Combat Team Recruits Make Up Lost Time

Drilling doubly hard in order “to catch up” with their fellow Japanese Americans who were inducted earlier, late comers to the Nisei Combat Team at Camp Shelby are putting in hard licks as members of the recruit training class which assembles daily in the area fronting regimental headquarters.

Commanded by 1st Lt. David L. Moseley of Eastanollee, Ga., this class was organized to aid those volunteers who reported here after the regular basic training schedule was well underway. They realized they are out to make up for lost time, but, according to 1st Lt. Richard K. Betsui, executive officer, of Honolulu, “These new men are showing a keen desire to learn. They have great ability, they take their training seriously and are doing fine. Instructors 2nd Lt. Marion B. Paddock of Sweetwater, Texas, and 2nd Lt. Charles W. Ganster of Pittsburgh, Pa., echoed the sentiments.

All members of the class are volunteers, most of them having formerly lived in West Coast areas which were evacuated by persons of Japanese ancestry. From various relocation camps they have answered the call to military duty enthusiastically not only to contribute to winning the war but also to aid in establishing beyond all doubt the loyalty of Japanese Americans to the land of their birth.

Pvt. George Hosoda, for example, volunteered from the “free zone” of Emmett, Idaho, because of his conviction, he says, that he had to do something for his country. When joining the army he made his first trip beyond the boundaries of his native state.

Pvt. John Ishikawa saw a newsreel account of the Japanese American Combat Team at a theater in Cleveland, Ohio, and decided then and there he should volunteer. On his 18th birthday, after graduating from the John Adams high school, he applied to his draft board and was accepted. He doesn't regret his choice, he says, and doesn't believe the news-reel overdid its picture of the unit.

With one brother already in the army, Pvts. Ken and Tad Higashi volunteered from the Minidoka relocation center at Hunt, Idaho. They too, expressed a desire to prove their devotion to their country.

Pvt. George the Zaima volunteered from the Relocation Center at Poston, Arizona. He is a native of Montebello, California. “This is tough training,” he said, “but I had no illusions. I'm in to make a good soldier.” Pvt. Larson Sakai, also from Montebello, was determined to get into the army ever since Pearl Harbor, and did enlist at his first opportunity. “I'm a Japanese American, but America needs soldiers and I'm one of the men America needs. That's why I'm here,“ said Pvt. Sakai conclusively.