LibGuides: Primary Sources: America in World War II: Japanese Americans Serving in World War II

Japanese Americans in World War II

Japanese Americans faced unique challenges during World War II, as their loyalty to the United States was questioned due to their ancestry. Despite widespread discrimination and the internment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans, many individuals from this community demonstrated unwavering patriotism by serving in the U.S. military.

Approximately 33,000 Japanese Americans served in the armed forces during World War II, comprising the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). These units became some of the most decorated in U.S. military history, earning numerous awards for their bravery and contributions to the war effort.

The 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, composed primarily of second-generation Japanese Americans, fought with distinction in Europe, often called the "Go for Broke" units. Despite prejudice and suspicion, these soldiers displayed extraordinary bravery and sacrifice, earning hundreds of Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, and Distinguished Service Crosses.

The Military Intelligence Service, comprised mainly of Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans), played a crucial role in the Pacific Theater. They provided invaluable linguistic and intelligence support, translating intercepted Japanese communications and interrogating prisoners, which significantly aided Allied efforts in the Pacific.

The service and sacrifices of Japanese American soldiers during World War II challenged stereotypes and discrimination, earning them respect and recognition from their fellow soldiers and the nation. Their contributions helped secure victory for the Allies and paved the way for greater acceptance and opportunities for Japanese Americans in the post-war era. Despite enduring injustice and hardship, Japanese American veterans exemplified the highest ideals of patriotism, courage, and loyalty to their country.

Online Sources: Japanese Americans Serving in the U.S. Military

100th Infantry Battalion The 100th Infantry Battalion was a segregated battalion of Americans of Japanese Ancestry (AJA) which was formed in May 1942, six months after Japan attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor and other military facilities on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The original contingent of 1432 enlisted men and officers (senior officers were mostly Caucasian) left Honolulu on June 5, 1942. Because the Army was undecided how to use these men, the battalion underwent 15 months of training before finally being shipped to the European war zone. The 100th’s outstanding training record was one of the factors leading to the formation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in February 1943. It was an all-volunteer unit consisting of AJA men from Hawaii and the mainland United States. Sustaining heavy casualties during their first five months in combat, the 100th became known as the Purple Heart Battalion. It was attached to the 442nd RCT in June 1944 after the regiment’s arrival in Italy. The 100th/442nd became the most highly decorated army unit for its size and length of service. These AJA soldiers fought to prove they were loyal Americans.
100th Infantry Battalion Veterans Education Center The 100th Infantry Battalion was formed during a time of great turmoil and fear in the Territory of Hawaii and mainland United States. On December 7, 1941, Japan had launched a devastating, surprise attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor, home of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. There was widespread apprehension that an invasion of Hawaii would soon follow. Residents of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii and on the mainland were viewed with suspicion, even hatred by many Americans. The predecessor to the 100th was the Hawaiian Provisional Infantry Battalion, established in May 1942, as a racially segregated unit of mostly Americans of Japanese Ancestry (AJA) who had been serving in the Hawaii National Guard. In June the battalion of 1432 officers and enlisted men sailed from Honolulu to Oakland, California where it was renamed the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate). It was an orphan battalion, not assigned to any larger army unit. The 100th would undergo extensive basic training in Wisconsin, Mississippi and Louisiana from June 1942 until August 1943 while government and military officials decided what to do with these soldiers. The battalion’s outstanding performance during training was an important factor leading to the February 1943 formation of a new all-volunteer AJA army unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Chaplain Higuchi Wartime Correspondence Chaplain of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an all-Japanese American unit
Go for broke: Hanashi Oral History Archives (Japanese American World War II Veterans) The Hanashi ("to talk") Oral History Archives is the world's largest collection of Japanese American World War II veterans' life histories. It contains more than 1,245 professional-quality video interviews of WWII Nisei veterans as well as their contemporaries in the war effort, dating from 1998 to today. The Hanashi Archives is free and open to teachers, students, scholars and anyone interested in learning more about the Nisei soldiers. More than 700 full-length interviews are now available online on this website. For use in non-educational settings including documentaries, exhibits and online resources, please contact us at archives@goforbroke.org for further information.
Japanese American Archival Collection (University of California) The Japanese American Archival Collection is comprised of approximately 2,100 original items, including letters and other textual documents, photographs, diaries, scrapbooks, newsletters, art work, clothing and artifacts. The collection provides valuable insights into the history of Japanese American communities in northern California, particularly in the town of Florin, California from the late 19th century and into the 20th century. The collection contains significant documentation related to the internment of Japanese born and Japanese American individuals during World War II.
Japanese American Archival Collection Image Base (Online Archive of California) The Japanese American Archival Collection is comprised of approximately 2,100 original items, including letters and other textual documents, photographs, diaries, scrapbooks, newsletters, art work, clothing and artifacts. The collection provides valuable insights into the history of Japanese American communities in northern California, particularly in the town of Florin, California from the late 19th century and into the 20th century. The collection contains significant documentation related to the internment of Japanese born and Japanese American individuals during World War II.
Japanese American National Museum The over 150,000 objects that comprise the JANM permanent collection chronicle the Japanese American experience in its entirety from early immigration to the present. Artifacts related to early immigration to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, early life in Japanese American communities, and the World War II incarceration experience and military service are strengths of the collection.
Japanese American Veterans Association Digitization Project Click here for the entire history of the Japanese American Veterans Association, compiled by Terry Shima; edited by Metta Tanikawa. JAVA was activated in 1992, some 17 years after the Freedom of Information Act allowed the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) activities in the Asia Pacific theater, classified SECRET, to be told. JAVA’s mission from its inception is to tell the people of America and the world (1 ) that 110,000 ethnic Japanese, 2/3 of them US citizens, were confined in internment camps for the duration of WW II because the government viewed them as disloyal; and (2 ) 14,000 Nisei served in the combat zones in Europe and the Pacific, and another 17,000 Nisei soldiers, men and women, served stateside to prove their loyalty. President Truman removed the stigma of disloyalty when he reviewed the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) near the White House on July 15, 1946, attested to Nisei loyalty, and placed them in America’s mainstream, from where they have contributed to the greatness of America.
Japanese American Veterans Collection (Univ. of Hawaii) The Japanese American Veterans Collection documents the rich heritage of Hawaiʻi‘s Japanese American veterans and their families. AJA veterans served with distinction during World War II as members of the 100th Infantry Battalion, Hawaiʻi Territorial Guard, Varsity Victory Volunteers (VVV), 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT), 1399th Engineers, and the Military Intelligence Service (MIS).
Life and Work of George Hoshida: A Japanese American's Journey The December 7, 1941 attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i by the nation of Japan plunged the United States into World War II and irrevocably changed the course of American history. But for thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry living in the Hawaiian Islands and the mainland, the war highlighted the great divide between their American ideals and their unfair treatment based solely on race. The Japanese first immigrated to Hawai'i in 1885 to work as laborers in the burgeoning plantations. By the time of World War II, the Japanese immigrants and the subsequent generations born on the Islands had developed extensive communities and demonstrated their centrality to the Hawaiian economy. They worked on plantations, owned shops, practiced trades, founded churches and temples, and organized sports leagues, Japanese language schools and martial arts clubs-all characteristic of a stable and growing community, a community that was making a commitment to a new homeland on the Islands. However, the United States had long been suspicious of immigrants who "looked" different. Hawai'i was not yet a state, but on the Mainland numerous laws and court decisions created a hierarchy that limited the Japanese immigrant's ability to become an American. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, martial law was declared in Hawai'i and Japanese American community leaders were singled out as "suspicious." Although the Japanese Americans in Hawai'i had posed no prior threat, community leaders were thought to be potentially harmful to United States security despite that fact that no evidence existed to link Japanese Americans in Hawai'i with the acts of Japan, except by virtue of ancestry. By December 9, over 120 community leaders were taken from their homes and incarcerated in Hawai'i¹. George Hoshida was one such person. This Web site honors the spirit and talent of George Hoshida (1907-1985), an incarcerated artist who documented camp life with pencil and brushwork in a series of notebooks he kept between 1942 and 1945. Through examples of Hoshida's artwork and personal correspondence with his family, this web site hopes to provide insight into one individual's incarceration experience. The pages of this Web site are organized chronologically by the camps where George Hoshida and his family were incarcerated. Hoshida's notebooks and letters are now part of the June Honma Collection deposited at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California. In addition to Hoshida's personal documents, a select number of secondary sources were used to develop this site.
Manzanar War Relocation Center Records, 1942-1946 (Online Digital Archive of California) The Manzanar War Relocation Center was located in the Owens Valley in Central California. The United States Army initially established the camp as the Owens Valley Reception Center under the management of the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA), March-May 1942. On June 1, 1942, Manzanar was reconstituted as a War Relocation Authority (WRA) center. Its peak population was 10,121, and the majority of its internees came from pre-World War II Japanese American communities in the Los Angeles basin. The collection consists of files collected and maintained by Ralph Palmer Merritt (Director of the Japanese Relocation Center at Manzanar, California) including files of the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA), the War Relocation Authority (WRA) records and correspondence from April 1942-December 1945, a history of the Manzanar Center (5 volumes), daily records of the Block Managers, Ralph Merritt's office files, and a two volume index of all evacuees at Manzanar. There are also books, clippings, copies of the Congressional Record, reprints of committee hearings, and magazines documenting the history of Japanese and Japanese Americans in the United States and their internment and military service, photographs and photographic negatives documenting activities and people at Manzanar, and approximately 170 photographs by Ansel Adams of the Manzanar War Relocation Center on 14 x 18 inch mats. The collection also contains copies of various newspapers and printed materials such as the Manzanar Free Press.
National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS) is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the collection, preservation, authentic interpretation, and sharing of historical information of the Japanese American experience. NJAHS plays a significant role in the health and vibrancy of San Francisco’s Japantown and its programs. Our work includes ground-breaking exhibitions and educational events for the public, historical research, and development of educational resources for teachers and students. Learn more about the history of the organization, its mission and work.
Soemu Toyoda Tribunal Transcripts (USU History Digital Collection) Soemu Toyoda was born in Japan in 1885. He graduated from the Japanese Naval Academy in 1905 at which time he was appointed a naval cadet. In the years following the completion of his time at the Naval Academy, Toyoda received several naval recognitions and rose in the ranks. By 1941 Toyota had reached the rank of Admiral and on September 18, 1941 he was appointed Commandant of Kure Naval District, just three months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In November 1942 he became a member of the Supreme War Council and in May 1943 he took command of the Yokosuka Naval District. In May of the following year, Toyoda was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, a position he held for just over a year. In early May 1945, he was also appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Naval Forces, a position Toyoda held concurrently with his position as Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet. By the end of the month Toyoda had been released from his other duties and was appointed Chief of the Naval General Staff, a position he held through the end of the war. In his position as the Chief of the Naval General Staff, Toyoda participated in the Imperial Conferences concerning the Japanese surrender. Initially, the Minister of the Navy, Mitsumasa Yonai, wanted Toyoda appointed the Navy Chief of Staff because of the influence he might have over Yoshijiro Umezu, the Army Chief of Staff, in the decision to end the war. (Both Umezu and Toyoda had come from the same district of Japan.) Toyoda's opinion concerning the end of the war, however, was different than Yonai anticipated. Toyoda joined Umezu in his protestations against the Potsdam Proclamation of July 26, 1945, which demanded the demobilization of the Japanese armed forces, the allied occupation of Japan, and the trial of Japanese war criminals. Toyoda was not against the termination of the war but, insisted that the Japanese push for more favorable terms. After the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Toyoda's feelings remained unchanged. With the aid of Emperor Hirohito, an agreement was reached that the Japanese would surrender with the stipulation that the occupying forces not impede the imperial system of government and the powers of the Emperor. A letter to this effect was sent on August 10, 1945. The next day James F. Byrnes, U.S. Secretary of State, returned a letter rejecting the demands made by the Japanese government.

Books - Japanese Americans Serving in World War II

Torokina : a wartime memoir, 1941-1945 by Donald Jackson
Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection D767.9 .J33 1989
ISBN: 0813801575
Publication Date: 1989-04-01
Nisei linguists : Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service during World War II by James C. McNaughton; Center of Military History (U.S. Army) Staff (Produced by)
Call Number: View Online - Gov Docs & Government Documents D 101.2:N 63
ISBN: 9780160729577
Publication Date: 2007-03-20
Japanese Americans in World War II by National Parks Service; Barbara Wyatt (Editor)
Call Number: View Online - Gov Docs
ISBN: 9781497345942
Publication Date: 2012-08-01
Just Americans : how Japanese Americans won a war at home and abroad : the story of the 100th Battalion/442d Regimental Combat Team in World War II by Robert Asahina
Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection D753.8 .A83 2006
ISBN: 1592401988
Publication Date: 2006-05-18
Rising sons : the Japanese American GIs who fought for the United States in World War II by Bill Yenne
Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection D769.31 442nd .Y37 2007
ISBN: 9780312354640
Publication Date: 2007-07-10
Foo, a Japanese-American prisoner of the Rising Sun : the secret prison diary of Frank "Foo" Fujita by Frank Fujita; Robert Wear (Introduction by); Stanley L. Falk (Foreword by, Notes by)
Call Number: Jupiter General Collection D805.J3 F85 1993
ISBN: 0929398467
Publication Date: 1993-03-01
Serving our country : Japanese American women in the military during World War II by Brenda Lee Moore
Call Number: View Online & Boca Raton General Collection UA565.W6 M66 2003
ISBN: 0813532787
Publication Date: 2003-08-31
Going for broke : Japanese American soldiers in the war against Nazi Germany by James M. McCaffrey
Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection D769.31 100th .M44 2013
ISBN: 9780806143378
Publication Date: 2013-04-30
Letters from the 442nd : the World War II correspondence of a Japanese American medic by Dianne W. Bridgman (Editor); Daniel K. Inouye (Foreword by); Minoru Masuda; Hana Masuda (Editor)
Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection D769.31 442nd .M36 2008
ISBN: 9780295987453
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
Unlikely liberators : the men of the 100th and 442nd by Masayo U. Duus; Peter Duus (Translator)
Call Number: View Online & Jupiter General Collection D753.8 .D8813 1987
ISBN: 0824810813
Publication Date: 1987-01-01

Videos on Japanese Americans Serving in World War II

Japanese Americans Serving in the Military during World War II (Playlist of 12 videos)

The links below are videos taken from the database listed below. They will require you to be affiliated with Florida Atlantic University with an active username/password to log in and view them.

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Color of Honor: The Japanese American soldier in WWII - Streaming Video Online Database A vivid, collective portrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II. Three distinct stories are told: the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated military unit in U.S. history; M.I.S. (Military Intelligence Service), linguists who decoded Japanese military plans; and the thousands of draft resisters and army protesters who challenged the constitutionality of the internment camps.
Uncommon Courage: Patriotism and Civil Liberties - Streaming Video Online Database For the first time ever, Uncommon Courage: Patriotism and Civil Liberties tells the story of the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World War II and the Occupation of Japan. Thousands of MIS soldiers, mostly Japanese American, fought for the United States in the Pacific in a unique role, using language as their weapon. They interrogated Japanese prisoners, translated documents, intercepted communications, and infiltrated enemy lines. Some of these MIS soldiers volunteered from those camps. Many found themselves fighting against their own brothers and relatives.
Nisei Soldiers: Japanese American G.I. Joes - Streaming Video Online Database Leaving internment camps to defend their county in Europe, Japanese-American Nisei soldiers of WWII became the most decorated unit in American history. This film tells their story.
Nisei Soldier: Standard Bearer for An Exiled People - Streaming Video Online Database This documentary, directed by Loni Ding, is about Japanese-American soldiers during World War II. Release Date 1984 Producer Loni Ding Duration 28 minutes Publication Type Monograph Publisher Place San Francisco, CA Field of Interest American History Specialized Area of Interest Depression & World War II (1929-1945) Director Loni Ding Genre Documentary Historical Event Japanese American Internment, 1942-1945 Language of Edition English Discipline History Copyright Copyright © 1984 by Center for Asian American Media
Beyond barbed wire : untold stories of American courage - Streaming Online Video Database This exceptional documentary outlines the World War II battlefield accomplishments of the 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team, featuring stories recounted by Japanese Americans who fought in these segregated units to prove their loyalty to their country. The ironies are not lost as the revelations unfold. As their civil liberties and rights were being stripped away and their families imprisoned in internment camps in the U.S., they faced further prejudice from the upper ranks of the military, in the trenches of Europe and in the Pacific theater. Personal accounts begin with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, continue through Italy and France, building to the rescue of the Texas “Lost Battalion” in northern France. Also included are the recollections of the little known MIS (Military Intelligence Service) linguists who served in the Pacific interrogating POWs, intercepting radio messages and translating documents.
Color of Honor: The Japanese American soldier in WWII - Streaming Video Database A vivid, collective portrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II. Three distinct stories are told: the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated military unit in U.S. history; M.I.S. (Military Intelligence Service), linguists who decoded Japanese military plans; and the thousands of draft resisters and army protesters who challenged the constitutionality of the internment camps.