanese Americans who were members of the Army Air Forces during World War II, one of them being Kenje Ogata. There was at least one Nisei, U. S. Army Air Forces Technical Sergeant Ben Kuroki, who participated initially in 35 missions as a dorsal turret gunner over Europe, followed by 28 bombing missions over mainland Japan and other locations in the Pacific Theater. Nisei Herbert Seijin Ginoza flew combat missions over Europe as a waist tail gunner in the 483rd Bomb Group. He spent 3 months as a German prisoner of war after his B17 was shot down on a bombing mission near Vienna, Austria.

Like their male counterparts, Nisei women were at first prohibited from serving in the U. S. military; this changed in November 1943, and 142 young women volunteered to join the WAC. Because their number was relatively small, the Nisei WACs were not restricted to a segregated corps, but instead were spread out and served alongside other ethnic groups. The idea of female auxiliary service was still new at this time (the Women's Army Corps was only nine months old when it opened its ranks to Nisei volunteers), and these women were most often assigned to clerical duties or other "women's work." Additionally, WACs were often portrayed in media and propaganda as highly sexualized and were encouraged by male supervisors to play into this role. The Nisei WACs faced another difficulty in that they were expected to translate Japanese military documents; even those who were fluent in Japanese struggled to understand the military language, and eventually some were sent to the Military Intelligence Language School for training.

The 442nd marched down Constitution Avenue to the Ellipse south of the White House on July 15, 1946, where President Truman honored the regiment with a Presidential Unit Citation saying, "You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice and you have won." However, the unit's service and decorations still did not change the attitudes of the general population in much of the U. S. towards people of Japanese ancestry. Veterans came home to signs that read "No Japs Allowed" and "No Japs Wanted", the denial of service in shops and restaurants, and the vandalism of their homes and property. Initially, many veterans' organizations such as the VFW and the American Legion refused to allow Nisei veterans into existing posts and some even removed Japanese American soldiers from their honor rolls. White officers from the 442nd including Col Virgil R. Miller advocated on the behalf of the Nisei in Chicago to be allowed to form their own American Legion post 1183 in 1946, while Alva Fleming, a Navy veteran in Sacramento district leadership approved the charter for Nisei VFW Post 8985 in 1947. Fleming would go on to become the VFW State Commander for California and was instrumental in founding a total of 14 segregated Nisei VFW posts in the state. Veterans in the Pacific Northwest were unable to find any post willing to accept them, and eventually formed their own independent "Nisei Veterans Committee". Although VFW National leadership condemned the actions of local posts, their bylaws promoted autonomy in individual posts and were powerless to prevent the discrimination. Smaller organizations such as American Veterans Committee and Military Order of the Purple Heart invited Nisei into their ranks, however they did not offer the same facilities and benefits as the larger organizations.