WWII Lessons Come Alive in Japanese Americans' Tales

Terry Shima, Japanese American Veterans Association director, discusses the experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II. Other speakers last week were Mary Tamaki Murakami, Grant Hirabayashi and Joe Ichiuji. (By Lauren Mincher)

"I wouldn't be able to do that. I have too many things," Gutierrez said.

Shima and fellow speaker Joe Ichiuji of Rockville told students that they were members of the Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a unit of Japanese Americans from Hawaii and the mainland who fought not only to defeat the enemy, but also to prove their loyalty to their country.

Ichiuji, 89, said he was already in the Army when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. But, after the attack, he was immediately discharged.

"I was suddenly discharged, and I did not know why," he said. "The government that drafted me decided I was no longer fit for service because of my Japanese heritage."

Ichiuji and his family were shipped to an internment camp in Arizona in 1942. When the Army called for volunteers to join the newly forming 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the 100th Infantry Battalion in early 1943, Ichiuji didn't hesitate to sign up.

"I did not want to give up this opportunity to prove I was a loyal American and to serve my country in a time of war," he told the students.

Ichiuji fought in battles in Italy, France and Germany, where he helped liberate a part of Dachau, one of the infamous Nazi concentration camps.

"It's ironic that many of us who came from the American camps would be involved with the liberation of the Jews," he said. But he noted that internment camps were far different in "scope and purpose" from the concentration camps.

"Nothing can compare with the horrors of the Nazi death camps," he said.

Grant Hirabayashi, 89, of Silver Spring also was in the Army when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Because of his fluency in Japanese, he was sent to the military intelligence service's language school to learn military Japanese.

As a member of the Special Forces, he participated in secret missions to gather intelligence in the Pacific, including capturing documents, interrogating prisoners of war and intercepting enemy communications.

"Our service did not end with the end of the war," he told the students. "At the conclusion of the war, our language skills and knowledge of the culture were called upon" during the U.S. military's occupation of Japan.

For Japanese Americans, proving their loyalty was paramount, the veterans said. Shima noted that more than 800 Japanese Americans were killed during the war.

The veterans said that although the 442nd was honored by President Harry S. Truman in a 1946 Washington ceremony, it wasn't until decades later that President Ronald Reagan issued an apology to Japanese Americans for their treatment during the war.

Even with all of his troubles, Ichiuji told the students that he was "proud of my great nation that apologized for a mistake [made] over 60 years ago and vowed to never let it happen again."