442nd Infantry Regiment (United States) - Works About The 442nd

Works About The 442nd

• American Pastime While the film is fiction, it depicts life inside the internment camps, where baseball was one of the major diversions from the reality of the internees' lives. Location scenes were filmed in bleak, desolate land, not far from the site of an actual camp. Lane Nomura, the oldest son enlists in the Army, as a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, described as the famed "Purple Heart Battalion". The unit motto, "Go for broke!" provides inspiration at a climactic moment, and reference is made to the losses taken by the 442nd during the rescue of the Lost Battalion.
• Go For Broke! This 1951 film dramatizes the lives and wartime heroics of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The film stars Van Johnson as a young officer, reluctant about his assignment to the 442nd. He comes to respect the Nisei troops, eventually refusing a transfer back to his original Texas unit. The movie starred a number of veterans of the 442nd. It can be found (free) on iTunes.
• The "One Puka Puka" episode of The Gallant Men television series featured the unit with guest stars Poncie Ponce and George Takei.
• The James Michener novel Hawaii features a chapter detailing the 442nd's experiences, although its designation is changed to the 222nd and many of the members appear under fictionalized names.
• Ed Sakamoto wrote a play about the 100th/442nd entitled Our Hearts Were Touched by Fire, which was performed in Honolulu and Los Angeles.
• In the series of four Karate Kid movies, Keisuke Miyagi is a main character portrayed as a World War II veteran who had fought in the 442nd and received the Medal of Honor. The fourth film, The Next Karate Kid, begins with a reunion of the 442nd, in which Sen. Daniel Inouye gives a speech and Mr. Miyagi wears his Medal of Honor for the only time in any of the four films.
• In 2005, Lane Nishikawa directed and starred in the independent film, Only the Brave, which is a fictional account of the rescue of the Lost Battalion.
• "Family 8108", the December 9, 2007 episode of the CBS TV show Cold Case centers around the Japanese internment camps and discusses the 442nd Regional Combat Team.
• Ken Burns' 2007 PBS World War II documentary The War explores the stories of four American towns' experiences with the war. Burns' 15 hour documentary goes in depth in describing the many battles of World War II, including those of the 442nd Infantry Regiment.
• 99-nen no Ai—Japanese Americans—In 2010 TBS produced a 5-part, 10-hour fictional Japanese-language miniseries featuring many of the major events in Japanese-American history. Episode 4 features a key character who serves in the 442nd and portrays the rescue of the Texas Battalion.
• "Valor With Honor"— is an 85 minute independent documentary film on the last interviews of veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Interviews, war footage, and photos are part of the un-narrated documentary.