Soldiers in the Hawaiian combat team began work today at Camp Shelby after their first week-end open ball and open-house at Service Club 5 where they entertained 100 Japanese-American girls from the relocation center at Rohwer, Arkansas. The visitors arrived Saturday evening and went to the hall at the service club. Dancing ended at midnight. Open house was held Sunday with a tea dance Sunday afternoon and the girls then started the return trip in their chartered buses. Expenses of the entertainment and the transportation cost were borne by the soldiers. Music for the dance Saturday night was furnished by the orchestra from the Station Hospital Medical detachment. Sgt. Francis Nataline, formerly with Sammy Kaye, directed. Sgt. Hitoshi Kanemitsu, Service Co., 442nd Inf. was master...
Continue ReadingThe cat that traveled to London to see the queen was a piker compared to Henrietta, who has come all the way from Hawaii to reside in Hattiesburg. Henrietta is a red 9-tenths Persian belonging to captain and Mrs. R. B. Ensminger, 119 Mabel Street. She is a year old and was given to them by a friend in Honolulu. When the Ensmingers left the islands for Camp Shelby they decided that Henrietta should come along too; so she was sent on a later boat to San Francisco and then to Hattiesburg by railway express. When Henrietta left home she was amply provided with food for the three weeks trip, but she was either seasick or the food was lost on the way, because she...
Continue ReadingCo. M, Bn., 442nd Inf., was responsible this week for the hilarious and enjoyable show presented each Wednesday night at Dixon stadium. Opening the program, M. C. Pvt. Timo Tomikoshi, better known as “Timoshenko,” introduced Pvt. Kashu Nishida's warblers who sang Hawaiian melodies. The entire program was one of talented variety ranging from a saxophone solo by Cpl. Kenneth Miyake, to a tonette (hill-billy “sweet potato”) solo by Pvt. Frank Mimura and an inimical and screamingly funny “strip tease” by Sgt. Noble Taziri. Most outstanding on the program, however, was the “G. I. Wahine chorus” composed of hairy-legged, broad-shoulder, bearded soldiers who were dressed in bright peasant-like ankle-length gowns. Kicking their G. I. shod feet in true “chorus girl” fashion, the chorus went through a...
Continue ReadingNicknames are often a good index to the Americanization of our citizens of foreign ancestry. Nicknames are universal but only Americans have perfected the art of bestowing them with great irreverence to fit the subject. Nicknames of Japanese-American soldiers in training here for a combat team are particularly revealing. The soldiers take great delight in naming each other with monikers that are a far cry from those that appear on the baptismal records. And the names they pick invariably stick and are worn with pride by the namee. For instance, one short, chubby soldier has been dubbed “five by five,” which in turn has been shortened to “Five.” Another Kewpie-faced private is known to his associates as "Jack O Lantern,” shortened to “Lantern.” A former...
Continue ReadingLt. and Mrs. Roy M. Hirano have arrived from Camp Savage, Minn. Lt. Hirano is with the Reg. Hqs. Co., 442nd Inf. The Hiranos are here apartment hunting. Any help along this line will be greatly appreciated. They may be reached at phone number 2687. Hattiesburg American 1943 May 21 Page 7 Surprise Birthday Party for Pvt. Thomas N. Goto Content: Pvt. Thomas N. Goto of Hq. Bty. 522nd F. A, celebrated his birthday last night with a cake sent to him from Hilo, Hawaii. The sender of the cake, Miss Haruko N. Matsuura is an instructor at the Intermediate School in the Islands. She wrote to the Hattiesburg American asking as a special favor that arrangements be made to have a cake delivered to...
Continue ReadingCpl. Harry Komatsu of Service Company, 442nd Inf., misses one thing in Mississippi. Snow. He is an avid skier — owning not one but two complete skiing outfits. His hometown, Sacramento, is not far from the Sierra Nevada's — his favorite stomping grounds. When not running his business, wholesale produce distribution, Cpl. Komatsu could be found either skiing or ice skating. Another favorite with him is track meets. “That's my dish! I never missed one if I could help it!” Being a sprinter himself, Cpl. Komatsu's interest can readily be understood. He has been in the army for 15 months being stationed at Ft. Riley Kas., before coming to Camp Shelby. Cpl. Komatsu recently celebrated his birthday May 13, in the company's mess hall. He...
Continue ReadingSgt. Kazu Nishimoto says that Kauai, Hawaii, is “The Garden Island”; like the Garden of Eden, he interpreted. Sgt. Nishimoto is with Co. A, 442nd Inf. It has not been long since the Sergeant recovered from a blossoming case of measles. Not only a birthday cake, but flowers, too, were wired from Hawaii by relatives of Pvt Hironobu Hino 442nd Med. Det., to celebrate his birthday, July 15th. Sgt. Yori Wada, formerly in the office of Major Oland Russell, Headquarters 442nd C. T., has been transferred to the Medical Detachment. Lt. Robert (Bob) Guthrie, Los Angeles, likes New Orleans and goes there whenever he can. Lt. Guthrie is with the 1st Btn., 442nd Inf. Lt. George Martin is instructor of Co. A, 442nd Inf. Lt....
Continue ReadingWhat's in a name? Not enough, according to 2nd Lt. Elmo M. Massengale, postal officer of the Japanese American Combat Team at Camp Shelby. Here are some of the problems the postal officer and these clerks have to cope with: There are 69 sets of identical names in the Combat Team, with two or sometimes three different individuals distinguishable only by serial numbers, or, more readily by the units to which they are assigned. There are 46 Nakamura's in the Combat Team. Among them are three whose first name is Takashi and who have no middle initial. There are three Tadashi Morimotos, all without middle name or initial. And there are three George Oyamas, and three Fred Matsumoto's. If Nakamura is the Smith of the...
Continue ReadingTwenty-five enlisted men of the Japanese American combat team at Camp Shelby will go to Bogalusa, LA., this week-end as guests in the homes of the townspeople. This trip is being arranged by the Young Professional Women's Club of Bogalusa under the direction of their local YWCA, special services offices of Camp Shelby and the Japanese American combat team. Travelling by bus, the boys will be met at the YWCA at 4:00 PM Saturday by their hostesses who will take them to their respective homes to spend Saturday night and Sunday. A special Saturday night program will include music numbers by the Hawaiian Combateers and the Shelby Serenaders whose members will be among the invited guests. Sunday morning the boys will attend church and the...
Continue ReadingBy Louise Rogers Food and shoe rationing, is confusing to the eight wives of Japanese-American officers who arrived here June 16 from Hawaii, and they missed the flowers which grow in profusion in the Islands. Otherwise they feel at home, and are delighted to have rejoined their husbands, who are with the 442nd Combat Team at Camp Shelby, after being separated from them for 2 1/2 months. At the Forrest Hotel, where the group is staying, Mrs. Bert Nishimura, Mrs. Theodore Sueoka, Mrs. Masayuki Kawasaki and Mrs. Yaso Abe explain that rationing of food and shoes is not a regulation in the Islands, and that this is their first experience with counting coupons. All were happy the chicken is on the unrationed list, and plentiful...
Continue ReadingPvt. Takashi Halo Hirose of the Japanese American Combat Team at Camp Shelby is only 19 years old but already he has seen large slices of the world through his ability to swim faster than adjacent competitors. In Hawaii they learned to swim early and Pvt. Hirose was no exception. He learned to swim in an irrigation ditch, rose to be a national champion at 17, swimming in the surf and best contest pools of Hawaii, North America, South America and Europe, but now he has stowed his medals and cups and is out for other laurels as a hard-working soldier in a combat team. When it comes to swimming Hirose has a good many laurels to rest on, quite comfortably. Among other achievements, he...
Continue ReadingThe sun beat down piteously. The red clay drill field at Camp Shelby caught the glare and the heat and hurled them back cruelly in the faces of the marching men. Perspiration streamed and darkened their dusty uniforms. Then came a rest. The man fell out. A few lighted cigarettes. Pvt. Tadashi Morimoto cradled his rifle and carefully wiped his rimless glasses. Through those glasses Pvt. Morimoto had looked at books and at life and had acquired a master's degree in social work. He was a graduate of the New York School of social work, a part of Columbia University. Before that, Pvt. Morimoto had graduated from the University of Hawaii. He was 31 years old, and had been married five years. Why had he...
Continue ReadingOn his way back to Hawaii after his graduation from the Yale University Divinity School, the Reverend Katsuso Miho of Hawaii spoke to the Japanese American soldiers of the Combat Team, Sunday morning in the 3rd Bn. amphitheatre. Speaking on the theme of “Two Crosses,” Reverend Miho explained that one cross stands for the physical difficulties of the world while the second signifies the clashing of ideologies. “Both crosses,” he said, “are consummated in the Cross of Calvary where Christ was willing to suffer, physical suffering and to show by His death that the ideals and standards of brotherhood are to be accomplished through suffering and difficulties. We Americans with Japanese faces are called on to bear these two crosses today.” With the background of...
Continue ReadingMuss Freeman has been selected to start on the mound for the Hattiesburg semi-professional baseball team which plays the 442nd Infantry (Japanese-American) of Camp Shelby at 2:45 PM Sunday at Kamper park. Freeman has pitched in only one game this year for Hattiesburg, giving up three hits, although Hattiesburg lost the game 5-1 to the 474th Quartermasters. After scoring victories over the 69th Quartermasters and the 631st Tank Destroyers, the locals' record stands at 2 victories and one loss. The 442nd INF. Has also dropped only one game Annette was also to the 474th quartermasters. The score was 2-1. The 442nd has made one appearance in Hattiesburg, swamping the strong 35th field artillery, 10-2. Southpaw Higuchi will probably get the call to pitch for the...
Continue ReadingThe preliminary bouts of the Camp Shelby championship boxing tournament will begin at 8 p.m. Thursday July 15 at the outdoor arena east of the Field House. In the event of rain the matches will be held inside the Field House. There will be more elimination bouts Friday night July 16 and the finals will be fought Friday July 23. The deadline for entries is noon today and the weighing-in will be held from 1-5 p.m. Thursday. To date there are about 75 registrants, with the Japanese Americans from the 442nd Combat Team making up the majority of entries in the lighter weights. The 112 lb. open and the 175 lb. open are the only two classes which have no entries. However the 160 lb....
Continue ReadingThe Miyake’s have been in Hawaii for three generations and two of those generations have gone to war when their country called. In World War I three of the family served in the United States Army, two of them as staff sergeants and one a corporal. They left the fourth member of the family at home — he was only nine years old. But now, with World War II, the 9-year-old who stayed at home has led the Miyake clan back into the army. He's Pvt. Matsumoto Miyake, 34 years old now and married. But he's in the Japanese American combat team at Camp Shelby and moreover he has five nephews here with him in the army. Three of the nephews are brothers and the...
Continue ReadingPvt. Yuri Wada, Hanford, Cal., in civilian life was a newspaper man, working on the Pinole Times, a paper published near Hanford. When seen in Headquarters, 442nd Combat Team, Pvt. Yori had a big bar of chocolate candy near his typewriter.
CPT. Walter Lesinski, 442nd Combat Team, who has been in Station Hospital as a patient for over a month, is up and about today. Capt. Lesinski suffered an accidental wound in a foot while doing bayonet practice.
Coach Richard Chinen was in charge of boxing to be a feature of entertainment of Station Hospital patients in the outdoor arena today. Coach Chinen will bring his men of the 442nd Combat Team, and will stage 10 exhibitions for the patients.
Japanese American troops at Camp Shelby sent 247 telegrams to their mothers in the islands on Mother's Day. The average cost was $2.00 a message of about 25 words. Many of the soldiers had never been away from home before they left for the mainland last month. And for many of the young men it was their first Mother's Day away from “mom.” Besides those who had dispatched telegrams, nearly 1000 more had sent air-mail letters timed to arrive home before Mother's Day. A number of the soldiers sought to make personal telephone calls to their relatives in Hawaii but restrictions on phone service due to the volume of official calls, were such as to discourage this method of communication. Perhaps it is because they...
Continue ReadingFrom a thoughtful Japanese-American girl in Hawaii came a sincere birthday greeting and a cake to Pvt. Masaru Otagura of Co. M, of the 442nd Combat Team on his 22nd birthday, June 21. Chaplain Lt. Thomas E. West, junior regimental chaplain, and Pvt. Toshiaki Mimura arranged a surprise party with 20 well-wishers present. Highlight of the affair was the cutting of the cake, appropriately inscribed “From Helen in Honolulu,” with Helen's picture looking on from the honor place on the table. After refreshments Pvt.. Plato Christophylus, 403rd F. A., played numbers followed by group singing. The party concluded with friends writing a note of appreciation to Helen. Two brothers, Pvt. Sunao, Co. B, and Pvt. Harry M. Kawahara, Co. I, were also recipients of a...
Continue ReadingThe Harrisburg semi-professional baseball team will attempt to make it three victories in a row when it meets the once-beaten 442nd Infantry (Japanese-American) squad, Sunday afternoon at Kamper park. The game will start at 2:45. The teams were evenly matched in what should be one of the best July 4th games ever played in Hattiesburg. After dropping their openers 5 to 1 to the 474th Quartermasters of Camp Shelby, the Hattiesburg club has bounced back to take two games. The 69th Quartermasters fell first 7-3 and then the 631st Tank Destroyers were defeated 5- 4. The 442nd Infantry has many victories to its credit. Included among them is a smashing 10-2 victory over the 35th Field Artillery squad of Camp Shelby. The only loss is...
Continue ReadingLt. Ralph Yempuku, Co. G, 442nd Inf., is a 1936 graduate from the University of Hawaii. He taught physical education for several years after graduating and is a good all-round athlete naming tennis, swimming, and football among his favorites. When the war broke out and the boys of Japanese ancestry were heartbreakingly dismissed from the Hawaiian Territorial Guard, Lt. Yempuku was instrumental in organizing and leading the triple V 's — an organization of loyal fellows who gave up their university work and gave, both actually and literally speaking, their services to Uncle Sam. In an effort to show their intense loyalty and their sincere desire to be of service, these university students left schools, organized themselves into the Triple V‘s, and offered their services...
Continue ReadingAdd to the brother combinations serving at Camp Shelby in the Japanese American Combat Team the three Onoderas from Minidoka relocation center at Hunt, Idaho. Pvt. Ko Onodera, 26, is the oldest of the three brothers. The other two are Kraun, 24 and Satoru, 22. A fourth brother, only 15, sorrowfully stayed at home waiting for the day when he too can volunteer The biggest thrill the Onodera brothers have had since their induction into the army was a furlough trip back to Seattle, Wash., where they were born and went to school. After induction at Fort Douglas, Utah, several weeks ago the Onodera brothers were given a seven-day furlough and they immediately left for the homes of friends in Seattle. They reported excellent treatment...
Continue ReadingThe Victory concert program to be given at 4:00 p.m. Sunday at the Front Street USO was announced today by Lucille Keen, USO music director. The program will be presented in the social hall by Chaplain T. E. West, tenor, 442nd Infantry Regiment; Sgt. Nick Montalbano, pianist, 202 Engineers; and Pvt. Plat Christopoulos, violinist, 226th Field Artillery. Chaplain West was head of the department of music at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia for three years and held the same position at Cumberland College in Kentucky prior to his induction into the army. He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and a pupil of Frank LaForge. Chaplain West studied extensively in Europe, taught in the University of Shanghai, and one year at the...
Continue ReadingPvt. Larry Ishida of Hqtrs. Co., 2nd Bn., has been playing the piano for only a few months, but like so many of his musically talented fellow soldiers, he is really a “whiz.” He states that music is his hobby and first love, with any kind of sports coming a close second. He attended the Dietz Commercial school in Honolulu and was a clerk in a shipyard prior to his voluntary enlistment in the army. The only objection he has to Mississippi is, “the weather is not suitable. It's too hot.” He went on to say that the thing most of the boys from Hawaii were interested in was a snake. He stated that he had seen pictures of them, but that his first glimpse...
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