An Ike Jacket from a Soldier in the 442nd RCT

[Allan H.]

Albert Hiroyuki Ichihara was born on August 26, 1910 in Seattle, Washington. A true Nisei, his parents had emigrated from Japan to pursue a better life in America. Seattle had a large Japanese population, and it was natural for Japanese fishermen and farmers to want to settle in the area. Albert earned the nickname “Lefty” for obvious reasons. He grew up in Seattle where he worked for his father at the family-owned grocery business. As an adult, Lefty would barely reach 5’ tall and weighed a scant 100 pounds. Education was very important to the Ichihara family. Even in the midst of the Great Depression, Albert was fortunate enough to attend college at the University of Washington where he graduated with a Business degree. Lefty was small, even by Japanese standards. As an adult, Lefty would barely reach 5’ tall and weighed a scant 100 pounds.

Albert was 31 years-old and working as a wholesale foods manager when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The day that would “live in infamy” turned Albert’s world upside-down. Immediately after the attack, mass hysteria settled in along the West Coast and people of Japanese ancestry were suspected to be in the service of the emperor. Local law enforcement and local government started to be significant restrictions on Japanese-Americans, imposing curfews, and arresting anyone suspected of any sort of un-American activities or loyalties. In many cases, the mere utterance of Japanese words or phrases could get a person taken into custody for questioning.

Things On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which forced Ichihara and some 120,000 other people of Japanese ancestry to leave their West Coast homes and move to one of ten prison camps located in various areas of the country.

Albert’s first stop on his way to an internment camp was at Camp Harmony, in Puyallup, Washington. Because of his age and education, Albert was made the director of Area D of the camp where he made decisions regarding the placement of new arrivals in the already overcrowded conditions of the camp. He was responsible for assigning living space to new arrivals, issuing beds and other necessities, settling disputes, and encouraged the population of Japanese-Americans to remain calm and to obey the orders that forced them from their homes and stole their personal property. This was a very stressful time and Albert was doing a thankless job, but all accounts of his performance have been nothing but positive.

Camp Harmony was just a staging area for the Nikkei (persons of Japanese ancestry). More permanent facilities were being built to hold these Americans whose only crime was the nationality of their ancestors. Lefty was asked to be among the first of what would eventually be over 9,000 Nikkei to be shipped to the Minidoka Internment Camp located in Jerome County, Idaho. Like Camp Harmony, Lefty was appointed to manage a portion of the Minidoka camp. Like Camp Harmony, the conditions were deplorable, and the camp was soon overcrowded with men, women and children. The camps were sparsely furnished and there were few amenities. There were only a couple of showers at the camp and toilets consisted of wooden planks situated over open troughs for male and female alike to relieve themselves. There was virtually no furniture, and no privacy as people were crowded into barracks with a families being given around 8 x 10 ft squares in the buildings. The barracks had no air conditioning and only had small stoves for heat.

The Nikkei leaders quickly put the camp residents to work to improve their situation. Lumber was secured to build more barracks and to build a school for the children and to improve bathrooms and other necessary facilities. Gardens began to spring up to grow food which was also in short supply for the residents. The camp inmates did an outstanding job of making the camp more livable.

As the war progressed, there was talk about allowing Japanese Americans to prove their loyalty by enlisting in the army to serve in an all-Japanese unit to train and fight the Germans in Europe. The army planned for this unit to be made up of 5,000 soldiers- 2,500 from Hawaiian Japanese and 2,500 to come from the mainland. When the call for volunteers for this new unit first went out, over 10,000 Nisei from Hawaii volunteered. Many of these volunteers were already serving in the Hawaiian Defense Force, and other units protecting Hawaiian soil. The huge response from Hawaii prompted the army leadership to raise the number of Hawaiians to 3,500 and to lower the number of mainland volunteers to 1,500. The 442d Regimental Combat Team (RCT) was activated on 1 February 1943.

Even though Lefty was considerably older than most volunteers and in a position of importance in the Minidoka Internment Camp, Lefty traveled to Salt Lake City, UT and enlisted in the army on May 13, 1943. Albert received service number 39914182. He then shipped out to Camp Shelby, Mississippi where he was assigned to Company F, of the 442^nd Regimental Combat Team. . The team included the 442d Infantry Regiment with three battalions, the 522d Field Artillery Battalion, and the 232d Engineer Company.

After a year of training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, the 442nd deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations in May 1944. The 1st Battalion remained at Camp Shelby to train replacements. It was later re-designated the 171st Infantry Battalion (Separate). Albert Ichihara had been promoted to Sergeant during this time and trained as a radio operator.

The first photo is of Albert Ichihara taken approximately when he graduated from the University of Washington.

The second photo is an image of Nisei volunteers being sworn in as soldiers at Salt Lake City

[Allan H.]

After the unit arrived in Italy, the 442d RCT joined the 100th Infantry Battalion which was made up entirely of Nisei from Hawaii. The unit entered combat on 26 June 1944, and was attached to the 34th Infantry Division. On August 10, 1944, the 100th Battalion formally became part of the 442d RCT as its first battalion. Because of the 100^th’s combat exploits, the decision was made to allow them to retain their numerical identification, so the 442^nd Infantry Regiment had the 100^th, 2^nd and 3^rd Battalions assigned to it.

In September 1944, the 442d RCT was assigned to the Seventh Army for the invasion of Southern France where it was attached to the 36th Infantry Division. In four weeks of heavy combat in October-November 1944, the 442d RCT liberated Bruyeres and Biffontaine. For their sacrifices, they were each awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation (later renamed the Presidential Unit Citation).

Companies F and L, 442d Regimental Combat Team
War Department General Orders 14, 4 March 1945:
Companies F and L, 442d Regimental Combat Team, are cited for outstanding performance of duty in action on 21 October 1944, in the vicinity of Belmont, France.

Just three days after the 442^nd’s victory at Belmont, on October 24, 1944, Major General John E. Dahlquist, the 36^th Infantry Division Commander, sent the 1^st Battalion of the 141^st Infantry Regiment into combat in the Vosges Mountains against elements of the German 244^th and 716^th Infantry Divisions. The battalion was quickly cut off from the rest of the 141^st Infantry Regiment and was surrounded by German forces. Some 275 US soldiers were trapped and in a bad situation. Multiple attempts to rescue this "lost battalion" by other battalions of the 141^st Infantry Regiment were thwarted by the German army’s superior numbers. With no other options, MG Dahlquist ordered the 442^nd RCT into the fight. The 442^nd had just been pulled back from the line to rest and refit after spending so many weeks in active combat.

With no rest, the exhausted troops still jumped into the fight with great fury and valor. The 442^nd took over 800 casualties in the five days of fighting that it took to liberate the 211 survivors of the 1^st Battalion. As a couple of examples to the high cost paid by the Nisei fighters, Item Company went into action with 185 men. Only 8 came out unscathed. Kilo Company started with 186 men and only 17 came out unharmed.

The 442d RCT was next assigned to Fifth Army for the Po Valley campaign in March of 1945. They were attached to the 92d Infantry Division (Colored). Here they drove the remaining German forces out of Northern France.

Shortly before the 442d RCT was demobilized and inactivated in August 1946, the Second Battalion was honored with the DUC/ PUC.

2d Battalion, 442d Regimental Combat Team

War Department General Orders 83, 6 August 1946:
The 2d Battalion, 442d Regimental Combat Team, is cited for outstanding performance of duty in action on 19 October 1944 near Bruyeres, France, on 28 and 29 October 1944 near Biffontaine, France, and from 6 to 10 April 1945, near Massa, Italy.

It should be noted that F Co. sustained over 300 casualties and 49 men who were killed in action during the war. Albert Ichihara was one of those wounded in combat.

 

This is an official Army Signal Corps photo of soldiers from Company F. 442nd RCT. Sergeant Ichihara can be seen wearing his radio backpack. I have been told that SGT Ichihara was never seen without it.

St. Die Area France, Nov. 13, 1944: SC341438

A Japanese-American unit moves out of old command post. The unit-Company F, 2nd Bn, 442nd Regiment (Combat Team)-is holding a section of the front lines. 13 November 1944.
Signal Corps photo #ETO-HQ-44-25762 (Musser). SC 341438, St. Die Area, France.

(l-r) SSgt Yukio Okutsu, Pfc Shigeru Suekuni, Sgt Albert Ichihara, TSgt Michio Takata, 1st Lt Joseph Hill.

[Allan H.]

The Uniform

The smallest size Ike jacket that was issued in quantity by the US Army was the size 34S. All military uniforms could be made smaller or larger than the “normal” sizes issued out, but the very largest and smallest uniforms had to be tailored to fit the soldier that they were ordered for.

While Albert’s Ike jacket has a size tag that states that it is a 36R, the jacket has been heavily tailored to shorten it to fit his very small frame. Note the extremely short length of the body and the sleeves. In the more than 40 years that I have been collecting I have managed to find a total of TWO uniforms worn by Nisei soldiers. Both were rather small uniforms that had been further cut down in size to match the size of these soldiers.

[Allan H.]

Details of the Ike jacket...

[Allan H.]

Here are a couple of photographs of General Mark Clark with Nisei troops in Italy. For perspective, you should know that Mark Clark stood 6' 3" tall. The soldiers in the photo are all considerably shorter than LTG Clark. Note that the soldiers are wearing the red bull SSI of the 34th Infantry Division. The 100th Battalion was attached to the 34th in Italy prior to the 442nd arriving and the 100th Bn being assigned to the 442nd RCT.

[Pete-o MSU]

Great uniform !

[Allan H.]

Here is a photo of President Harry Truman reviewing the 442nd RCT. Truman stood 5' 9" tall and again, he is taller than all of the Nisei in the photograph.

[Allan H.]

THis final image is of Nisei veteran preparing to fly to Hawaii for a reunion of the 442nd RCT. Note that even though Albert Ichihara is standing on the next step higher than the veteran to his left, Ichihara is still shorter than that veteran. I cannot emphasize enough just how small Ichihara's Ike jacket is. I had a difficult time finding a coat form that was small enough to get the Ike placed on it. Even with the smallest coat form that i had, the jacket collar still puckers somewhat because the jacket is being stretched to go around the torso form.

 

The toal length from shoulder seam to the base of the cuff on each sleeve is 19" and the length of the body of the jacket from the base of the armpit to the bottom of the waistband is only 9". This jacket is TINY!

 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that all of Ichihara's military records have him listed as a Sergeant, but the rank on the sleeves is for a Staff Sergeant. I can only surmise that Albert must have been given an "Acting Staff Sergeant" role as the unit demobilized. The SSI and chevrons are machine sewn. The two overseas bars are had stitched to the cuff making me think that they were probably the last insignia added to the jacket. While I didn't bother to take a photo of the wearer's right shoulder, when looking at this jacket in person, you can see where there was once a scroll of some type. I wonder if it isn't possible that Ichihara didn't have a scroll made for the uniform and was later forced to remove it. Since the grouping didn't come with a scroll; I can only speculate. Thanks for taking the time to read through these posts.

 

Allan

[VenitHora]

Great uniform!

[36thIDAlex]

What a great and historical uniform! The Nisei were some of our greatest warriors and patriots, this man being no exception. At times my great grandfather was only a few dozen yards from their foxholes and admired them greatly. Great job on the research, it’s quite a story.

[Ivydiv]

What a great uniform and history. This is one elusive uniform to find. You are very lucky. Thanks for sharing. Dave

[jim46]

See: Going for Broke: Japanese American Soldiers in the War with Nazi Germany. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013.

[Allan H.]

I can tell you that it is darned near impossible to pull a Nisei grouping out of the woodwork. This one took me YEARS of asking before the collector who had it finally let it go. Even though it isn't in my primary collecting area, getting one that is undoubtedly original (and has provenance) can be a once in a lifetime experience. Most of the groupings out there in collectors' hands were typically either white officers in the unit or fabrications done with small sized Ike jackets.

 

Allan

[BigDogMilitaria]

really nice uniform and write up Allan. Thanks for taking the time

[Scarecrow]

Allan

Just an awesome uniform. Scarce as hen's teeth as the saying goes. Congrats on the acquisition!

[bobgee]

Wonderful uniform to a great American hero! 3 Purple Hearts! My introduction to the 442nd was from the 1950 movie "Go For Broke". It's available on YouTube. In spite of the hardships and deprivations placed on these American families by a fearful government, they rallied as Americans and became one of the finest fighting units in the WWII American infantry. I believe they are credited with being the most highly decorated regiment in WWII. Thanks for sharing.

[Garandomatic]

Yeah, I was thrilled to settle for what might be the most expensive shirt and pants ever sold just to have that much of a 442 uniform!

 

Allan

Just an awesome uniform. Scarce as hen's teeth as the saying goes. Congrats on the acquisition!

[huntssurplus]

Great piece of history! Thanks for sharing. If possible would love to see a comparison to see just how small the jacket is!

Hunt

[Allan H.]

Since Hunt asked for a size comparison, I thought I might oblige him. I've used another Ike jacket as a comparison to the Ichihara Ike Jacket. The jacket that I used is one that I posted back in the spring. http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/308108-wwii-103rd-cactus-division-sergeant-majors-ike-jacket/ It is the Ike jacket worn by SGM Johanson of the 103rd Infantry Division. The 103rd Ike is a size 34R. The only jacket made smaller by army contract was a 34S which would only be slightly smaller. I didn't have a 34S to use as a comparison.

 

I'll start with a look at the sleeves. Although the patches aren't sewn in the exact same locations, I did try to ensure that the top of each sleeve was in the same position. You will note that the 442nd Ike jacket is at least three inches shorter.

 

Allan

[Allan H.]

Here is a look at the 442nd jacket laying on top of the 103rd Ike. Again, I worked hard to ensure that both were in the same position at the top of the jackets. In this case, the overall length of the smaller jacket is nearly four inches shorter than the 103rd Ike.

[Allan H.]

Here is one more view of the differences. The waist circumference is a whopping five inches narrower than the 34R example.

 

I'm going to estimate that Ichihara's waist was around 20 or 21 inches. My neighbor has a son in fourth grade who was too big to be able to wear this Ike jacket. I cannot emphasize enough how TINY this thing is.

 

Allan

[Garandomatic]

My Filipino Death March survivor wore a 34S that had been tailored even smaller! I think your guy, my Nissei and my Filipino and all those like them were giants in small bodies.

[Brian Dentino]

Allan, another gem from your collection and a rare bird for sure. Amazing items you have added to your collection over 40+ years! Thanks for sharing SSgt. Ichihara's Ike jacket and story with us!

[Dirk]

Allan I am coming late to this excellent thread! Rare uniform, great story and an amazing unit! Thank you for sharing this with us.

[Allan H.]

Thanks to all for your comments. It takes a lot to write up the story, take and crop the photos etc. So often, it hardly seems worth sharing when nobody comments.

 

I posted a 71st Division Ike jacket just prior to posting this one and just got crickets..... I'm glad this post has been enjoyed.

 

Allan