442nd Regimental Combat Team webpage partially restored after public outcry
The U.S. Army restored the webpage celebrating the feats of the nation's most decorated military unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, after deleting the article "in accordance with a Presidential Executive Order" last Friday.
"The 442nd Regimental Combat team holds an honored place in Army History and we are pleased to republish an article that highlights the brave Soldiers who served in the "Go-for-Broke" brigade," said Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, an Army spokesperson.
The Army formed the unit in 1943 as the U.S. and the Allies attempted to retake Europe from Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime during World War II. The 442nd Regimental Combat team consisted of thousands of Nisei, or second-generation Japanese Americans, whose families were unjustly imprisoned in internment camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Initially, the military aimed to recruit 1,500 men from the Hawaiian Islands, but more than 10,000 volunteered.
"They had a lot to prove to their fellow Americans, but in their minds, they knew who they were," said Mitch Maki, president of the Go For Broke National Education Center. "They were born and raised here in America. They were the sons of immigrants who, in one generation, just embodied the very best values of this nation: Courage, patriotism, service."
Maki's organization named itself after the unit's motto: Go for Broke. The men deployed to the European theater of the war, first to Italy in 1943 and then to France a year later. By the time the unit disbanded in 1946, the more than 14,000 men who served with the 442nd earned thousands of Purple Hearts, 21 Medals of Honor and eight Presidential Unit Citations.
For perspective, the Army's oldest unit, the 3rd Infantry Division, has received 61 Medal of Honor recipients in the 243 years since its formation.
"They became the most highly decorated unit in American military history," Maki said.
After the war ended, many of the men who served in the 442nd faced discrimination when they returned home.
"We hope that race prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of leadership can be descriptors of the past, and not of the present," Maki said.
However, last Friday, the Army deleted the unit's webpage as part of President Trump's anti-DEI executive order, which also resulted in the Arlington National Cemetary deleting its website's notable graves section for the Tuskegee Airmen.
"I believe that this happened because of the current commitment to erasing the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in telling the story of America. And I think it's such a shame. It's so clear in our nation, diversity is a strength," Maki said.
In a statement, Lt. Col. Castro said they deleted the page "in accordance with a Presidential Executive Order and guidance from the Secretary of Defense."
"The Army is tirelessly working through content on that site and articles related to the 442nd Infantry Regiment and Nisei Soldiers will be republished to better align with current guidance," the Army spokesperson added.
Other similar instances happened across the military, including lesson plans that include videos of the Tuskegee Airmen, groundbreaking Black pilots known for their service during World War II, and the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, being temporarily removed from the U.S. Air Force curriculum.
"Our African American brothers and sisters, our Latino brothers and sisters," Maki said. "Our native American brothers and sisters who have also served in the military. Their stories are being erased."
