Yoshio Nakamura, U.S. Army, WWII, 442nd Regimental Combat Team

Yoshio Nakamura grew up working on his family's farm in California. Despite the Great Depression, it was a good life and Nakamura had many friends as a teenager. But his life changed drastically after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Less than three months later, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered Americans of Japanese descent on the west coast into internment camps out of fear of their loyalty to Japan. In this episode, Nakamura describes the indignity of that designation and the determination that and he and others like him had to prove their love for America.Nakamura joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was comprised of Japanese-American service members. The 442nd endured some of the most brutal fighting in the European theatre. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Nakamura describes the horrific fighting in the mountains of Italy and how the 442nd was used to break Nazi Germany's Gothic Line. Finally, Nakamura reveals the stunning explanation given to him and other members of the 442nd as to why they would not be sent to the Pacific theatre following the German surrender.