Staff Sergeant John Harano was not among them. He was killed leading his unit in an attack on “Suicide Hill” on October 29. He was 20 years old.
What might he have achieved had he lived? What did he achieve by his death? On July 15, 1946, on presenting a citation to the 442nd/100th, then-President Harry S. Truman, paraphrasing his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, said, “…Americanism is not a matter of race or creed, it is a matter of the heart…”, and concluded, “You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice–and you have won.”1
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.