A Salute to “The One Puka Puka”
Did you ever wonder how the 1ooth Battalion began? Ted Tsukiyama unfolds the “guinea pig battalion” story in “The One Puka Puka”… Their Japanese ancestry caused them to be unwanted, feared, distrusted and even despised. An expected Japanese invasion of Hawaii induced their hasty removal from their beloved island home. The Army didn’t know what to do with them after 14 months of training, even after their dispatch to North Africa. They were the Army’s “orphan outfit,” playing “guinea pig” for Japanese Americans in military service. Finally, after assignment to the 34th Division they gained the opportunity to engage in combat as the first and only segregated, all-Japanese infantry unit. Soon they earned the reputation as the “Purple Heart Battalion” as the most decorated unit...
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