442nd Enters Into Combat
In the nine months of fighting that the 100th Battalion underwent the 442nd RCT were finishing final combat training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.  During their training replacements from the 442nd RCT were sent to the depleted 100th Bat.  In six months, the 442nd RCT had sent 530 enlisted men and 40 officers.1
The 34th Division History states:
"... As men of the 34th observed the battle conduct of the Nisei, they grew to resent the treatment accorded the parents and relatives of these little, brown American Fighters.  They resented the confiscation of their property and the herding of their families into concentration camps at home, while their sons were dying by the hundreds in the cause of human liberty.  They determined then to raise their voices in protest and to demand justice and recompense for the wrongs inflicted upon these people.  The Nisei became true buddies of the 34th." 3
 On March 6, 1944, after being reviewed by Army Chief of Staff, Gen. George C. Marshall, orders were received by the 442nd RCT to "prepare for overseas movement."  In april, the 442nd were sent to a staging area at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia, and on May 1st, they were on Liberty ships heading out of Chesapeake Bay to head east across the Atlantic.  However, the 442nd left behind their 1st Battalion to act as a cadre for replacements.  The trip took over 28 days, and on June 2, 1944, they disembarked at Naples.  The staging area here was near the town of Bagnoli.

Sometime between June 9-11, 1944, the 442nd arrived at Civitavecchia, and was officially attached to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.  The 442nd was then attached to the 34th Division.  The Regimental Combat Team structure created a self sustaining force. The RCT system, as was noted earlier, consisted of 3 infantry battalions, anti-tank company, cannon company, medical detachment, service company, field artillery battalion, combat engineer company, and an Army band.2  Because of the distinguished service record the 100th Battalion, which became the 1st Bat. of the 442nd RCT, was allowed to retain its original designation.

As Lyn Crost documented in her book, "Honor by Fire," the animosities between the 100th Bat. and the larger 442nd RCT flared up again once the two units were combined.  On the one hand the 100th Bat. was fiercely proud of their Red Bull insignia, which they preferred to wear rather than the regiment's "Go for Broke" insignia.  Also the men of the 100th Bat. felt that their accomplishments in the field allowed the deployment of the 442nd into combat, but now they were being "swallowed up" by the 442nd.  On the other hand, the 442nd were proud that they consisted of mostly "volunteers" and not draftees (many of the 100th Bat. were a part of the Hawaii Territorial Guard and U.S. Army prior to Dec. 7, 1941). And so besides the old feuds that had existed between the two groups the added problem of "unit loyalty" came into play.  It took some time for these differences to be resolved and unit cohesion set into place.

Belvedere first call for the 100th Bat./ 442nd RCT
SSGt. Kasuo Masuda, 2nd Bat. awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on Hill 140.  Crawling two hundred yards through enemy fire, he secured a 60mm mortar tube and ammunition, and dragged it back to his post.  Missing a base plate for the mortar tube, he used his helmet.  For the next 12 hours he single handedly fired the mortar without leaving his post, except to run for more ammunition. 

During that time, he repulsed two counter-attacks. Masuda was later killed on patrol along the Arno River when he deliberately sacrified himself so the men with him could deliver vital information to their headquarters.

Note: At the end of the war the Masuda family was warned by vigilantes not to return from the Gila River Internment Camp to their farm in Talbert, California, near Santa Ana. But they did. It was there that a special ceremony was done with General Joseph Stillwell presenting to the family Kazuo Masuda's DSC award. 5

 June 26, 1944, the newly combined 100/442 RCT were placed into action with teh 2nd and 3rd Bat. placed in advance with the 100th (1st Bat.) in reserve, marching northwar to Suvereto to relieve the men of the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment and the 142nd Infantry Regiment en route to Belvedere. 

Heavy fire and counterattacks from the enemy on a hilltop held up the advance of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions.  General Ryder, furious at the failure of the two units to penetrate and continue the advance, stormed into the HQ of the 100th Bat. and ordered it on line. In what can be described as a "quarterback sneak," the 100th Bat. attacked between the 2nd and 3rd Battalions. In the process they destroyed or captured: killing 178 Germans, wounding 20, capturing 73, destroying or capturing tanks, trucks, jeeps, and heavy weapons.4   For this action the 100th Bat. received their first of three Presidential Unit Citations. The 100th Bat. suffered 4 men killed, and 7 wounded.

Inspired and spurred on by this mometum the 2nd and 3rd battalions sustained the attack and began to function as a team. The 442nd took the towns of Sassetta and Castagneto quickly. Then sweeping up the west coast towards Livorno (Leghorn), an important sea port for the Germans, the regiment had to take HIll 140. They fought here for five days against intense enemy resistence, so fierce at times that this hill was dubbed "Little Casino."  Once the hill was taken the towns of Castellina, Pastina, Pieve di San Luce, Orciano, and Lorenzano were liberated.

As Chester Tanaka wrote: "In three weeks of combat, from July 1 to July 22, the 100/442 melded into a fighting unit.  The 100th and the 2nd and 3rd battalions came of age." No longer existed the animosity between the two groups.  They've seen each other in action, and respected each others abilities and differences. Now they became a cohesive unit.  Which would help them sustain each other in the face of events to come.
 
Sidenote from Michael Furukawa February 3, 2001:
I have not written much about the other units involved with the events that took placed, other than the infantry units.  However, it must be noted that a Regimental Combat Team is a cohesive, self sufficient unit.  It has its own field artillery, medical corps, combat engineers, and other elements that may not get the recognition that they are due.  I want to make it a point that these other elements of the RCT structure were helping support the advance of the infantry battalions and companies.  Without this support the RCT would have to rely on other units to supply them with mortar attacks, howitzer support fire, medical attention, etc. Many of the books mostly emphasize the infantry but there are many other actions going behind the lines that have not been covered by books, and I would like to note it here for you.
The Beginning
Where did they all come from?		 Page 2
The creation of the unit and their first days in combat.		 Page 3
The battle for Monte Cassino... and aftermath.		 Page 4
The 100th becomes the first battalion of the newly formed 442nd RCT		 Page 5

E-Mail: furukawa@katonk.com

1    p.49, "Go for Broke," by Chester Tanaka, Presidio Press, ©1982.
2.   p.147, "Honor by Fire," by Lyn Crost, Presidio Press, ©1994.
3.   pages unnumbered, "History of the Famous 34th Division." by John Hougen, Battery Press, 1949.
4.   p.149, "Honor by Fire," by Lyn Crost, Presidio Press, ©1994.
5.   p.37, "Americans," by Orville Shirey, Infantry Journal Press, ©1946.