<Begin Segment 35>

TK: Okay. So then the 442nd goes to Europe. And you were with them.

MT: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

TK: And in fact, their motto is "Go for Broke."

MT: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

TK: And I notice on your cap that you have a number of insignias. Perhaps you can tell us about your experiences in some of the various campaigns that you went through.

MT: [Ed. note: narrator holds up his uniform cap] This "Go for Broke" is a 442 Regimental Combat Team cap and...

TK: Could you explain that, perhaps? What is a "regimental combat team"?

MT: A regimental combat team is, there's several regiments to a division, but we were what we called an oversized regiment. In other words, we were a lot bigger than a normal regiment would be, that's in a division. So included is the infantry, the artillery, the engineers and the medics was our entire regimental combat team. And inside the combat team, like I just mentioned, the 522nd Field Artillery was one of the units that supported the infantry with artillery shells going into, in front of them, or into the enemy, German territory. But this is a, when I was with the 40th Division I was with the 160th Infantry, I mean, regiment and this is the Hollywood National Guard, which I saved and I treasure it because it meant so much. But, and this is the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and it's a patch that we wore here. And, but we were assigned to, like the 36th Division, 34th Division. So, in this case here, we got along very well with the 36th Division so we had this patch put on the "Go for Broke," where we traveled, fought in Europe.

TK: Perhaps you can talk about some of the campaigns and then maybe we'll ask some specific questions about particular campaigns that you went through. Maybe just an overview of some of the things the 442nd or 522 went through.

MT: Yeah, after maneuvers, we came back and, like I mentioned, I had the opportunity to help, seeing my daughter, Charlene, born, came back to camp, we got everything ready and we shipped out to Hampton Roads, Virginia and we camped there. And we almost got in a fight over there between the Hawaiian contingent and the hakujin units that were going overseas there, too. So you can see that because of the unseen discrimination, it still tagged along with us. But we left Hampton Roads and we joined the 101-ship convoy and it took us thirty days to zigzag across the Atlantic. And in my case, the 522, we landed at Brindisi, Italy, which is at the toe of Italy if you look on the map there. And from there we went up toward, debarked and with the 100th Infantry Battalion, we started combat just south of Naples and so we went, we went through the Rome-Arno in Northern Apennines, Rhineland in central Europe with places that we had combat with. But the, the 442 and, was very well-accepted by all the army corps as a crack regimental combat team and they wanted us to be attached to every one of the different units. And it's really an honor that the General Mark Clark and Patton all requested that they attach the 442 with their units. So, and...

TK: The 442nd has attained a superlative combat record. Do you have any ideas of why this unit, with the engineers, the medical, the artillery, and the infantry performed so well during this time?

MT: It was really hard to explain, I guess, but I personally say that we go back to our Issei parents, mother and father, the way they raised us, the culture they... and overall sadachi, that we were able to take the good parts and so when we were in combat, I think we had that, still that kimochi of... I think we get into giri, on, oyakoko when they, when we, when they went in to take, to pull out the Texas unit that were trapped by the Germans. We call it the "Banzai Hill" but I think that really, being Japanese American and, that spirit was right with us all the time and it's hard to explain, but I think that's what really showed up.

<End Segment 35> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.