Top: President Truman reviews the 442nd. “You fought
not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice and you’ve
won,” Truman declared. National Park Service, Harry S.
Truman Library & Museum
Bottom: Kisaburo and Tori Shiosaki with their five children in
1935. Fred, 11, is standing at right. Everyone pitched in at the
family laundry in Spokane. Shiosaki Family Collection
Shiosaki got his chance a year later, joining the
Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat
Team. In savage combat, it became
one of the most decorated units in
American military history. Its rescue of
the “Lost Battalion,” an infantry outfit
surrounded by Germans, is legendary.
Shiosaki’s platoon pushed ahead through
murderous artillery and
machine-gun fire. “Chills
went up our spines
when we saw the Nisei
soldiers,” one grateful
GI said. Though their
average height was
only 5-3, “honestly, they
looked like giants to us.”