Overview The 442nd Veterans Club of Honolulu was organized in 1946 by veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a Japanese American military unit that fought in Europe during World War II. Members of the 442nd Veterans Club include veterans assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which consisted of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Battalion, Special Companies, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, the 232nd Combat Engineer Company, and the 206th A.G.F....

Scope and Contents Personal correspondence of Hiro Higuchi, the bulk of which dates from August 1943 through November 1945, when Higuchi was serving as a chaplain for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The majority of the correspondence consists of letters exchanged between Higuchi and his wife Hisako, whom he refers to as “Mom.” Also included are letters from his son Peter, and several letters from family and friends.From the time he left Hawaii in August 1943, Higuchi wrote detailed letters...

Overview Hideo Nakamine (1922-) served as a machine gunner with the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion during World War II. The 522nd FAB, a unit of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, was one of the most efficient artillery units serving in Europe during World War II. The 522nd FAB saw action in Italy and France alongside the 442nd RCT. In March 1945, the 522nd FAB was detached from the 442nd RCT and reassigned to provide artillery support to various units participating in the Allies’ drive into Southern...

Overview Hiro Higuchi (1907-1981), a clergyman for the United Church of Christ, served as a chaplain in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II. As a chaplain, he provided comfort and solace to the troops, held religious services on the front lines, transported the wounded and dead from the battlefield, comforted injured soldiers at first aid stations, wrote letters to the families of those killed in action, held memorial services, and performed various administrative duties. By the...

Abstract John Adrian Rademaker (1905-1985), a Professor of Sociology, published the pictorial book These Are Americans: The Japanese Americans in Hawaii During World War II in 1951 to document the contributions that people of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii made to the war effort of the United States. The book tells the story of Japanese Americans’ military participation, including the Hawaii Territorial Guard, the Varsity Victory Volunteers, the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental...

Kintaro Hamashige Papers Kintaro Hamashige, raised in Laie-Kahuku, Oahu, served as an Military Intelligence Service Soldier, enlisting in the Army in 1944. He served in the Philippines, and was sent to Yokohama a week after MacArthur signed the cessation of war documents. Following the war, Mr. Hamashige attained a Business degree, and later his masters in Economics. He married Betty Ulm, and the couple settled in New York with their two children. The collection consists primarily of print material related to Mr....

Scope and Contents Note The materials include 45 photographic prints taken by 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran Masao Sakagami, CDs and DVDs containing several hundred additional digitized images from Sakagami's collection, and a bound volume facsimile reproduction of a photoalbum / scrapbook (also represented among the digitized files). The prints, all annotated, depict 100th Battalion and 42nd Regimental Combat Team veterans' reunions from 1992 to 1996. Most of the images depict either reunions...

Scope and Contents Official wartime papers generated and collected by Hiro Higuchi while he was serving as a chaplain for the 442nd R.C.T. Higuchi performed various administrative tasks, including preparing casualty lists and burial reports, writing to the families of soldiers killed in battle, and communicating with civilians and military officials concerning various matters related to the 442nd R.C.T.This series contains letters addressed to Higuchi dating from July 1943 through 1946, including...

Scope and Contents Sermons, memorial services, newspaper clippings, and other materials related to Hiro Higuchi. This series contains numerous postwar sermons and memorial services delivered by Higuchi. Some sermons are grouped into subjects assigned by Higuchi (such as “Bible” and “Thanksgiving”), although most are not. The wartime and postwar clippings document the activities and history of Higuchi and the 442nd R.C.T. This series also contains biographical materials, church service programs and other church...

Overview The Varsity Victory Volunteers (VVV) was a 169-member all-Japanese American volunteer labor unit assigned to the 34th Army Engineers at Schofield Barracks to assist in military construction projects from February 1942 through January 1943. A majority of the members were University of Hawaii ROTC students who were inducted into the Hawaii Territorial Guard (HTG) following the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. As a result of the general atmosphere of distrust following Pearl Harbor,...