This map shows movements of units trying to rescue the “Lost Battalion” during World War II in France. — Photo courtesy of the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center
An exhibit of “The Rescue of the Lost Battalion” is currently on display at the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center through Aug. 28 and can be viewed by appointment.
Appointments can be made for showings from noon to 4 p.m. weekdays by calling 244-NVMC.
Perhaps the most fabled episode in the history of the100th Infantry Battalion /442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated unit composed of nisei, or second-generation Japanese Americans, the Rescue of the Lost Battalion took place in the Vosges Mountains in France at the end of October 1944.
Members of the 1st Battalion of the 141st Texas Regiment found themselves cut off and surrounded behind enemy lines with limited food and water. Ordered to rescue them, the 100th/442nd engaged in nearly nonstop combat for six days, eventually reaching the Lost Battalion on Oct. 30. The 100th/442nd suffered hundreds of casualties in rescuing 211 men. When the 100th/442nd were finally relieved, the dead and the wounded outnumbered the living, ending at less than half their usual strength, the center news release said.
The rescue raised the question of whether the nisei soldiers were being used as “cannon fodder” or whether they were given the most difficult assignments because of their outstanding performance, the news release said.
The exhibit will focus on Maui’s nisei soldiers and their stories.
The center’s mission is to ignite the potential in people by inspiring them to find the hero in themselves through the legacy of the nisei veterans.
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