January
6, 1943
The 100th Infantry Battalion leaves Camp McCoy for Camp
Shelby, Mississippi. |

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Training for
shore landing at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
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January
31, 1943
At the request of the men of the Triple V, the unit is deactivated
so that its members can enlist in the 442nd Regimental Combat
Team (RCT). |
February
1, 1943
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team is activated by President
Roosevelt: “Americanism is not and never was, a matter
of race and ancestry.” |
March
28, 1943
The Honolulu Chamber of Commerce sponsors a farewell ceremony
at the Iolani Palace for 1,686 Nisei volunteers for the
442nd RCT. |
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April
16, 1943
Harold Fudenna, a Nisei MISer, with 138th Signal Corps,
interprets an intercepted radio message that reveals the
air route that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto will take in his
inspection of Japanese facilities on South Bougainville.
His bomber is shot down and he perishes with it. Fudenna
is awarded a Bronze Star. |
|
May 1943
442nd RCT begins training in Mississippi. |

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442nd
in formation at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
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|
June 1943
1st volunteer group graduates from MISLS, then takes a “crash”
course basic training as Co “S” at Camp Shelby. |
July 1943
MISers become part of Task Force to recapture Kiska Island
in the Aleutians. |
July-August
1943
MIS recruits language personnel from 442nd RCT. |
August
21, 1943
100th Infantry Battalion sails from NYC on the James Parker,
a troop ship. |
|
September
2, 1943
100th Infantry Battalion lands in Oran, North Africa and
is assigned to guard supply trains from Casablanca to Tunisa.
Colonel Turner refuses. The 100th is subsequently assigned
to the 34th Infantry Division on September 5th. |
|
September
22, 1943
100th Infantry Battalion lands on the beach at Salerno,
Italy as a part of the 133rd Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry
Division. |
|
September
29, 1943
First day of combat for the 100th Infantry Battalion. Baseball
star Shigeo “Joe” Takata is the first member of the 100th
Infantry Battalion to be killed in action and the first
to receive the Distinguished Service Cross. |
|
October 1943
Japanese American women are accepted into the Women’s Army
Corps. During WWII and the post-war period more than 300
Nisei women serve in the WAC. |

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Nisei
clerk-typist, Special Service Army Forces in the
Pacific, Tokyo, Japan. |
|
November
3, 1943
133rd Infantry Regiment, 34th Division and the 100th Infantry
Battalion begin offensive attacks against the Germans
crossing the Volturno River for the third time, south
of Naples. |
Late
1943
Fourteen Nisei are assigned to Merrill’s Marauders in North
Burma. |

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Japanese American
interpreters with Brigadier General Frank Merrill's
infantry troops in Burma. |
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