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13 Call to Army Duty on January 6

232nd Combat Engineer Company In Action

Sixth Army Group, France — Working and fighting in the rugged Alpine mountains along the Franco-Italian frontier, an engineer combat company of the Japanese American 442nd Infantry Regiment is systematically laying a vast network of defense against possible enemy attack. Included in the engineers are: Purple Heart winner, Pvt. Toshiro H. Kanbara, son of Mrs. Tokuyo Kanbara, 6-3-C; S/ Sgt. Gengo W. Okura, son of Mr. and Mrs. Saichi Okura, 2-3-E; Pvt. George T. Noda, formerly of 9-11-E and 2nd Lt. Haranobu Tsukuno, center relocatee, all of Heart Mountain, Wyo. As part of Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Divers’ 6th Army Group, the company has laid hundreds of anti-personnel mines in an estimated 40 mine fields and erected thousands of yards of barbed- wire entanglements over...

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...

442nd Veteran Here Tells Story Of Frontline Fighting By Nisei Troops

By Jack Furumura Pvt. Sanai Kageta, wounded 442nd veteran on convalescent leave, is visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Isaburo Kageta and sister, Mitsuko, at 7-14-D. Kageta, who went overseas in August 1944 as a replacement for the nisei combat team was struck in the right leg by mortar fire as he was going to the aid of a wounded buddy in the vicinity of Biffontaine in northern France. He was attached to a company first aid unit, members of which are commonly called “medics.” Most of the wounded, says Kageta, are very calm and self-possessed when hit and manage to treat themselves with sulfathiazole powders and sulfadiazine pills before the medics reach them. The first thing we do, he said, is administer morphine to...

866 Nisei Among GI’s Honored

Butte Honors Sgt. Takasugi

About one thousand persons from all walks of life paid final respects to Sgt. Katsumi L. Takasugi in the flower-bedecked Butte High School auditorium yesterday. Sgt. Takasugi had fallen in battle in Italy on April 5. The color guard posted the colors as the buglers played the taps with an echo in the background. The scripture was read by the Rev. Clifford Nakagawa and the Rev. Y. Oshita. Block and group representatives paid floral tributes to the fallen soldier. Words of sympathy were extended to the family by Leroy H. Bennett, project director, Frank Sasaki on behalf of the Canal Parents-Relatives Asn., and Shinpei Tanaka for the Butte Parents Relatives Assn. Michimasa Asami represented the Buddhist Church, while the Rev. Steward of Mesa represented the...

Disabled Hero Convalescing

Eleven Gilans Called for Active Duty

Fourteen Men Leave Monday for Army Duty

Fred Yamamoto Fought to ‘Prepare for Peace’

Pfc. Fred Yamamoto, the first H3art Mountaineer to express his intentions of volunteering during the registration of 1943 and former member of the Sentinel staff who was killed in action in southern France Oct. 28, fought to ‘prepare for peace.’ Always a leader among young nisei, Private Yamamoto continually urged others to “buckle down to the arduous task of living in a prejudiced, complicated and war-torn world.” Previously wounded in the Italian campaign, Private Yamamoto won the Purple Heart which was delivered to his mother, Mrs. Yumi Sato, 24-18-C, 11 days after he had been killed in France. Stunned by the news of her son's death, Mrs. Sato said that she grieved deeply but that she was glad that he could die doing what he...

Freedom Well Earned

This message to all American soldiers of Japanese ancestry was given last week by Harold L. Ikes “I have gained deep satisfaction, which must have come to you as well, from the announcement by the Western Defense Command that the West Coast mass exclusion orders have been lifted. This action is a well-earned recognition of the loyalty which the great majority of evacuate people of Japanese descent have displayed in the severest test that any group of Americans have ever had to face. It is a victory of faith in the principles of real Americanism, and of unflinching patriotism so well exemplified by valiant American soldiers, from the mainland and Hawaii, whose parents come from Japan. You have made a magnificent record of service of...

Gila Doughboys Photographed

Photographs of two former Gilans now with the 7th Army in France have arrived at the reports office. Pfc. Chuck H. Mayeda, cannoneer in the famous 442nd combat team, is shown digging his foxhole. He is the son of Minaru Mayeda of 52-8-B here and is remembered in Rivers as a basketball star. He is a veteran with seven months’ overseas service and is entitled to wear three battle stars. His brother Tots, is a staff sergeant, also in the service. Pvt. Frederick Imai, medical aid man in the same combat team, is shown relaxing by reading “Life” magazine during a bit of time off. He is the son of Frederick Imai 74-6-C. He too is entitled to wear three battle stars, being a veteran...

Gila Sends Off B Men Tonight

Gila To Honor Dead Soldiers

Girls Entertain 200 Soldiers

Some 200 Nisei soldiers stationed at a camp near New York City were recently entertained by 125 Nisei girls from New York and vicinity at a party in honor of the soldiers at the Nyack, N. Y. USO. The program included singing by Miss Tubby Kunimatsu, formerly of Heart Mountain, and dancing by Misses Yuriko Amemiya and Mae Enseki, both of whom came to New York City from Gila River. Miss Enseki presented some Hawaiian dances and Miss Amemiya, who is a member of the famous Martha Graham dance company, performed several modern dance. The Nisei girls made the trip from New York to Nyack and returned in buses provided by the USO. They were rounded up on only several days’ notice by the New...

Lt. Yonemura, Pvts. Nagata, Hayashi Killed In Action On Italian Front

Heart Mountain was grieved this week with the death of three more of its soldiers — 2nd Lt. Hitoshi “Moe” Yonemura, Pvt. Jim Nagata and S/Sgt. Joe Hayashi — who were killed as the world famous 442nd combat team closed in on the Nazi enemy for the knockout blow in Italy. Besides the death of the trio six other Heart Mountain soldiers were reported slightly wounded during the last week. Casualties this week increased Heart Mountain’s total to 11 killed and 46 wounded. Those wounded are: Pfc. Masami Iso, son of Mrs. Koume Iso, 21-14-B. Pvt. Jone S. Koshiba, son of Mrs. Kuma Koshiba, 25-13-F. Pvt. Tadashi Spencer Sato, son of Ben S. Sato, 24-9-D. T/4 Seiji Nishioka, son of Mrs. Ochiye Nishioka, 12-24-F. Pfc....

Mark Tanouye Suffers Wound In Italy Drive

Cpl. Mark H. Tanouye, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Iwajiro Tanouye, 23-10-E, was reported to have been wounded in action recently in Italy, according to word received here. Attached to Battery A, 522 Field Artillery Battalion, 442nd combat team, Corporal Tanouye wrote from “somewhere in Italy” to a family member stating that “I'm in the hospital and will be fully recovered in a few days.” He did not actually report that he was wounded in combat but it was apparent from other statements. Going from one of the largest families in the center, numbering 14 and all, he has one brother, Pfc Harry Tanouye, also in the 442nd combat team, and two others, George and James, awaiting calls for Army Service. Their pre- evacuation...

Nisei Battalion Highly Lauded

Nisei Deal Final Blow To Krauts 442nd’s Sensational Gains Lead To Crack-up Of Nazis And Northern Italy Theater

Washington, D. C. — American doughboys of Japanese ancestry carried the brunt of the attack which finally smashed the German hordes in northern Italy and led to their unconditional surrender to the allied armies on Wednesday, press dispatches revealed this week. Sensational gains before the final crack-up of the German army brought heavy casualties to the nisei soldiers but expressions from parents, brothers and sisters, the majority of whom are in relocation centers, were of sudden relief that the fighting had ended and the famous fighting unit would have respite. “Members of the 442nd infantry regiment, composed of American doughboys of Japanese descent are in the vanguard of the 5th Army’s great offensive which has smashed the German army in northern Italy, the War department...

Nisei First to Reach ‘Lost Battalion’

With The U. S. 7th Army in France — On the 7th day while Nazi guns kept hammering away, picking off one after another of the American lost battalion which had been cut off on a Vosges hill, 2nd Lt. Edwin Blonder, Cleveland, Ohio, an artillery observer, remarked, “I’ll bet the 442nd is the first to reach us. I'd give $1000 to see a Jap come through these woods right now.” And, according to Seymour Kerman, Chicago Tribune correspondent, Lt. Gordon Nelson, Dedham, Mass., a company commander, had jested back, “yes, and I'll bet you're the first man in the American army who has ever said they wanted to see that.” “Sure enough,” the correspondent wrote, “the 442nd was the first to breakthrough the encirclement...

Nisei Participation in Battle of Belvedere told in ‘Yank’

Featured in a recent issue of the Yank magazine, a weekly army publication having a world-wide coverage, was an article accompanied by several photographs, titled “The Battle of Belvedere,” which gave a detailed account of the participation of Japanese American soldiers in the battle for the town of Belvedere in Italy. Written by James P. O'Neill, Yank staff correspondent, the article said: “there are three outfits that will remember the little Tuscany town of Belvedere for a long while to come. Two of them are the American 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Combat Team, now spearheading the drive to the north. The other is a German SS battalion, the remnants of which are now spearheading a drive towards Naples and the nearest PW camp....

Nisei Unit Gets High Citation Extract from this article

Resident found dead last night

Service Planned For Pvt. Kanada

Seventeen Men Leave Rivers for Active Duty

Three Gilans Hurt In Battle

Two Gila Boys Slightly Hurt In Italy Front

Two Heart Mountain GI's Show Outstanding Valor in Battle

With the 5th Army – Italy Pfc. Tadao Harito of Heart Mountain, Wyoming, medical aid man with the 442nd Combat Team, administered aid to 12 wounded men in a mine-infested field under the impact of hand grenades, mortar and small arms fire. In the vicinity of Severezza, Italy, Company A, to which Horita was attached, launched an attack against strongly-defended Mount Cerrata. The attack was one of the spearheads of the 5th Army’s final drive in Italy. Guarded by their well prepared minefield, the enemy opened fire with mortars, small arms, and hand grenades. Two medical aid men and 10 soldiers were injured. This left Horita to care for the entire company. He immediately moved up from the support platoon, carefully weaving his way through...

Two Killed, Seven Hurt On Italy Battlefront

More casualty notices hit Rivers in a bunch this week with the War Department telegrams announcing the death of two Gila boys and the wounding of seven others on the Italian front on April 5 and 6. Dead: Pvt. James J. Kanada, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Seijuro Kanada formerly of Concord, Calif., killed in Italy, April 5. Sgt. Katsumi L. Takasugi, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank W. Takasugi, formerly of Ventura, Calif., killed in Italy, April 5. Seriously Wounded: Pfc. Takashi Yamamoto son of Mr. and Mrs. George Yamamoto, formerly of Selma, Calif., wounded in Italy, April 5. Pfc. Yamamoto is one of four brothers in the Army. Slightly Wounded: Pfc. Tadakazu M. Kato, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sakujuri Kato, formerly...

Young Japanese Alien Volunteers for Army