“Brothers in Valor” Memorial

World War II veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate), the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the Military Intelligence Service, and the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion rendered significant service to the United States, often with great sacrifice, in units deeply rooted to Hawaii. The 100th Infantry Battalion, composed largely of Hawaii-born Japanese Americans drawn from the 298th and 299th Infantry Regiments after the Pearl Harbor attack, trained at Camp McCoy and Camp Shelby before fighting in Italy from Salerno through Monte Cassino, Anzio, the drive toward Rome, the Arno River, the Vosges Mountains campaign in France, and the breach of the Gothic Line, earning three Presidential Unit Citations and becoming known as the Purple Heart Battalion. Organized in 1943 as an all Japanese-American combat unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team trained at Camp Shelby, joined the 100th in Italy, fought from Suvereto to the Arno River, then in southern France and the Vosges Mountains, where it helped liberate towns and rescue the Texas Lost Battalion, while its 522nd Field Artillery Battalion later supported the assault into Germany and encountered Jewish survivors of the Dachau Death March, before the 442nd returned to Italy to break the Gothic Line; it compiled a remarkable combat record and was recognized as the most decorated unit of its size and time of battle in United States military history. More than 6,000 Japanese Americans served in the Military Intelligence Service, training at language schools beginning at the Presidio and later at Camp Savage and Fort Snelling, then serving across the Asia-Pacific War by translating documents, interrogating prisoners, deciphering communications, supporting psychological warfare, and aiding Allied operations against Japan in nearly every major campaign. The 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion, an all Japanese-American unit in Hawaii except for its officers, built vital defense installations across Oahu, completed more than 54 major projects, and received the Meritorious Service Award for essential wartime service that made it the only unit of its kind to serve in the Pacific War against Japan.

Urban Honolulu, Hawaii · United States