The 442nd Regimental Combat Team remains the most highly decorated combat unit in U.S. military history for its size and length of service. The 442nd was composed of Japanese Americans who were segregated from the rest of the Army and mainly assigned to the European theater during World War II. Many articles and stories have been written about their heroism. However, the personal relations between the 442nd and the European people has largely been untold. This project presents an opportunity to explore those relationships through archival research.
“My Darling Billy” is a project, which seeks to open that window. With the discovery of over 50 letters written from a young French girl to a 442nd RCT corporal, you get a glimpse. A romance develops between Billy Iino (William T. Iino) and Jany Lore with thoughts of marriage. However, because of anti-miscegenation laws in the U.S. combined with the racist hostility toward Japanese Americans that led to their lock-up in concentration camps in 1942, Bill decides marriage could never take place. |