The War Department order that established the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) explicitly sought “men of
Japanese ancestry who have resided in the United States since birth.” Although only
1,500 of these were to come from Hawaii, some 10,000 Hawaiian Nisei volunteered
to fight. The 442nd RCT began basic training in April 1943 with 3,000 volunteers
from Hawaii and 800 from the mainland camps, where Japanese-American families
had been forced to relocate. In the wake of D-Day, the 442nd fought numerous
battles in France against the Germans. In one such battle, the unit was tasked with
the capture of Bruyères, a town which lay at the foot of a hill in the Vosges. The
442nd was to attack from the west, with the 100th Bn. on the left, advancing along
the hillside. The attack jumped off on 15 October, but met heavy resistance. To make
matters worse, the ground was muddy and the Germans had devoted significant time
and effort to fortifying Bruyères, making it more resistant to the frequent artillery
strikes. The only way to remove the resolute defenders was to send in the infantry.
