More than 33,000 Japanese Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II, with many serving with the 100th Infantry Battalion or the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The reason Go for Broke Day is on April 5th is for the heroic actions of private first class Sadao S. Munemori. Munemori was born in Los Angeles in 1922. He joined the U.S. Army on Nov. 2, 1941, a month before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Following the attack and President Roosevelt’s 1942 Executive Order 9066, Munemori’s family, along with thousands of other Japanese Americans, were sent to Manzanar. Located in the Sierra Mountains of California, Manzanar was one of 10 Japanese internment camps established during the war.

Munemori’s Medal of Honor citation:

“He fought with great gallantry and intrepidity near Seravezza, Italy. When his unit was pinned down by grazing fire from the enemy's strong mountain defense and command of the squad devolved on him with the wounding of its regular leader, he made frontal, one-man attacks through direct fire and knocked out two machine guns with grenades.

Withdrawing under murderous fire and showers of grenades from other enemy emplacements, he had nearly reached a shell crater occupied by two of his men when an unexploded grenade bounced on his helmet and rolled toward his helpless comrades. He arose into the withering fire, dived for the missile, and smothered its blast with his body.

By his swift, supremely heroic action Pfc. Munemori saved two of his men at the cost of his own life and did much to clear the path for his company's victorious advance.” Munemori was presented the Medal of Honor posthumously on March 13, 1946. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles. The units lost 650 men, more than 3,700 were wounded in action, and 67 were declared missing in action.

In their two years of service, the 442nd RCT and the 100th IB, before it joined the 442nd, earned:

• 7 Presidential Unit Citations

• 2 Meritorious Service Plaques

• 36 Army Commendation Medals

• 87 Division Commendations Individual soldiers were awarded 18,000 decorations, including:

21 Congressional Medals of Honor 20 awarded in 2000. Nine of the 21 recipients of the unit’s Congressional Medals of Honor died in action.

52 Distinguished Service Crosses

560 Silver Stars (plus 28 Oak Leaf Clusters for a second award)

4,000 Bronze stars

9,486 Purple Hearts The 442nd was called the Purple Heart Battalion for such high casualty rates.

“Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race or ancestry.”

— President Roosevelt announcing the formation of the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team

THE 442ND’S BATTLE CAMPAIGNS

For not being in combat until 1943, the 442nd took heavy casualties and was used aggressively to spearhead missions up to the last few hours of the war. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team included a field artillery battalion, a combat engineer company, an antitank company, a cannon company, service company, medical detachment, headquarters companies and three infantry battalions. The 1st Infantry Battalion remained in the U.S. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions would join the legendary 100th Battalion, which was already fighting in Italy. The 100th would in essence become the new 1st Battalion of the 442nd RCT. However, it was allowed to keep the “100th Battalion” name in recognition of its combat record.

Naples-Foggia

September 1943 to January ’44

The 442nd landed in the Salerno Beach invasion and secured a bridgehead over the Volturno River. They earned a reputation as superb soldiers with three Distinguished Service Crosses and 19 Silver Stars in the first month and a half in combat. The casualties were high as well, with three officers and 75 enlisted men dead. After the Salerno landing, they fought in the attacks on Monte Cassino, a heavily fortified mountainside fortress. The battle of Cassino was called by the commander of the Fifth Army to be “the most gruesome, the most harrowing and in one aspect the most tragic, of any phase of the war in Italy.”

Rome-Arno

Jan. 25, 1944, to September ’44

Joined by the 442nd, they took part in the bloody Anzio invasion. They fought for nine months heading north to Rome and farther with heavy resistance past the Arno river. The units were given the first of seven Presidential Citations for seizing a town and destroying an entire Nazi SS battalion.

Rhineland Campaign-Vosges

Oct. 10, 1944, to November ’44

The antitank company was split from the regiment and joined up with paratroopers in Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion of France. The rest of the men fought heavily guarded Nazi positions in mountainous eastern France. They also rescued a “Lost Battalion” taking massive casualties of their own.

Rhineland -Maritime Alps

Nov. 21, 1944, to March 17, 1944

Split up again, part of the unit fought through the French mountains to German soil before they helped Jewish survivors of the Dachau concentration camp. The others patrolled the French and Italian border and made history by becoming the first army unit to capture an enemy submarine.

Northern Appennines and Po Valley

April 5, 1945 to May 5, 1945

The war was winding down, but the fighting was still fierce. The 442nd fought in tough mountain terrain in northern Italy. The 442nd was used to spearhead an infantry attack to break the “Gothic Line.” Private Sadao Munemori, who heroically took out several enemy machine gun nests before diving on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers, becomes the only member of the 442nd to receive the Medal of Honor until 56 years later. By the time Germany surrendered in May 1945, the initial regiment of about 3,000 men had to be replaced nearly three times. More than 650 were killed in action.

Sources: U.S. Army, 442nd.org; goforbroke.org; U.S. Army Mediterranean Theater of Operations Information-Education Section, National World War II Museum Photos: U.S. Army archives, The Associated Press, National Congressional Medal of Honor Society