Sacrifice 1943 - 1945

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x Sacrifice 1943 - 1945

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1399th Engineers Activated

The 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion is activated at Schofield Barracks on Oahu. It is composed of Nisei soldiers combined from elements of the 395th Prewar Quartermaster Battalion, 370th Engineer Battalion, 1536th Dump Truck Battalion, and 1525th Base Equipment Company.
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442nd Arrives in Italy

Most units of the 442nd arrive at Naples, Italy. Due to port congestion, some of the units arrive later. The last to arrive this day are the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion and most of 2nd Battalion, whose ships land at Brindisi and Bari on the east coast of Italy. They move by train boxcars to the Naples area to join up with the 442nd.
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442nd Cannon Company Activated

Cannon Company of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team is activated at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Its primary weapon is six light, truck-drawn, 105mm howitzers. They will provide close support to the regiment’s three infantry battalions, supplementing the fire power of the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion.
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442nd Departs the US

The 442nd boards troop ships at Hampton Roads, Virginia. They join a large convoy of ships and set to sea, bound for Europe. The soldiers have not been told were they are going, but get a good clue when Italian language booklets are passed out. Sealed orders are opened once at sea and confirm they are on their way to Italy.
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442nd Moves to Anzio Beachhead

Over several days, the 442nd sails by LST and LSI to the Anzio beachhead. Following closely on the heals of the breakout and liberation pf Rome, the 442nd convoys to an assembly area north of Rome near Citivitavecchia. Here they will have final combat training and make preparations to move to the front line.
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442nd Moves to France

442nd embarks on Navy transport ships Thurston, Dickman, Chase, and Henrico at Naples, Italy, and sails for southern France. On September 29 they debark at Marseilles and begin preparations to move to the battlefront in northeast France.
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442nd RCT Activated

Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team authorized by War Department, composed of: 1 infantry regiment, 1 field artillery battalion, 1 engineer company, 1 medical detachment, and an army band. The cadre to organize, train, and lead the combat team is quickly formed and sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to prepare for the arrival of the thousands of young Nisei men who are expected to respond to the call to volunteer. The officers selected are almost all experienced Caucasian soldiers and are given orders to report to Camp Shelby typically within 2 weeks. The enlisted cadre are AJA soldiers, many of whom had been drafted before Pearl Harbor and are now sidelined in menial tasks because of their ancestry.

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442nd RCT Breaks Through Gothic Line

442nd RCT is key to Allied success in breaching the Nazi’s Gothic Line in northern Italy. Intended as a diversionary attack, the 442nd climbs in secret at night to the ridgeline and mountaintop German defenses, attacks at dawn, and completely defeats the enemy positions. What follows is a series of continuing attacks by the 442nd, chasing the Germans north into the Po Valley. The diversionary attack becomes a full breakthrough of the Gothic Line in the west, successfully drawing off German units from the center of the Gothic Line, and then defeating them as well. By the time the German Army in Italy surrenders, lead elements of the 442nd are in Turin, Italy.
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442nd RCT Departs Camp Shelby

Their training now complete, the 442nd travels from Camp Shelby, Mississippi, by train for several days, arriving at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. Here they will prepare for shipment to the combat theater in Europe. The orders are secret and they do not know where they are going to land.
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442nd RCT Reassigned to Southern France

The battles to drive the Germans from the Bruyères and Biffontaine region and rescue the “Lost Battalion” presented the 7th Army with an unexpected opportunity to flank their lines and force them in retreat. This was the first time in recorded history that an attacking force had broken through the Vosges Mountains. But the 442nd paid a very high price for this victory, with 140 men dead and about 1,800 in field hospitals. It was no longer battle-capable and was sent to man defensive positions on the French-Italian border in the Maritime Alps to the sea at Menton, France. Here the regiment rebuilds its strength and prepares for the final battles to win the war in Europe. The 442nd soldiers dub this the “Champagne Campaign.”
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442nd RCT Sent to Mainland

The 2,686 volunteers from Hawaii for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team are sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, for training. Over 100 have fathers in internment camps. They sail on the S.S. Lurline for Oakland, California, where they board three trains that will take separate routes to Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

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522nd FA Bn Enters Combat in Germany

522nd Field Artillery Battalion is detached from the 442nd RCT to fight in the Central Europe Campaign; it is the only Nisei unit in combat in Germany. They convoy by truck departing March 9, 619 miles north to reach the front lines on the German border. On March 13 they fire their first rounds in support of the attack to breach the Seigfried Line. By March 26 they are firing in support of the 45th Division crossing of the Rhine River.
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522nd FA Bn Liberates French POWs

On April 30 the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion liberates a large number of French Army soldiers and captures their German Army prisoner of war guards near Moerlbach, Germany. It is likely that these French soldiers were captured in the failed attack on Moerlbach on 1-2 March 1945 by the 1st French Army Group.
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Call for Volunteers for the 442nd

The War Department plans for the 442nd RCT call for 4,000 men, 1,500 to come from Hawaii and 2,500 from the Mainland concentration camps where the west coast AJA families have been imprisoned. However, the expectation from the concentration camps is not met and the quota from Hawaii is increased. 10,000 volunteer in Hawaii and 2,686 are enlisted beginning Mar 23, 1943. They are sent to Schofield Barracks on Oahu island to organize and prepare for shipment to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to be trained as a combat-ready regiment.

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VE Day – Victory in Europe

Germany surrenders all forces unconditionally in Reims, France, on May 7. Victory in Europe is declared the next day, May 8. The 442nd in Italy becomes part of the occupation force, ultimately stationed in Livorno. In Germany, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion also transitions to occupation duty. It is assigned responsibility for a district in Bavaria and headquartered in Donauwörth.
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