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The 442nd Regimental Combat Team Imagine this: You are a Japanese American living in the United States. On the day of December 7, 1941, your fellow Japanese attack Pearl Harbor on Oahu, leaving the Harbor in a total mess along with many deaths and injuries. You, having a Japanese Ancestry, are now the center of controversy – the Americans have lost trust in you and now question your loyalty. You are not allowed to fight in the war and your family is put through harsh treatment – they are put in internment camps and their liberty and property taken away. Not a very good thought right? However, a team known as the “442nd Regimental Combat Team,” consisting of Japanese Americans, is formed. Despite all of the harsh doings and controversy towards them, they still decide to fight for their citizen country, the United States. Since they were treated badly because of their Japanese ancestry, should they have done what they did? The 442nd combat team made the right choice to fight for America because Japan did a bad deed by bombing Pearl Harbor, they are American citizens, and because it was their chance to gain back the lost respect for Japan. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team consists of Japanese American volunteers from the mainland United States and the Hawaiian Islands (Byrne, Joe. Page 1). On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked and bombed Pearl Harbor on Oahu, which led to the United Stated into World War II. All men were then called upon to fight, except for the Japanese Americans as they faced racism after the attack on Pearl Harbor and categorized as “4C, non-draftable” (Byrne, Joe. Page 1). The combat team was formed on February 1, 1943, after the government reversed its decision on the Japanese Americans fighting in the war (Byrne, Joe. Page 1). After many of the team’s accomplishments, they were recognized as the most “decorated” unit in the history of the United States. These decorations, or awards, include 9, 486 Purple Hearts, 57 Distinguished Service Crosses, 1 Congressional Medal of Honor, 4,000 Bronze Stars, 560 Silver Stars, and many other awards, making a total of about 18,000 awards (Decorations of the 100th/442nd “Go For Broke” Combat Team. http://www.culturalbridge.com/Nikkei442nd.htm). It was the right choice for the 442nd to fight for the United States because Japan did a bad deed by bombing Pearl Harbor.
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