FEATURED VETERAN

Minori Sueda, 232nd Combat Engineer Company

Click here to view a video clip of Minori Sueda

In the early 1920s, Minori Sueda knew if he wanted a haircut, not to go to the local barbershop. It's not that he would get a bad haircut; he would likely get no haircut. Japanese Americans were not welcome there.

"We were classified as second class citizens in those days," said Torrance resident Sueda in a Hanashi Oral History Program interview. "I don't think they recognized us as Americans."

Such animosity blossomed into full-blown anti-Japanese fervor after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Soon Japanese-Americans would be incarcerated in "relocation centers" and Nisei men on the west coast excluded from the draft.

Sueda, however, managed to be inducted before all this took place. He eventually volunteered for the newly formed all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team and, given his training in auto mechanics, was assigned to the 232nd Combat Engineer Company.

If the infantry is the machinery, then the combat engineers are the grease. The 232nd's mission was to keep the roads open and passable at all costs so that soldiers could advance, supplies be delivered and the wounded evacuated. They did this by clearing roadblocks, sweeping for mines and rebuilding destroyed bridges. They laid logs for traction on muddy roads, sometimes under fire or with no cover, and made repeated repairs when careless tank operators destroyed their work making sharp turns.

"It was go, go, go," Sueda said of their campaign in Italy. "It was no sleep. We just kept going. Because as long as the infantry's moving, we have to keep moving, because we have to keep supply lines open. They went 15 miles, we have to go 15 miles. No matter what, we had to find a way to get it done."

And find a way they did. If a disabled bulldozer blocked the road, they built a bridge right over it. If they needed gas or diesel fuel, they traveled all night to the supply station to get it. If they needed showers, they built a mobile unit with salvaged parts that delivered 50 gallons of hot water a minute. They even built baseball fields for the troops.

And if they had to fight, they fought, whether to protect their roads or as infantry replacements.

As the company's motor pool sergeant, Sueda oversaw maintenance of their rolling stock of jeeps, trucks, trailers, bulldozers and a prime mover for towing heavy equipment. One of Sueda's most valuable contributions would be helping to reconfigure the gearing on the 6x6 GMC trucks, thus increasing their maximum speed from 10 to 16 miles per hour.

Part of their duties included going out in the field to calculate damage whenever their equipment took a hit, something Sueda often took upon himself to do.

"I didn't want to send the other motor pool guys all the time to assess [damage], because that wouldn't be right," said Sueda, who fought in four major campaigns. "You have to take part of the risk and do it yourself."

By war's end, the 232nd had lost 10 men and earned almost 100 Purple Hearts, one of which went to Sueda for a shrapnel injury from a tripped mine.

At the time, being a racially segregated battalion helped their efforts be recognized, Sueda said. "If we were in different outfits, we wouldn't have gotten the credit that the 442nd got, because it'd be individuals." And by serving together, the Nisei were able to give that extra last push that Sueda believes makes the difference between winning and losing. "It's that last little bit of effort that you put in," he said. "You don't want to lose and you don't want to bring shame."

And there is no shame in this: "That we fought for the country," Sueda said. "That we tried to make a difference."

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