Teri Kawahara and Harry with military dignitary at medal ceremony.
by Candy Moore, communications coordinator, FSA Idaho State Office
Patti Harris, an FSA farm program specialist in Idaho traveled with her father to Washington D.C. to participate in a ceremony honoring the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Her father, Harry Kawahara, was part of this elite Japanese-American combat team during WWII. The team will be receiving a group Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. Here are Patti’s words describing her dad’s heroism.
“I am very proud of my dad who is a Purple Heart veteran and my mom who survived the internment of her family of Japanese Americans to the Hunt Relocation Camps outside of Jerome, Idaho, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Both my mom and dad were second generation Japanese Americans and both were born in the United States. You will not find any two people more loyal to their country and who taught us how to be good citizens and patriots. My brother also is a Vietnam Veteran.”
“The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by Congress and is the highest civilian award in the United States. The decoration is awarded to an individual or unit who performs an outstanding deed or act of service to the security, prosperity, and national interest of the United States. H.R. 347 was introduced by U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. It unanimously passed the House of Representative on May 14, 2009, with 411 votes. “
Background on the 100th Battalion, 442d Infantry
In September 1944 the 442nd RCT left Italy for France and by mid-October was heavily involved in combat in the Vosges Mountains, supporting the 36th Infantry Division. The 100th Battalion engaged in fierce fighting around the towns of Bruyeres and Biffontaine, earning another Presidential Unit Citations for its heroic actions during those battles and its crucial role in the relief of the "lost battalion" of the 141st Infantry. In November the 442d RCT shifted to defensive positions in the Maritime Alps along the Franco-Italian border. It returned to Italy in late March 1945 to participate in the drive against the Gothic Line.
The 442d RCT (including the 100th Battalion) received the Presidential Unit Citations for turning its assigned diversionary action into a full scale and victorious offensive, which played an important part in the final destruction of the German armies in Italy. This was the third PUC awarded to the battalion. In addition to the three Presidential Unit Citations and campaign participation credit for six campaigns (Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno, North Apennines, Rhineland, and Po Valley), unit members also received numerous individual decorations for their wartime service. Although there has never been any official statistical compilation of the total number of individual awards, the 100th Battalion as well as the entire 442d RCT was among the most decorated units in the United States Army.
