

Fiercely courageous, they suffered so many casualties the 100th was soon dubbed the "Purple Heart Battalion." In June 1944, they were joined by the 442nd - comprised of Nisei volunteers from the internment camps and Hawaii - and proceeded to liberate five towns in Northern Italy. In July 1943, after rigorous training, they were sent to North Africa, then Italy. These 1400 Hawaiian Nisei (second-generation Japanese-Americans) became the 100th Infantry Battalion. Determined to prove their loyalty, the discharged Hawaiian Territorial Guardsmen of Japanese descent successfully petitioned the U.S.

On the mainland, 120,000 innocent men, women and children were rounded up and swept into remote internment camps, where they would remain behind barbed wire for the duration of the war. Overnight, these second-generation citizens were stripped of their official duties - simply because they looked like the enemy. In 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, there were 5,000 Japanese Americans serving in the U.S.
