The Museum of Tolerance in partnership with the Go For Broke Educational Foundation presents oral histories from members of the Japanese American 522nd Field Artillery Battalion in the United States Army. A selection of video interviews with veterans of the 522nd provide personal accounts of the liberation of the sub-camps of the Dachau concentration camp complex in Germany.
(Presented in partnership with the Go For Broke Educational Foundation through a grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program.)
Manabi Hirasaki
Manabi Hirasaki was born and raised in San Jose, CA on March 3, 1923. Hirasaki graduated from Gilroy High School and later attended University of California at Davis. During his college years, he was forcibly removed to the Amache, Colorado camp where he eventually volunteered to join the military from 1943-1946.
Hirasaki joined the 522nd C Battery and assisted with communications, wire section, and radio. Later in the war, he and his unit were stationed in the area of Berchtesgaden, near Hitler's hometown.
He currently lives in Camarillo, CA and has two children.
Joseph Ichiuji
Joseph Ichiuji was born on Feb. 14, 1919 in Salinas, CA. His father was a shoe repair owner and his mother a housewife. Ichiuji attended Pacific Grove High School and worked in a fish cannery for supplemental income.
He served in the 522nd A Battery from 1943-1946 as an artillery mechanic. Although he was drafted from the military in September 1941, Ichiuji's duties didn't begin until 1943 because the United States had classified all Japanese Americans as 4-C enemy aliens.
Ichiuji now lives in Rockville, Maryland. He is married with two children and three grandchildren.
Ed Ichiyama
Ed Ichiyama was born in Honolulu, HI on July 18, 1923. His father was a barber and his mother was a housewife who occasionally helped his father with cutting hair.
Ichiyama attended McKinley High School and worked in the Hawaiian shipyards prior to volunteering to serve in the military. He joined the 522nd C Battery on March 1943 and worked in the gun section crew as a forward observer.
Ichiyama currently lives in Honolulu, HI. He has three sons and two grandchildren.
Susumo Ito
Susumu "Sus" Ito was born in Stockton, CA on July 27, 1919. His father was a tenant farmer and his mother was a housewife.
He served as an instrument sergeant and forward observer for the 522nd C Battery from 1943 to 1946. Although he was drafted into the Army in 1940, he was reassigned to the 522nd after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.
After the war, Ito attended school on his G.I. Bill. He received his PhD in Biology from Cornell University in New York and received tenure at Harvard Medical School. He is married and has 4 children and 3 grandchildren.
Tom Kono
Thomas Kono was born in Pakala, Kauai on February 28, 1920. His parents were Japanese immigrants who settled in Hawaii. His father was a chef and his mother was a domestic helper.
Kono attended the University of Hawaii where he later received his bachelor's degree. He was assigned to the 522nd A Battery in 1943 and was assigned to wire section-communications. His service in the military spanned for a three-year period.
Kono now resides in Los Angeles, CA with his wife. He has nine children and three grandchildren.
Lawrence Mori
Lawrence Mori was born in La Puente, CA on March 8, 1918. Mori and his family grew up in Garden Grove, CA. His father was a strawberry farmer and his mother was a housewife.
Mori was drafted on April 8, 1941 and was in Fort Ord, CA serving in the medics. After the Pearl Harbor bombing, he was transferred to the 522nd A Battery and served as a supply sergeant until 1945.
After the war he resettled with his wife in Arizona, but years later they moved back to Garden Grove. Mori has a daughter named Kathy.
George Oiye
George Oiye was born in Basin Creek, Montana on February 19, 1922. His father was a farmer and cement factory worker and his mother was a housewife. Oiye attended Three Forks Consolidated High School and was a football quarterback. He then attended Montana State College where he joined the ROTC.
He volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corp and instead got drafted into the infantry in May 1943. In the 522nd, he served as a section chief and forward observer. Oiye took several photographs of the Holocaust survivors when the 522nd helped to liberate the sub-camps at Dachau.
He lives in San Jose, CA and has four children.
Minoru Tsubota
Minoru "Min" Tsubota was born in Kent, WA on Decemeber 10, 1918. His father was a sawmill operator and owner and his mother was a housewife.
While attending Kent Senior High School, Tsubota worked at a farm supply sales company. On March 1941, Tsubota enlisted in the military and was a member of the 160th Regimental Infantry Band, 40th Infantry Division. In February 1942, he was detached from that division and sent to the 522nd Service Battery in 1943.
Tsubota now lives in Mercer Island, WA. He has one daughter and two granddaughters.
Virgil Westdale
Virgil Westdale was born in Millersburg, Indiana on January 8, 1918. His father was a farmer and his mother was a bookkeeper. The family later moved to Michigan.
hile attending college, Westdale was interested in flying and received his private pilot's license. Although he entered the Air Corp in 1942, his license was revoked because he was half Japanese.
Westdale was transferred to the 522nd F Company in 1944. During the war, Westdale served as a rifleman, BAR man, bazooka man and flame thrower.
Today, Westdale lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has three children and seven grandchildren.
About the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion
The Japanese American 522nd Field Artillery Battalion was one of the driving forces that helped to liberate Jewish survivors of the Landsberg-Kaufering Dachau Death March and Dachau sub-camps. It was also one of the first allied troops to help liberate the Dachau sub-camps and the only Japanese American combat unit to fight on German soil. The irony of the 522nd's encounter with the Dachau inmates was that many 522nd soldiers and/or their family members were also incarcerated in segregated camps in their home country during the war.
The 522nd was activated on February 1, 1943 in Camp Shelby, Mississippi. The 522nd earned the reputation as one of the fastest, most efficient artillery units in the European Theater operations in World War II. The artillery provided valuable support fire for the Japanese American 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Joseph Ichiuji, a 522nd veteran, said, "Whereas the American camps were for the duration of the war, the German camps were for the extermination of the Jewish race. Yet, the reasons behind these acts are the same and that is the singling out a race through acts of racial prejudice."
