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.
Right: Bob and Mary, 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.
Above: At Camp Shelby, 1944 –Bob (front row far left) with fellow trainees and instructor
Left: Camp Shelby, 1944 – Bob (left) with mortor instructor (right)
Adachi was sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, for basic training. At this time, the 442nd was in combat in Italy during the Rome-Arno Campaign. Due to battle casualties, there was an ongoing need to send new soldiers directly from basic training to replenish the ranks and keep the 442nd at fighting strength.
Right: Bob in front of a hutment at Camp Shelby, 1944
Adachi – or Teiken, as he was known – was then sent to the Theater of War to join the 442nd as a replacement. He arrived in France in time to fight in the Rhineland-Vosges Campaign, where, he earned his Combat Infantryman Badge, as reported in the Pacific Citizen newspaper of Salt Lake City on February 17, 1945.
He fought in the fierce battles in the Vosges, which included the liberation of the important road and rail junction of Bruyères and the rescue of the “Lost Battalion” – the 1st Battalion, 141st “Texas” Regiment, that had become trapped behind the lines. Following this campaign, the 442nd was sent to the south of France for the Rhineland-Maritime Alps Campaign. This was mostly a defensive position with the mission of guarding against incursion by the enemy across the border with Italy. While there, the men were often given day passes to enjoy Nice – thus, the nickname “Champagne Campaign.”
Private Adachi was with the Combat Team when they left Marseilles, France, on March 20-22, 1945, for Pisa, Italy, for participation in the Po Valley Campaign. In the early part of April, the Combat Team set off in the mountainous area of the west coast of northern Italy with the mission of cracking the western anchor of the Gothic Line. In what was ordered as a diversionary attack to draw off critical German army units from the Gothic Line center, the 442nd RCT rapidly crushed the German defenses, and continued on the attack, turning the planned diversion into a full-scale breakthrough of the vaunted Gothic Line, liberating the west of Italy all the way to Turin.
After the war ended in May, he remained in Italy for several months during the occupation. He and brother Roy were able to see each other and had a studio portrait taken together.
Left: Bob and Roy Adachi, Italy 1945
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.
Bob Adachi 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 Bob established a landscaping and gardening business. He also was employed for many years by the Hillsborough School District as a groundskeeper. One year, he was asked to speak to the students about his experiences being incarcerated at Topaz and serving in the 442nd in Europe. On June 21, 1954, his father, Jukichi, 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. Mary Adachi passed away on August 25, 2006, and was inurned with her husband at Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo.
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. Updated with the assistance of his family in 2024.