Shigeichi Robert Adachi
Private
442nd Regimental Combat Team
2nd Battalion, E Company
Shigeichi Robert Adachi was born November 27, 1918, in Watsonville, California. Military records show him as Shigeichi Bob Adachi, but his middle name was Robert, and he went by Bob or Shige. His parents, Frank Jukichi Shigeichi and Mia (Uyeno) Adachi, emigrated from Kyoto Prefecture on May 9, 1905, and May 25, 1915, respectively. Jukichi arrived on the RMS Empress of India. There were three daughters – Yayoi Dorothy, Chitose Betty, and Fusaye Rose, and two sons – Ryoichi Roy and Shigeichi – in the Adachi family.
In 1930, the family lived at 111 South Fremont Street in San Mateo and Jukichi was a gardener. Shige’s mother died in 1938. In 1940, Bob and his brother were working for their father at his gardening business.
Shige signed his draft registration card on October 16, 1940, at Local Board No. 105 at City Hall in San Mateo. At the time, he was living with his family at 11 North Fremont Street and his father was his point of contact. He was 5’6” tall and weighed 139 pounds. He was employed by M. Murai at 126 Fremont Street.
In the spring of 1942, the family was evacuated to the Tanforan WCCA Assembly Center, located on the grounds of Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno, 11 miles north of their home in San Mateo.
On September 17, 1942, the family was incarcerated at Central Utah WRA Relocation Camp, also known as Topaz, in west-central Utah. While there he met Mary Matsuura of Pleasanton, California, and they married on February 29, 1943. They lived in Unit 5-11-A and their first child, a daughter, was born at Topaz in late 1944.
On April 8, 1944, in the Topaz Times it was reported that of the 176 Topaz young men listed to be processed for the Armed Forces since February 26, 130 of them were to report to the Fort Douglas, Utah, induction center on April 13 for their pre-induction physical examination. It was further reported that the first group of twelve Topaz inductees were to report to Fort Douglas on April 12, and upon induction they would be placed in the Enlisted Reserve Corps and allowed to return to the camp at Topaz. Adachi was among this group of twelve.
On May 29, Shige was released to Fort Douglas, Utah, where he was inducted into the U.S. Army. His induction was reported in The Times, the newspaper of his hometown of San Mateo.
After training, Adachi was sent to France to join the 442nd as a replacement. By that time due to battle casualties there was an ongoing need for more soldiers to be sent from basic training to the replenish the ranks. He served in the Rhineland-Vosges and the Rhineland-Maritime Alps Campaign in southern France. He earned his Combat Infantryman Badge in the Vosges, as reported in the Pacific Citizen newspaper of Salt Lake City on February 17, 1945.
Private Adachi was with the Combat Team when they left Marseilles, France, on March 17-19, 1945, for Pisa, Italy, for participation in the Po Valley Campaign. After the war ended in May, he remained in Italy for several months during the occupation.
For his service, Private Adachi was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze stars, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal, and Combat Infantryman Badge. He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on October 5, 2010, along with the other veterans of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team. This is the highest Congressional Civilian Medal.
Shige was discharged from the Army on February 12, 1946. He returned to San Mateo where he and his wife settled. They had one more child, a son, and Shige established a landscaping and gardening business. On June 21, 1954, his father became a naturalized U.S. citizen
Shigeichi Robert Adachi died on December 29, 1976, in Los Angeles, and was survived by his wife Mary and two children.
His brother Ryoichi Roy Adachi served as a Staff Sergeant in B Battery, 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, 442nd RCT.
Researched and written by the Sons & Daughters of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in 2021.