Great gallantry

April 5th is known as Go for Broke Day. The term was the slogan for an Army unit comprised of Japanese Americans from Hawaii and the mainland U.S. The unit is recognized as the most decorated in the history of the U.S. military. Their motto is gambler’s slang for risking it all in one effort to win big. The fierce fighting unit had high casualty rates in World War II.

More than 33,000 Japanese Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II, with many serving with the 100th Infantry Battalion or the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The reason Go for Broke Day is on April 5th is for the heroic actions of private first class Sadao S. Munemori. Munemori was born in Los Angeles in 1922. He joined the U.S. Army on Nov. 2, 1941, a month before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Following the attack and President Roosevelt’s 1942 Executive Order 9066, Munemori’s family, along with thousands of other Japanese Americans, were sent to Manzanar. Located in the Sierra Mountains of California, Manzanar was one of 10 Japanese internment camps established during the war.

You can visit the Manzanar National Historic website here.

You can learn more about the 442nd on the Army’s site here.

Munemori’s Medal of Honor citation

“He fought with great gallantry and intrepidity near Seravezza, Italy. When his unit was pinned down by grazing fire from the enemy’s strong mountain defense and command of the squad devolved on him with the wounding of its regular leader, he made frontal, one-man attacks through direct fire and knocked out two machine guns with grenades.

Withdrawing under murderous fire and showers of grenades from other enemy emplacements, he had nearly reached a shell crater occupied by two of his men when an unexploded grenade bounced on his helmet and rolled toward his helpless comrades. He arose into the withering fire, dived for the missile, and smothered its blast with his body.

By his swift, supremely heroic action Pfc. Munemori saved two of his men at the cost of his own life and did much to clear the path for his company’s victorious advance.”

Munemori was presented the Medal of Honor posthumously on March 13, 1946. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles.

The units lost 650 men, more than 3,700 were wounded in action, and 67 were declared missing in action.

In their two years of service, the 442nd RCT and the 100th IB, before it joined the 442nd, earned:

• 7 Presidential Unit Citations
• 2 Meritorious Service Plaques
• 36 Army Commendation Medals
• 87 Division Commendations

Individual soldiers were awarded 18,000 decorations, including:

Sources: U.S. Army, 442nd.org; goforbroke.org; U.S. Army Mediterranean Theater of Operations Information-Education Section, National World War II Museum Photos: U.S. Army archives, The Associated Press, National Congressional Medal of Honor Society