Down Constitution Avenue this week marched one of the smartest, toughest fighting units the U.S. had ever sent to the battlefield. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team—all Nisei except for a sprinkling of officers—was home from the wars. On the rain-soaked Ellipse adjoining the White House, the wiry little soldiers, their crisp khaki crumpling to a soggy brown, stood rigidly at attention while President Truman fixed the Presidential Unit Citation banner to the regimental colors.
For the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the war had been doubly hard. Its men had not only fought the Germans at their defensive best up the spine of Italy and in the Vosges; they had also fought prejudice at home.
Yet the Niseis' record was unexcelled. In 240 combat days, the original 3,000 men and 6,000 replacements collected eight unit citations, one Medal of Honor, 3.600 Purple Hearts and a thousand other decorations. They lived up to their motto, "Go for Broke":*no less than 650 of the Purple Hearts had to be sent to next of kin (many of them in relocation centers) because the soldiers were dead. The 442nd also set an unbeatable mark for soldierly behavior; no man in the outfit had ever deserted.
As the regiment's vanguard, 500 strong, was shipped back to the U.S., the men had no idea what sort of welcome they would get. Fellow-soldiers knew they had proved themselves the hardest way of all, but would the folks at home know—or care?
New York gave part of the answer with harbor sirens and a reception committee of skimpily dressed wiggle dancers. Harry Truman and thousands of other civilians gave another part of the answer in Washington this week. As the fighting Nisei headed for their homes, they would get the answer to the rest of Combat Correspondent Terry Shimabukuro's question: "Will we, as Japanese-Americans, come home to something we can call our own?"
*Meaning "Shoot the works" in Hawaii, home of more than half the 442nd's men.