"I Can Never Forget" : Men of the 100th/442nd

Here are the voices and stunning images of extraordinary men, Japanese American soldiers of World War II who belonged to the most decorated unit of their size in U.S. Army history: the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Together, the men of the 100th/442nd were an unstoppable force as they blazed through Europe with their "Go for Broke" spirit. Feared by German troops, revered by villagers, the Japanese Americans were at once fierce fighters, gentle liberators and prisoners of war in more ways than one. Now, decades after the war, the usually reserved and silent warriors recall their innermost thoughts and feelings about this tumultuous time in their lives. We hear from men who volunteered from Hawaii plantations and American-style concentration camps. We discover how the men rose above the binds of war and racism and responded to injustice with an untarnished record of valor. In startling images recalled by the veterans themselves, here is the dramatic Rescue of the Lost Battalion in France's dark Vosges mountains, considered by the U.S. Army to be one of the ten greatest battles of World War II. Here too are Japanese Americans who became part of another kind of rescue as they bore witness to one of the most disturbing chapters in human history. Their haunting words recall the prisoners of Dachau, one of Germany's most notorious death camps. And here the men bring to vivid life wartime social dynamics that existed between and among blacks, whites, and Asians. Theirs are warm touching stories of hope and unwavering courage in the face of overwhelming odds. "I can never forget," they say. Their voices belong to a generation that has something personal to say to everyone.… (more)