1944

Military Intelligence Service Language School begins sending Nisei graduates to the Army Air Forces to help intercept radio traffic from Japanese aircraft. Over six months, more than 100 Nisei join this effort. Military Intelligence Service Nisei support British forces in Central Assam and Commonwealth forces in Imphal and Kohima in northeast India.

Nisei eligibility for the draft is restored.

Ten officers and 165 men of the 442nd RCT 1st Battalion leave Camp Shelby to serve as replacements for the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) in Italy.

The 100th begins its engagement in the battle at Monte Cassino, making their way across the muddy flats beneath the monastery that will serve as the focal point of the bloody battle.

US Army Signals Intelligence Service (SIS) makes its first request for 25 MIS Nisei for their Vint Hill Farms intercept station in Virginia. Security prohibits 14 of the Nisei from staying there because they have relatives in Japan or had visited Japan.1

By June, about 50 Nisei report to Vint Hill to translate intercepted messages.

Military Intelligence Service Language School begins sending Nisei graduates to the Army Air Forces to help intercept radio traffic from Japanese aircraft. Over six months, more than 100 Nisei join this effort. Military Intelligence Service Nisei support British forces in Central Assam and Commonwealth forces in Imphal and Kohima in northeast India.

Merrill’s Marauders enter combat near Nphum Ga in Burma (also known as Myanmar).

MIS linguists accompany soldiers and marines on the landing in the Marshall Islands.

The 100th is relieved after fighting in the first two assaults at Monte Cassino. The high casualties they suffer earn them the moniker, “The Purple Heart Battalion.”

MISers Hideo Imai and Robert T. Honda parachute into northern Burma to assist Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Detachment 101. After eight months of living with the Kachin Rangers, two other Nisei take their place.

The 34th Division, with the 100th and 200 Nisei replacements, lands at Anzio.

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) departs Camp Shelby for its first assignment. During the long overseas voyage, they learn their final destination to be Naples, Italy, with a stop at Oran, North Africa. MIS Nisei accompanying the 163rd Regimental Combat Team land at Aitape in Dutch New Guinea. From there, they continue on to Hollandia, where they translate scores of captured documents and interrogate thousands of POWs.

The 1399 Engineer Construction Battalion is activated at Schofield Barracks on Oahu, Hawaii. It is the only Nisei unit of its kind in the Pacific war.

Top Allied Translator and Interpreter Section Nisei translators Yoshikazu Yamada and George Kiyoshi Yamashiro (later, Sankey) assist in the translation of the captured document, the “Z Plan.”

MIS Nisei linguists participate in the Western Pacific Campaign, assisting in the invasions of Saipan, Tinian and Guam in the Marianas.

The 100th, its ranks depleted due to its high casualties, meets up with the 442nd at Civitavecchia. The 442nd is assigned to the Fifth Army. The 100th becomes attached to the 442nd RCT as a replacement for their absent 1st Battalion, which had remained at Camp Shelby to train replacement troops.

The 100th captures Lanuvio, helping to clear the path to Rome. Rome is captured within the next three days. inian and Guam in the Marianas.

Terry Mizutari is the first MIS Nisei to die in combat when Japanese soldiers attack his division command post near Aitape, New Guinea. Risking his life to warn his team, Mizutari is shot in the chest. He is posthumously awarded a Silver Star for his bravery.

The 442nd sees its first day of combat at Belvedere, Italy.

Jerome becomes the first incarceration center to close. Inmates are moved to Rohwer.

MISers serve under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in Chungking, China.

Technician Fourth Grade George Sawada becomes the first medic of the 442nd to die in combat. A volunteer from Minidoka, T/4 Sawada was killed by a sniper near Molino a Ventoabbato.²

The Anti-Tank Company is detached from the 442nd RCT and assigned to the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment to train as glider infantry. They participate in the invasion of Southern France on August 15, 1944.

The first group of MIS linguists with the “Dixie Mission” arrive at Chinese Communist Headquarters in Yenan, China. Over the next two months, they are joined by more MIS Nisei, working to gather intelligence about the common Japanese enemy and Chinese Communists.3

Hoichi Kubo earns the Distinguished Service Cross, the highest award given to any Nisei in the Pacific war, when he persuades Japanese soldiers to release more than 100 civilian hostages near Marpi Point on Saipan.

The 100th is awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest Army unit award, for action at Belvedere.

The 100th is renamed as the 100th Battalion/442nd RCT, allowed to maintain its signature designation as the “100th.”

Merrill’s Marauders, joined by Nisei soldiers assigned to both American and Chinese units, capture Myitkyina in Burma.

The 442nd, less the 100th, reaches the Arno River in Italy near Florence. The 100th leads the crossing of the Arno and the capture of Pisa.

American media coverage of the Nisei Marauders makes them the first Japanese American heroes of the war against Japan.4

MIS Nisei join soldiers and Marines in the Palaus, landing on Peleliu and Angaur, to help with POW interrogations and translations of captured documents.

Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section (PACMIRS) opens at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, with seven Caucasian officers and 24 Nisei.

More than 120 MIS Nisei accompany American troops fighting at Leyte Island, Philippines.

Martial law in Hawaii ends, but curfews and blackouts remain in effect until July 1945.

The 100th/442nd engages in the battle at Bruyères in the Vosges Mountains, France.

Martial law in Hawaii ends, but curfews and blackouts remain in effect until July 1945.

The 100th/442nd captures Biffontaine in France.

The 100th/442nd makes a landmark rescue of more than 200 members of the “Lost Battalion” in the Vosges Mountains in France. The unit suffers several hundred casualties. The 100th earns its second Presidential Unit Citation for its action in Biffontaine and with the “Lost Battalion.” Presidential Unit Citations are also awarded to 2nd and 3rd Battalions, the 232nd Combat Engineer Company, and F and L Companies of the 442nd.

The 100th/442nd begins four months of what they call the “Champagne Campaign” in the French Riviera.

The American Legion post in Hood River, Oregon, removes sixteen Nisei names from the post’s “roll of honor.” Public outcry causes the post to reverse its decision and restore all names in April 1945.

Dozens of Nisei join the MARS Task Force, or the 5332nd Brigade (Provisional). It includes the 475th Infantry, comprising surviving members of Merrill’s Marauders, and the 124th Calvary. The Nisei are led by Kazuo Komoto and Kan Tagami. More than 100 MIS Nisei from ATIS assist American troops with the Luzon campaign in the Philippines in combat and in linguistic work.

Exclusion and detention orders are rescinded.

US Supreme Court rules in favor of Mitsuye Endo in Ex Parte Endo, granting her an unconditional release from confinement. However, the Court also states that the removal of the Japanese Americans from the West Coast and their subsequent three-year detention without charges or trial were legitimate government and military actions during wartime.5

US Supreme Court rules against Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu in Korematsu v. US, who was charged with failing to report for evacuation and detention. The Court upholds the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, determining that the government was justified in singling out a group of people based on their ancestry, and imprisoning them without trial or charges in a time of war.6