The Pittsburgh Press (October 21, 1943)
5th Army: Jap-Americans fighting in Italy prove themselves in battle
By Reuel S. Moore, United Press staff writer
Washington –
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson had a reply today for Americans who believe that all persons of Jap descent are evil – a report on an infantry battalion of Japanese-Americans that led a veteran division of the 5th Army into action in Italy.
All of the enlisted men and many of the officers of the 100th Infantry Battalion were born and brought up in Hawaii. Their parents are Japanese. A report from 5th Army headquarters, released by Mr. Stimson at his news conference, said:
These soldiers are as far away from the stereotyped picture of the evildoing sons of Japan as the all-American boy is from a headhunter. It’s in their faces. They obviously believe in what they’re doing and look calmly secure because of it. They are in the habit of enjoying life like any good American. They like the world they live in.
They don’t ask for anything… They’re fighting, with the rest of us, taking their regular turn.
The 100th Infantry Battalion was under fire for four days in Italy. It was its first engagement.
The first action was fought by a company commanded by Capt. Taro Suzuki of Honolulu, a veteran of 16 years in the Army, 12 of which were in the reserves. Capt. Suzuki described the action this way:
Our leading scouts rounded a bend and three German machine guns opened up. There was nothing to do but go to work on them alone because nobody to the rear could see to fire the heavy stuff. As if we didn’t have trouble enough, the Germans broke everything loose on us – machine guns, mortars, rifles and heavy artillery.
You know what stopped all that Nazi wrath? Our little 60mm mortars. Boy, it felt good to see them dropping!
The hero of that show was an unnamed Japanese-American sergeant who led a squad that Capt. Suzuki sent out to get one of the enemy machine guns. A high-ranking officer described his deed thusly:
In the infantry, the first scout is usually a private, but the sergeant said: “It’s the first time so I’m going first.” When a shell got him, he hung on long enough to tell me all he knew about German gun positions.
No wonder they got bogged down in italy till 1945