442nd REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM

"All of us can't stay in the [internment] camps until the end of the war.  Some of us have to go to the front.  Our record on the battlefield will determine when you will return and how you will be treated.  I don't know if I'll make it back."
Technical Sergeant Abraham Ohama, Company "F", 442nd RCT, Killed in Action 10/20/1944

"They were superb!  That word correctly describes it:  superb!
They took terrific casualties.  They showed rare courage and tremendous fighting spirit.  Not too much can be said of the performance of those battalions in Europe and everybody wanted them...."
General George C. Marshall
 
"...I had the honor to command the men of the 442nd Combat Team.  You fought magnificently in the field of battle and wrote brilliant chapters in the military history of our country."

"They demonstrated conclusively the loyalty and valor of our American citizens of Japanese ancestry in combat."
General Mark W. Clark
 
"...I cannot say, however, that their "Go For Broke" service has ever been adequately honored, but I do know that any objective appraisal of the record of this unit will place it high up in the annals of our military history...
Whether in France, Italy or elsewhere, I know of no units in the American Army that fought and persevered more gallantly than did those Nisei companies and battalions."
John J. McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War

"The Nisei troops are among the best in the United States Army and the respect and the appreciation due honorable, loyal, and courageous soldiers should be their's rather than the scorn and ridicule they have been receiving from some thoughtless and uninformed citizens and veterans."
Major General E.M. Almond

"The members of the Combat Team have made a magnificent record of which they and all Americans should be proud.  This record, without a doubt, is the most important single factor in creating in this country a more understanding attitude toward the people of Japanese descent."
Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior

Introduction
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was an infantry regiment in the United States Army comprised of Americans of Japanese ancestry.  The 442nd fought in Italy and France during World War II against the German Army of Hitler's Third Reich.  The 442nd earned a reputation for being a crack infantry unit and the regiment and its men received considerable battle honors and individual medals of valor.

Upon returning to the United States on July 3,1946, the War Department issued a press release with the following headline:

HIGH TRIBUTE TO BE PAID NISEI COMBAT TEAM
UPON RETURN ON 4TH OF JULY FOR INACTIVATION

Carrying with them battle honors as proud as any ever won, the 442nd Infantry Combat Team is scheduled to sail into New York Harbor the night of July 4 for debarkation the next day amid colorful reception ceremonies which will precede inactivation of the famed Japanese-American outfit at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey....

This website will tell the story of the 442nd primarily using documents dating from the war that have been obtained from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records at College Park, Maryland as well as from other archives, libraries and individuals.  It is the intent of this site to let the documents of the time tell the story of the 442nd RCT.  Other post-war documents and sources will be used when warranted.

This site is dedicated to all of the Japanese American Nisei soldiers who fought in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and demonstrated beyond any doubt that they were good Americans.