Accidental Blogger

A poignant war story, more than six decades old, describes the desperation and anxiety of Japanese Americans during World War II.  Citizens of the US, they had to prove their loyalty to their country in those uncertain times of suspicion and hostility. Sometimes that involved acts of conspicuous courage and valor.

Even 65 years later, Astro Tortolano thinks almost daily of his struggle to survive in the Vosges Mountains of northern France in October 1944.

Surrounded by German soldiers after stumbling into a trap, Tortolano and about 280 men in the 1st Battalion of the Texas 141st Infantry Regiment of the 36th Infantry Division rationed food and bullets. They fended off Nazi assaults. They thought all hope of surviving was lost.

Six days into the crisis, different soldiers — members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team — broke through enemy lines and led Tortolano and the surviving 211 members of the 1st battalion to safety.

“I'll be forever thankful,” the now 88-year-old said. “I've never forgotten how they saved us.”

Tortolano and 39 members of the 442nd and 141st reunited at Houston's Hyatt Regency Hotel Sunday for a special dinner hosted by the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation to honor them.

The aging veterans, many in their late 80s and 90s, flew in from all over the country this weekend for a possible last meeting between the “Lost Battalion” and their saviors — men in the now legendary 442nd, made up of Asian-Americans, mostly of Japanese descent.

When they met each other, they embraced and swapped stories of old times. And on Sunday, together possibly one last time, they remembered all that they had been through in 1944.

The majority of soldiers in the 442nd were known as Nisei, sons of Japanese immigrants in the United States.

Even with relatives being forced into relocation camps around the U.S., roughly 4,000 men initially agreed to fill the 442nd's ranks in 1943. The 442nd was united by a common bond: At a time of deep discrimination against Japanese-Americans, its members wanted to prove that they were Americans through and through.

“We were proud to do this,” said George Sakato, 88, a California native who joined the military when he was 20. “We wanted to serve our country.”

Shipped overseas after a few weeks of training, the 442nd saw some of the war's fiercest fighting. Members were sent to North Africa and saw intense battles in Italy. There, they developed their fearsome reputation as a respected fighting force.

Before long they were ordered to France. Having absorbed other Nisei from a sister battalion, that is where the 442nd encountered the Lost Battalion.

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The rest of the story here.