100th Battalion, 442 RCT
Posted: 18 Oct 2005, 08:01
I watched the Sox clinch the pennant on TV at this bar near the used book store I'm in once a week and decided to take a long walk home aftrerwards. I walked down Clark Street so I could check out Wrigley Field and walked around it. It was a little cold and quiet here on the North side after the game. I grew up a South side Cub fan and I'll root for the White Sox (well, Chicago) but I'll feel sad that it ain't the Cubs.
So I continued my walk past a couple of cemetaries and got to the intersection of Clark and Montrose.
Here in Chicago they have these brown honorary street signs that hang beneath the real green street name signs. I was surprised and pleased to find one put up in named in the honor of the 100th Battalion/442nd RCT. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was the most decorated US Army unit in WWII. There's a corny movie made about it with Van Johnson called Go For Broke. The RCT was made of Nisei volunteers, these were American born mostly first generation soldiers of Japanese ancestry. The 2nd and 3rd battalions of the RCT were mostly composed of guys from California but I know the re was a small Japanese community here in Chicago at the time not far away from Wrigley Field. What surprised me that the sign specifically mentions the 100th Battalion which was the first battalion of the RCT; they were mostly from the Hawaiian Islands. There was supposed to be a great rivalry between the guys from the mainland and the islanders. Actually, this is the first honorary street sign I've ever seen in Chicago honoring a military unit. I think there was talk at one time honoring the old 8th Regiment which was an all black unit (or as the Army officially designated such units Colored) that was based in one of the armories on the south side in Chicago.
So it was a pleasant evening; the team I was cheering for won and I had a nice little historucal encounter all in the same evening.
So I continued my walk past a couple of cemetaries and got to the intersection of Clark and Montrose.
Here in Chicago they have these brown honorary street signs that hang beneath the real green street name signs. I was surprised and pleased to find one put up in named in the honor of the 100th Battalion/442nd RCT. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was the most decorated US Army unit in WWII. There's a corny movie made about it with Van Johnson called Go For Broke. The RCT was made of Nisei volunteers, these were American born mostly first generation soldiers of Japanese ancestry. The 2nd and 3rd battalions of the RCT were mostly composed of guys from California but I know the re was a small Japanese community here in Chicago at the time not far away from Wrigley Field. What surprised me that the sign specifically mentions the 100th Battalion which was the first battalion of the RCT; they were mostly from the Hawaiian Islands. There was supposed to be a great rivalry between the guys from the mainland and the islanders. Actually, this is the first honorary street sign I've ever seen in Chicago honoring a military unit. I think there was talk at one time honoring the old 8th Regiment which was an all black unit (or as the Army officially designated such units Colored) that was based in one of the armories on the south side in Chicago.
So it was a pleasant evening; the team I was cheering for won and I had a nice little historucal encounter all in the same evening.