The Purple Heart Warriors

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

During World War Two, a Japanese American battalion became one of the most decorated army units in US military history.

The 442nd Regimental Combat Unit earned more than 4,000 Purple Hearts and seven Presidential Unit Citations for extraordinary heroism in battle.

The unit was set up in 1943, just over a year after Japan bombed the US naval base at Pearl Harbour. Following the attack, 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the west coast were sent to internment camps, but many were keen to show their loyalty to the US.

They volunteered to join the 442nd RCT and fight in Europe. Hundreds of recruits came from the camps, while thousands of others were from the Japanese American community in Hawaii.

Among them was 19-year-old Matsuichi Kusatsu. His son Clyde tells Jane Wilkinson about how the unit fought prejudice to prove their loyalty, and a warning, this story includes racist language of the time.

Actor Clyde stars in the BBC World Service drama Purple Heart Warriors. To hear this six-part season search for Dramas, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Matsuichi Kusatsu in 1944. Credit: Family photo)

Transcript

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0:00.0	In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers.
0:07.9	But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA
0:12.0	was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife.
0:18.0	Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family?
0:21.3	When lies are still being told to this day, who do you believe?
0:25.0	I wouldn't even know where to start.
0:26.6	And I'm with the irony.
0:28.5	Steakknife.
0:29.7	Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:43.8	Hello, welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Jane Wilkinson.
0:51.6	I'm taking you back to World War II to meet one of the most decorated army units in US military history, the so-called Purple Heart Battalion, made up almost entirely of
0:56.5	Japanese-American volunteers. And just to warn you, this story includes racist language of the time.
1:02.7	What my father would always talk about is that they were willing to show and pay for their
1:07.3	loyalty in blood. And not only were they fighting against racism, they were also
1:12.6	fighting against the prejudice within the military system itself. That's Clyde Kusatsu, whose father
1:19.2	Matsuichi was a private in the 442nd regimental combat team. Before the United States entered the war,
1:27.2	Matsuichi, known to his friends as
1:29.3	Mut, was living in Hawaii, one of thousands of Nisai, the name for second generation
1:35.0	Japanese Americans. And then, in 1941, Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor.
1:43.8	At dawn in this island paradise, warplanes are the most treacherous of enemies savagely
1:48.5	and without warning shatter the peace of almost a century.
1:52.7	Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.
	...

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