Today we pause to honor the memory of Staff Sergeant John Harano of the 442 Regimental Combat Team’s 3rd Battalion, I Company.
He fought in WWII campaigns in Northern Italy and France, and was killed leading his platoon in an attack on German defenses entrenched atop “Suicide Hill” on October 29, 1944 in the ultimately successful attempt to rescue members of the 141st (Texas) Infantry, who were surrounded by Germans. He was 20 years old.
John left behind his father, imprisoned in the Topaz concentration camp in Utah. John’s mother had died in the Topaz hospital four months earlier.
The 442 suffered more than 800 casualties in the action to rescue 211 Texans. They didn’t ask who the 211 had voted for, who they loved, or what their politics were. They fought for the dream of a world which would not become a playground for bullies, but where the rule of law would ensure a just and democratic society–something that must have seemed beyond reach for them and their families in 1944.
Sometimes that dream still seems beyond reach. Let’s continue their legacy and keep fighting.
Read John’s story, “Go For Broke,” by Ruth Sasaki.
The Topaz Stories Team
Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
Follow us on Instagram @topazstories
Media Coverage:
Read Internee’s story told with ‘Topaz Collages’ (Wheel of Dharma, Vol. 5, Issue 3, March 2023).
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)