John was in the third group of volunteers to leave Topaz for Camp Shelby, MS in June 1943. Here he underwent basic training in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, I Company.
In April 1944, John’s mother, Toku, was admitted to the Topaz Hospital and diagnosed with breast cancer. Four days later, the 442 left Camp Shelby for Virginia, their departure point for Naples, Italy. When his mother died in early June, John was far away in Bagnoli, a staging area near Naples, waiting to be deployed to Anzio.
On June 26, the 442 joined the 100th Infantry Battalion, the battle-hardened unit comprised of Hawaiian Nisei, and went into action against the Germans near Suvereto in northern Italy. In late September they sailed to Marseilles and made the long haul north to join the Rhineland-Vosges campaign.
After heavy fighting, the 100th/442nd liberated the towns of Bruyéres and Biffontaine in late October. They were then called on to rescue the 1st Battalion, 141st (Texas) Infantry, which had become surrounded by the Germans in the Vosges Mountains. Two previous rescue attempts by other battalions of the 141st had failed. One attack line involved traversing steep terrain (later called “Suicide Hill”) and capturing a ridge which was held by the Germans.
Over five days of intense fighting, October 26-30th, the 100th/442nd managed to break through German defenses and rescue the 211 remaining members of the “Lost Battalion,” suffering more than 800 casualties to do so. John’s I Company, 185-men strong before the attack, emerged with only eight men unhurt.
On November 12, Major General John E. Dahlquist, whose decisions had gotten the 141st trapped, and who had then ordered the 100th/442nd to rescue them, ordered a review of the Nisei troops to thank them for their successful efforts. He expressed annoyance that so few had shown up for the review and was then informed that the soldiers present were all that remained standing.
Thanks for this great story. I was in troop 26 and never heard this story – it absolutely needs to be told to all the younger generations living in Berkeley today.
Thank you, Hiro. Please feel free to share the link with friends and family.
The Sons and Daughters of the 442nd RCT is gathering information about Japanese American veterans who died in WWII, from which much of the source material about John Harano’s time in the 442 was drawn. Check out their website: https://442sd.org/
John’s story is only one of many. I focused on him because I have Nisei friends who were neighbors of Mr. Harano in Topaz and they remembered John. I agree with you that it’s important to share this story and to remember the upstanding young men who were basically used as “cannon fodder” while their families were incarcerated behind barbed wire by the government they served. That so many survived, and prevailed, is only a testament to their grit and dedication, and the sacrifice of those who did not.