Did any Nisei or Asian/Japanese Americans Serve in the Pacific Theater. I read on an old website that there were 4000 that served in the Pacific. However, most of the known Nisei were the 442 battalion in the ETO.
The number of Nisei serving in the Pacific tends to vary somewhat. It is usually said that there were about 6,000 serving in the Pacific(3,000 acting as interpreters, and 3,000 serving in other roles - many served as aircrew or in engineer outfits, but some did serve in combat, except that there were no "complete" units such as the 442nd Battalion).
Are there any recollections or evidence from this? I read in studs terkel the good war that there were people fighting. How come we don't hear from them?
It's a good topic and we could all use more knowledge. As with any specialty topic we rely on forum members to bring it to us in pithy posts so we don't have to wade through all the details. I think your questions refer to Asian-American service in front line ground combat such as infantry. I would expect a concern about mistaken identity or friendly-fire incidents from both the Army and the average Asian-American soldier. I have not found an example of an Asian-American serving as a riflemen (other than the Filipino infantry regiment) in the Pacific but I do know of a Chinese-American serving in an unknown role in a Tank Battalion -- he later became Bruce Lee's trainer. As with many new subjects, Wiki is a good place to start but not wholly trust. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Asian_Americans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_service_in_World_War_II http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asian_Americans#Military
I can't seem to find anything on it other than a few pictures on some REALLY OLD websites. Seriously, i can't find any. I wonder if there were any Chinese American Marines in the Pacific Theater
Well this is news to me. I suspect he served on battalion staff or above. (and we actually share a name) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_B._Wai
You might want to try a bit harder. It took me about two minutes to find several sources in the three Wikipedia links provided by Earthican. Try the footnotes at the bottom of each page. There are links identifying books, CMH articles, CIA articles, etc.
No problem. As E. said, the write-ups on Wiki are sometimes suspect, but I usually go right to the footnotes and external links to check the sources cited.
