Japanese American Military History Americans The Story of the 442nd Combat Team 1946 First Edition Nisei Service in World War II

442nd Combat Team

First Edition

Shirey, Orville C. Americans: The Story of the 442nd Combat Team, 1946, documents the combat record and service history of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated Japanese American unit that served in the European theater during World War II. Composed largely of Nisei soldiers, many of whom volunteered while their families were incarcerated in U.S. internment camps, the 442nd became one of the most highly decorated units of its size and duration of service in American military history. The text places the unit within major Allied operations, including campaigns in Italy and France, and records acts of combat leadership and sacrifice, such as those associated with figures like Daniel K. Inouye. Shirey writes in the introduction, “The record of these men speaks for itself,” emphasizing the documented achievements of a unit whose service intersected with broader questions of citizenship, race, and military policy during the war.

Shirey, Orville C. Americans: The Story of the 442nd Combat Team. Washington: Infantry Journal Press, December 1946. First edition hardcover, without dust jacket. Ex-library copy from the University of Rochester, with bookplate and institutional stamp. Quarto volume, 151 pages, illustrated with black and white photographs and color maps depicting campaign movements and battle sites. Contents include detailed accounts of operations in the Rome-Arno Campaign, the Battle of Bruyères, the Champagne Campaign, the Po Valley Campaign, and the invasion of Southern France, along with rosters of officers and enlisted men, and listings of awards and decorations. Photographic and illustrated material includes scenes of infantry movement, defensive positions, communications crews, and the relief of the “Lost Battalion.”

Published in the immediate postwar period, this work contributes to early efforts to document the service of Japanese American soldiers at a time when the legacy of wartime incarceration and racial discrimination remained unresolved in the United States. The inclusion of individual names, awards, and campaign narratives situates the book within both military historiography and the evolving recognition of Asian American contributions to U.S. history. As a contemporary account, it provides insight into how the 442nd was represented and commemorated shortly after the war. Pages clean and textblock tight; ex-library markings present; overall very good condition.

Item #20303

Price: $885.00