As we all strive to keep the legacy of the World War II AJA (Americans of Japanese ancestry) soldiers and veterans vibrant and relevant, we would appreciate support in our efforts to take a proactive approach to work together for data accuracy. By sharing information and working collaboratively, we can “lock arms” to have a consistent and accurate message to the public, with less missing, different, or conflicting data.
To this end, the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans (Club 100) organization would like to share the below 100th Infantry Battalion Historical Overview, providing the history of the battalion’s formation, combat record, and statistics & awards/decorations.
We would also like to provide the below “Unit and Individual Awards List” for the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, as published by the Japanese Americans Veterans Association (JAVA). The list updates figures originally published in Major Orville Shirey’s book, Americans: The Story of The 442nd Combat Team (Washington, DC: Infantry Journal Press, 1946), and was compiled by a five-member research team of subject matter experts on the World War II AJA units, including Terry Shima, Jeff Morita, Mark Matsunaga, Isami Yoshihara and Metta Tanikawa.
The research team worked diligently to update the list to represent the current award numbers for the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Research Team member and 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans Communications Committee member Isami Yoshihara, brother of 100th Infantry Battalion Able Company veteran Hisashi Yoshihara, provides the scope of work and process for this research in the below file, along with a request for all organizations to review and update the statistics on their organization’s references, publications, exhibits, materials, and/or websites to confirm that the data used is consistent with the attached list.
We hope this will lead to better quality in the way we communicate the precious message of the AJA Nisei that served in World War II. Please feel free to contact us with any questions in regards to the 100th Infantry Battalion.
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