Kirk Kurokawa on Mural for The Nisei Veterans Memorial Center

I talked to Wailuku artist Kirk Kurokawa about his mural for the 

The Nisei Veterans Memorial Center

Loyalty, Courage, Sacrifice: the 442nd Story Part 2

 

The Nisei Veterans Memorial Center announces the opening of our exhibit, Loyalty, Courage, Sacrifice: the 442nd Story PART TWO. The exhibit will be open to the public June 24 – September 13, 2019 Monday-Friday 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

 

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was comprised of two distinct units: the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. These two units were formed independently at different times, but their history is intertwined.

 

On January 28, 1943, the War Department announced that it was forming a Nisei combat team and called for 1,500 volunteers from Hawaii. An overwhelming 10,000 men volunteered of which 2,686 were selected. They joined with the 1,182 Japanese-American recruits who volunteered from the continental United States, many from behind the barbed wire of internment camps.

 

The 442nd RCT was activated on February 1, 1943 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi where they trained until leaving for Italy on April 22, 1944. The men saw their first day in combat on June 26, 1944.

 

By this date the 100th IFB had already been in the Mediterranean Theater for over nine months and had been involved in many significant battles including the Battle of Monte Cassino. After the two units merged, the 100th IFB and the 442nd RCT formed a single infantry regiment. Together, they became the most decorated unit of its size and length of service in the history of the United States Army.

 

Part One of the NVMC exhibit, “Loyalty, Courage, Sacrifice – the 442nd Story,” ran in 2018 and featured the history of the regiment beginning with the formation of the 100th IFB and the attack on Pearl Harbor through the liberation of Bruyeres. Part Two will begin with the Rescue of the Lost Battalion and take us through the end of the war, including some of the significant contributions the men made within their communities upon their return.

Photo by Mathew Thayer Maui News.