442nd Return To Italy Was A Deep ‘Secret’

Return of the Japanese American 442nd Infantry Regiment, to the Italian front was a “well-kept secret,” Sgt. Stan Swinton, staff correspondent of Stars and Stripes, army newspaper for the European theater of operations, reported in a recent dispatch.

According to Swinton, the 442nd left France on March 15 and were brought to Italy in three groups. They remained within carefully guarded bivouac areas until April 4 when they moved into the line and hid within the mountain villages until the attack was launched.

“German prisoners said they had been caught completely by surprise,” Swinton reported. “Not until 14 prisoners attempted a break in the darkness Thursday night (April 5) and two made good their escape was the secret out.”

The stories and stripes correspondent said the Nisei troops, holders of 2 Presidential citations and 3007 Purple Hearts, have “fought with their old brilliance” in the new Italian offensive.

By dusk on April 6 the Japanese Americans had cleared the entire Ridge dominating the coastal flat from the Cinquale canal to Massa — “terrain which other 5th Army troops had failed to seize in repeated attacks.”

“Tonight the Nisei were chowing up on captured German rations and reminiscing about Nice and the ‘champagne campaign’ in the Maritime Alps,” Swinton said.

Reporting that the Japanese Americans were “spearheading the 5th Army drive up the Liguraian coast, Sgt. Swinton also noted that the Japanese American unit had an average age of 25 years and the highest individual “IQ” (intelligence quotient) of any infantry unit in U. S. Army.

Men of the 442nd, according to Swinton, “have won an impressive list of decorations.” They hold 31 Distinguished Service Crosses, 183 Silver Stars and 218 Bronze Stars, while the regiment as a whole has won 64 divisional citations.

The Stars and Stripes story said the Japanese Americans “were the veterans of some of the grimmest battles of the Italian campaign.”