PERSONAL FOCUS:
S/SGT. GEORGE OIYE - 522nd Field Artillery Battallion
During World War II Adolph Hitler instituted a policy of genocide
- the systematic, planned extermination of the Jewish people and
other groups. This resulted in the death of six million Jews.
The Nazis also imprisoned and killed others -- political dissidents,
homosexuals, gypsies and the mentally disturbed resulting in an
additional five million deaths. This planned systematic, annihilation
of European Jews and other groups has been referred to as the
Holocaust. Today, there are some who believe that the reports
given about atrocities in the Nazi camps were exaggerated or even
fabricated. One group of Japanese American soldiers can testify
to the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps because they were
eyewitnesses - the Nisei soldiers of the 522nd Field Artillery
Battalion.
The 522nd Field Artillery Battalion (FAB) was part of the all-Japanese
American 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT). The 650 or so men
of the 522nd provided protective artillery fire with 105 mm Howitzers,
a long-range cannon with a 105 mm (4.1 inches) wide barrel for
the 442nd. The 522nd consisted of three gun batteries (A, B, and
C) a service battery and a medical detachment. Each gun battery
had four guns that were manned with a crew of seven. The 442nd
joined the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) on the battlefields
of Europe. Known for their fast and accurate fire, the 522nd participated
in the fierce campaigns fought in Italy and France. The 522nd
also saw action in Germany, as the Allied offensive turned to
Berlin.
HIS NICKNAME WAS MONTANA
One
of the men who served in the 522nd was George Oiye. George was
a member of C Battery. Born in Basin Creek, Montana, his nickname
in the 522nd was “Montana.” His life and experiences
provide insights into the varied background of the Nisei soldiers
who fought during World War II. Unlike most prewar Japanese Americans,
the Oiye family settled in Logan, Montana. Thomas Jengoro and
Taka Kimura Oiye, George's parents, brought their family of five
children - three girls and two sons - to the small town of Logan.
Even in Montana, Japanese Americans faced discrimination. In
1938, with the help of sons, George and Ben, the Oiyes purchased
23 acres of land in Logan. The title of the land was placed in
George’s name because as non-citizens Mr. and Mrs. Oiye
were barred from land ownership by the Exclusion Act of 1924.
Another law, the Act of 1790, prevented Asians from becoming citizens!
The Oiye family, however, tried to make the best of the situation.
George graduated high school in 1940 and was attending Montana
State College in 1941. On December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor
was attacked, George and his friends were driving to pick up a
mattress. Initially the news of the attack had no significance
to him. In fact, he didn't know where Pearl Harbor was located.
George, however, soon felt the impact of the attack - in the
form of increased racial prejudice and discrimination. His landlady
told him to move so he had to find new housing in a boarding house.
With the loyalty of Japanese Americans in question because of
their race, George tried to enroll into the Army Air Corps Academy.
He found that all Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans,
had been classified 4C, “enemy alien” after the bombing
of Pearl Harbor and were prevented from joining the military.
Said Oiye, “Our determination to prove loyalty to the United
States and commitment to overcome prejudice gave us all an increased
motivation to fight.”
IN THE ARMY
George persisted. He was led to believe that an exception had
been made in his case and he would be able to join the Army Air
Corps Academy. Instead he was shipped to Camp Shelby, Mississippi,
where he found himself with other Japanese Americans training
for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. George was assigned to the
442nd’s artillery unit, the 522nd FAB. Coming from Montana,
he had never seen so many Japanese Americans in one spot! Recruits
for the 442nd RCT came from the internment (usage?) camps, the
Territory of Hawaii and from inland states. Only the Japanese
Americans living on the West Coast (California, Washington, Oregon
and a portion of Arizona) were removed from their homes and incarcerated.
Japanese Americans living in Hawaii and in states such as Montana,
Utah, and Colorado were not. Regardless of where they resided,
all Japanese Americans felt the need to prove their loyalty under
the glaring light of distrust and discrimination. With basic training
completed, the 442nd including the 522nd, was sent to Europe.
Artillerymen like George were generally better off than the
riflemen. They were miles behind the combat zone, directing accurate,
sustained fire on German defensive positions. One exception was
the men who served on the forward observer team. They would head
out to gain the information for accurate target coordinates, locating
enemy machine gun emplacements, roadblocks, artillery or anything
else that would block the advance of the infantry. Everyone took
turns serving on the observer missions. George served as a forward
observer during the brutal battles to capture Bruyeres, Biffontaine
in France.
RESCUE OF THE LOST BATTALION
In October 1944, the 442nd and 522nd were in the dense forests
of France on a mission to save the “Lost Battalion,”
the men of the 36th Texas Division. The Texans found themselves
surrounded by the Germans. They sent a desperate coded message,
“No rations, no water, no contact with headquarters.”
After bitter fighting and heavy casualties (several hundred),
it was the 442nd who successfully rescued the Texans…211
survivors. . The 522nd provided the 442nd with the necessary artillery
support to affect the rescue. During the rescue, George served
as a forward observer and received a Bronze Star. His award was
accompanied with the following description:
LIBERATORS
In March 1945, the 522nd was detached from the 442nd, joining
the 7th Army for the final push to Berlin. What the 522nd encountered
was to be indelibly etched into their memory. On April 29, 1945,
George and other members of the 522nd helped to liberate Jewish
survivors in a Nazi sub-camp of the infamous concentration camp
Dachau. Dachau was the site of mass exterminations, executions,
and death marches. Dachau had smaller sub camps (smaller forced
labor and/or POW camps located in adjacent towns.) The 522nd were
among the first American units to encounter and rescue Jewish
concentration camp prisoners. George Oiye not only witnessed but
also took photos of the survivors with a camera he took from the
body of a dead German soldier. His photos serve as evidence of
the 522nd’s part in the liberation of Jewish survivors.
He recalls, “My first experience seeing the inmates of Dachau
was as lumps in the snow. They couldn’t withstand the climate
because they were weak, scared, and ill. My impression was one
of mixed emotions, I cried and wondered how could this be.”
Those who entered the camps describe horrific conditions. No
one was prepared for the horror they encountered. The smell of
death was ever present. Many frail bodies and human bones were
piled on top of each other, ready to be thrown in the furnace
for cremation. Seeing the Nisei soldiers, the prisoners were not
sure if the Nisei soldiers were there to help them or hurt them.
The prisoners were hungry and thirsty. Although the soldiers were
instructed not give the prisoners food, they shared their rations
with them nevertheless.
George
Oiye never forgot what he saw and experienced. Today George lives
in San Jose, California. He has a son, daughter and two granddaughters.
He has become a champion of the 100/442/522. He has actively worked
to educate others about the wartime exploits of the Nisei soldiers.
George co-authored, “Charley Battery A Legend,” a
book that provides a history of his unit and his autobiography,
“Footprints in my Rearview Mirror.” He has consulted
on films about the 442nd and has spoken to a number of different
groups, including high schools, colleges, and synagogues. The
photos he took so many years at the Dachau sub-camp now are housed
at the Japanese American National Museum and the Montana Historical
(Lewis and Clark) Museum. George and his photos continue to remind
us that freedom and democracy are fragile and must be protected.
ACTIVITIES
Framework Standards Context
California Standards
Grade 11
11.7 Students analyze the American participation in World War
II
3. Identify the roles and sacrifices of individual American
soldiers, as well as the unique contribution of special fighting
forces (e.g. the Tuskegee Airmen, the 442nd Regimental Combat
Team, the Navajo Code Talkers.)
CAN YOU EXPLAIN THESE TERMS?
Genocide
political dissidents
Holocaust
howitzers
battery
forward observer
RECALL/COMPREHENSION
