Japanese American WWII Combat Regiment, the 442nd Combat Team, the most Highly Decorated Unit in U.S History by Japanese-Americans, 442nd Combat Team

Japanese American WWII Combat Regiment Archive of the 1943 Album of the 442nd Combat Team and three original photos, including an original 2.75" x 3.75" photo of Haruo Ishida, a Japanese American soldier from the 442nd from Seattle, WA, who was KIA in 1945. The Album was printed by Albert Love Enterprises of Atlanta, GA, during Word War II in 1943. The album is a military yearbook that includes a history of the 442nd, and many captioned photos of the unit at Camp Shelby, MS, doing drills, arms testing, maintenance work, and group shots of the unit and its various subdivisions. Many of the 442nd hailed from Hawaii and the rest were assembled from the internment camps across the USA. Haruo Ishida, is pictured in a separate original photo. This photo, dated Feb. 25, 1944, shows Ishida and five white soldiers with inscriptions on verso with their names and places of origin. He is described as "Haru Ishida" from Chicago, though our research suggests he grew up in Seattle as the son of immigrants. Ishida was deployed to Italy, where he first saw combat in the Rome-Arno campaign of June 1944. He would follow the 442nd then to southern France, where in October-November,they would liberate the important road junction of Bruyères, followed by Biffontaine, and the famous "Rescue of the Lost Battalion" -- the 1st Battalion of the 141st (Texas) Infantry Regiment that had advanced beyond its support, become surrounded by the enemy, and was unable to extricate itself. Ishida was wounded during the Rescue of the Lost Battalion, but recovered from his wounds and returned to his unit. Ishida and the 442nd continued to fight their way through France, and would later be assigned to Italy to snuff out the remains of the German forces there. Tragically, while fighting in a rugged mountain pass near Florence, Ishida was killed in action on April 7, 1945, just a month and a day before the end of the war in Europe. Ishida was a slight, bespectacled 28 year old, though he and his comrades in the 442nd became the most highly decorated military unit in the history of the United States Armed Forces, with twenty-one Medal of Honor recipients and 9,486 Purple Hearts. Their motto, which has since become famous and synonymous with the unit, was "Go for Broke!" There two additional photographs of Japanese soldiers in the WWII era, but are not identified beyond their US Army outfits. These 2 pieces are a wonderful representation of a landmark American story. Album covers separating at spine and fore-edge rubbed but binding is tight and interior clean. In very good condition overall.