[Two photograph albums of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team]

[no place]: [no publisher], 1940. Very Good. Two albums containing black and white photographs of members of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, a fighting unit composed almost entirely of second-generation American soldiers of Japanese ancestry (Nisei) who fought in World War II. The regiment was formed in response to the War Department's call for volunteers to form the segregated Japanese American army combat unit, initially comprising 2,686 volunteers from Hawaii and another 1,500 drawn from mainland U.S. internment camps. Many of the soldiers from the continental U.S. had families in internment camps while they fought abroad. Original string-bound boards, measuring 11"x8.25 and 9.5"x6.5. Very Good, with wear to bindings. Dampstaining to rear cover of larger album, with associated bleeding onto final rear blank unused sheet of larger album. Indentation to front cover of smaller album. These albums depict portraits of servicemen, many identified in inked captions below, as well as scenes of soldiers encamped in the field, interacting with members of other battalions, or at rest. The captions in both albums appear to be in the same hand. The larger album includes 51 photos of various sizes, of which 20 have notes about the identity of the depicted individuals. The first photo depicts a plaque dedicated to the 442nd, acknowledging the rescue of the 1st Battalion, 141 Infantry Regiment, in Biffontaine, France. Also laid in are several loose photos without identification. The smaller album is captioned on six of the 22 mounted photos, along with three loose photos and two French postcards. The record of the Japanese Americans serving in the 442nd and in the Military Intelligence Service helped change the minds of some anti-Japanese American critics in the U.S. In Hawaii, the veterans were welcomed home as heroes by a grateful community that had supported them through those trying times. However, the unit's exemplary service and many decorations did not change the attitudes of the general population in the continental U.S. towards people of Japanese ancestry after World War II. Veterans came home to signs that read "No Japs Allowed" and "No Japs Wanted", the denial of service in shops and restaurants, and the vandalism of their homes and property. (Inventory #: 140947375)