WEBVTT - America's Soldier: Why the U.S. Needed George Sakato 0:00:17.140 --> 0:00:23.581 Pushkin. Hey everyone, it is Jared Martinez. 0:00:23.781 --> 0:00:26.220 Before we get into this episode, I wanted to let 0:00:26.301 --> 0:00:28.700 you know that you can listen to the entire season 0:00:28.781 --> 0:00:32.620 of Medal of Honor right now ad free with Pushkin Plus. 0:00:33.061 --> 0:00:36.060 Get all our incredible stories of courage with a Pushkin 0:00:36.141 --> 0:00:39.181 Plus subscription. Sign up and save on the Medal of 0:00:39.221 --> 0:00:43.220 Honor show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot fm, 0:00:43.221 --> 0:00:47.621 slash Plus. Use the CODEH twenty five for twenty five 0:00:47.661 --> 0:00:49.541 percent off an annual subscription. 0:00:50.060 --> 0:00:51.701 Okay, now to the episode. 0:00:55.261 --> 0:00:59.421 Joe Soccato was crawling through the mud. Just seconds earlier, 0:00:59.661 --> 0:01:02.621 he was shouted to a group of American soldiers. He 0:01:02.700 --> 0:01:05.621 was warning them to watch out for Germans with machine guns. 0:01:06.700 --> 0:01:09.861 This was nineteen forty four and they were in France, 0:01:10.141 --> 0:01:14.860 facing the Notes, struggling through a freezing forest, fighting for 0:01:15.060 --> 0:01:20.340 every inch of ground. The enemy started shooting and Joe 0:01:20.500 --> 0:01:22.461 washed as bullets hit one of the men and he 0:01:22.500 --> 0:01:25.821 crumpled to the ground. That was one of Joe's best friends. 0:01:27.381 --> 0:01:29.780 So Joe scrambled through the dirt and he slid into 0:01:29.821 --> 0:01:33.140 the shallow trench where his buddy lay. Machine gun fire 0:01:33.261 --> 0:01:37.780 was still ripping through the air. Splintering the trees. Joe 0:01:37.821 --> 0:01:41.220 put his arms around his friend. His blood soaked through 0:01:41.301 --> 0:01:44.020 Joe's clothes and coated his hands. 0:01:44.661 --> 0:01:46.541 And I picked him up, and he's trying to say 0:01:46.541 --> 0:01:51.020 something to mean I was gurgled in the pretty Soon 0:01:51.101 --> 0:01:54.181 his body went limp on me. I knew he died. 0:01:56.461 --> 0:02:01.021 I said that I helped him. Why. 0:02:04.141 --> 0:02:06.701 Joe was a little guy, just over five feet tall, 0:02:07.181 --> 0:02:10.101 not much of an athlete, and he was exhausted after 0:02:10.181 --> 0:02:11.541 days of nonsense, stop fighting. 0:02:12.501 --> 0:02:14.541 But now none of that mattered. 0:02:15.381 --> 0:02:18.501 I wasn't quite in my right sense of mind, but 0:02:18.621 --> 0:02:22.741 I was just mad and crying. I was crying. 0:02:24.621 --> 0:02:27.261 Joe stood up in the trench. He was going to 0:02:27.261 --> 0:02:29.101 face those Germans head on. 0:02:32.341 --> 0:02:32.901 I'm Jr. 0:02:32.941 --> 0:02:37.741 Martinez and this is Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. 0:02:37.861 --> 0:02:40.741 The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in 0:02:40.781 --> 0:02:44.621 the United States. It's awarded for gallantry and bravery and 0:02:44.661 --> 0:02:47.381 combat at the risk of life, above and beyond the 0:02:47.381 --> 0:02:50.821 call of duty. Each candidate must be approved all the 0:02:50.821 --> 0:02:53.901 way up the chain of command, from the supervisory officer 0:02:53.941 --> 0:02:57.421 in the field to the White House. This show is 0:02:57.421 --> 0:03:01.301 about those heroes, what they did, what it meant, and 0:03:01.341 --> 0:03:03.861 what their stories tell us about the nature of courage 0:03:03.861 --> 0:03:10.061 and sacrifice. This episode is about one man, George Saccado. 0:03:10.901 --> 0:03:14.061 His friends called them Joe, but it's also about a 0:03:14.101 --> 0:03:17.381 whole US Army unit, the four hundred and forty second 0:03:17.421 --> 0:03:21.421 Regimental Combat Team. The soldiers of that regiment were all 0:03:21.501 --> 0:03:25.541 Japanese American and while they were fighting for freedom in Europe, 0:03:25.781 --> 0:03:30.061 their families were losing their freedom back home. This story 0:03:30.141 --> 0:03:32.941 tells us so much about what makes someone go above 0:03:33.341 --> 0:03:37.341 and beyond the call of duty. Even after being mistreated 0:03:38.941 --> 0:03:42.501 on that day in nineteen forty four, Josicato knew he 0:03:42.581 --> 0:03:46.221 was running into a deadly cloud of bullets. He had 0:03:46.261 --> 0:03:51.261 a broken heart and a deep feeling of injustice, but 0:03:51.341 --> 0:04:08.461 he used it for a higher purpose. One morning in 0:04:08.541 --> 0:04:12.261 early December nineteen forty one, Josicato went to work at 0:04:12.261 --> 0:04:16.061 his family's little grocery store in Redlands, California, a farming 0:04:16.101 --> 0:04:19.781 town outside La Joe was the middle of seven kids, 0:04:20.181 --> 0:04:23.581 twenty years old. He had barely graduated from high school, 0:04:24.021 --> 0:04:25.940 and he had no idea what he wanted to do 0:04:25.981 --> 0:04:28.821 with his life. And then he turned on the radio 0:04:29.501 --> 0:04:31.861 and suddenly everything changed. 0:04:32.941 --> 0:04:40.820 Yesterday, the sun Bus sub nineteen forty one, a date 0:04:40.901 --> 0:04:47.621 which will live in infamy. The United States of America 0:04:48.941 --> 0:04:51.341 was suddenly and deliberately attacked. 0:04:52.421 --> 0:04:56.381 I heard the newscast fact when Roosevelt said Pearl Harvell 0:04:56.461 --> 0:05:01.141 was being bombed tonight. Couldn't believe that Pearl Harve's bombed bus. 0:05:01.741 --> 0:05:03.341 I got, this's what are we going to do now? 0:05:04.381 --> 0:05:07.381 He wasn't the only one asking that question. The government 0:05:07.541 --> 0:05:11.261 was too, and by February of nineteen forty two, they 0:05:11.301 --> 0:05:15.820 made a controversial choice. Japanese American citizens like Joe couldn't 0:05:15.861 --> 0:05:20.061 stay where they were. Here's Milton Eisenhower, the director of 0:05:20.101 --> 0:05:23.021 the War Relocation Authority, explaining the decision. 0:05:23.861 --> 0:05:28.021 When in the Japanese attacked Pearl Harvard, our West coast 0:05:28.061 --> 0:05:32.141 became a potential combat zone. Living in that zone were 0:05:32.181 --> 0:05:36.061 more than one hundred thousand persons of Japanese ancestry. Most 0:05:36.101 --> 0:05:39.101 were loyal, but no one knew what would happen among 0:05:39.141 --> 0:05:44.261 this concentrated population if Japanese forces should try to invade 0:05:44.261 --> 0:05:48.501 our shores. Military authorities therefore determined that all of them, 0:05:48.821 --> 0:05:50.981 citizens and aliens alike, would have to move. 0:05:52.421 --> 0:05:56.380 So suddenly, Japanese Americans across the West coast discovered that 0:05:56.461 --> 0:06:02.221 American democracy no longer applied to them. Kids were pulled 0:06:02.221 --> 0:06:06.140 out of school, everybody lost their jobs, and the government 0:06:06.181 --> 0:06:10.301 built relocation camps on dusty prairies and dried out farms 0:06:10.341 --> 0:06:10.501 in the. 0:06:10.501 --> 0:06:13.341 Middle of the country. They looked a lot like. 0:06:13.341 --> 0:06:17.901 Prisons barbaris, fence guard towers on us in each corner, 0:06:18.701 --> 0:06:21.621 and the machine guns were pointing in, not out. 0:06:23.181 --> 0:06:26.941 So Joe's family decided to move to rural Arizona. At 0:06:27.021 --> 0:06:30.741 least there they wouldn't be forced into a camp. They 0:06:30.781 --> 0:06:34.101 only had a few days to liquidate their lives, including 0:06:34.341 --> 0:06:35.381 their grocery store. 0:06:35.901 --> 0:06:40.221 We just had meatcaseus was eight hundred dollars. We sold 0:06:40.261 --> 0:06:42.541 it for three hundred dollars through in the store. 0:06:43.821 --> 0:06:48.821 Their whole business sold for just three hundred dollars. Their 0:06:48.821 --> 0:06:52.021 new life in Arizona wasn't exactly Joe's speed. 0:06:52.981 --> 0:06:55.861 That year, I had to pick up cantalopes one hundred 0:06:55.901 --> 0:06:59.101 and ten degrees. I weighed one hundred and sixty five pounds. 0:06:59.141 --> 0:07:02.661 When I graduated that season, I lost thirty five pounds. 0:07:03.621 --> 0:07:05.821 I was no farmer, I was a city slicker. 0:07:08.581 --> 0:07:11.541 Plus, the war was going on, and this fight everything 0:07:11.661 --> 0:07:15.541 Joe wanted to do his part serve his country, so 0:07:15.581 --> 0:07:17.501 he decided to become a pilot. 0:07:17.981 --> 0:07:23.061 A voluntive for the Air Force. Partly draft card says 0:07:23.221 --> 0:07:28.541 for sea enemy alien animi alien, what do you mean? Animated? American? 0:07:31.261 --> 0:07:34.621 For the first chunk of the war, Japanese Americans weren't 0:07:34.661 --> 0:07:38.821 allowed to serve at all at all, but a group 0:07:38.861 --> 0:07:42.221 of them petitioned the government and finally they were allowed 0:07:42.261 --> 0:07:45.821 to enlist. But Japanese Americans didn't get to go wherever 0:07:45.901 --> 0:07:50.181 they wanted. They were assigned to one place the army, 0:07:50.821 --> 0:07:54.621 specifically the four hundred and forty second Regimental Combat Team. 0:07:55.501 --> 0:07:58.101 All of the officers in this new unit were white, 0:07:58.741 --> 0:08:01.181 and the four hundred and forty second wouldn't be allowed 0:08:01.181 --> 0:08:05.141 to fight in Asia, just Europe because you know what 0:08:05.261 --> 0:08:08.781 if they got to Japan and suddenly decided to switch sides. 0:08:09.501 --> 0:08:12.821 I mean, that's a crazy idea. But the government was 0:08:12.941 --> 0:08:18.181 that paranoid and didn't trust their loyalty. When the first 0:08:18.181 --> 0:08:21.501 group of soldiers arrived at Fort Shelby and Mississippi news 0:08:21.501 --> 0:08:22.501 cameras were there. 0:08:23.501 --> 0:08:28.661 Boys with Japanese names, Japanese faces, but with mind parts 0:08:28.701 --> 0:08:34.060 and spirits that are enthusiastically earnestly American. They're trained to 0:08:34.101 --> 0:08:37.421 make their contribution to victory for democracy and all the 0:08:37.461 --> 0:08:44.101 democracy means tolerance, freedom, an equal opportunity, regardless of grace 0:08:44.180 --> 0:08:45.141 their ancestry. 0:08:46.780 --> 0:08:49.261 But while they were fighting for freedom, some of their 0:08:49.261 --> 0:08:54.741 families were anything but free. Ironic, right. But here's something 0:08:54.780 --> 0:08:56.860 else to know about the four hundred and forty second. 0:08:57.420 --> 0:09:00.181 A lot of the guys were from Hawaii. You see, 0:09:00.381 --> 0:09:04.261 Japanese Americans were a major part of Hawaii's population. They 0:09:04.261 --> 0:09:07.220 didn't experience the same kind of day to day discrimination 0:09:07.341 --> 0:09:09.941 that many faced on the mainland, and they didn't know 0:09:10.021 --> 0:09:13.461 much about the internal camps. At first, the four hundred 0:09:13.501 --> 0:09:16.500 and forty second had a problem. The Hawaiian guys and 0:09:16.540 --> 0:09:20.821 the mainland guys couldn't get along. Daniel Enoe was a 0:09:20.861 --> 0:09:23.581 member of the four hundred and forty second from Honolulu. 0:09:24.580 --> 0:09:31.421 Both sides looked upon the others with some distrust, and 0:09:32.940 --> 0:09:34.621 fights became commonplace. 0:09:36.261 --> 0:09:39.141 But then one of their leaders had an idea. They 0:09:39.180 --> 0:09:41.340 took some of the Hawaiian soldiers on a bus to 0:09:41.460 --> 0:09:44.061 Arkansas to visit an internment camp. 0:09:44.741 --> 0:09:50.180 At the gate were men in uniform with rifles and bayonets, 0:09:51.221 --> 0:09:53.941 and I thought what in the is happening? Then you 0:09:54.021 --> 0:09:57.740 look into the camp and there they were, and then 0:09:57.780 --> 0:09:59.060 it dawned us. 0:09:58.861 --> 0:09:59.660 What had happened. 0:10:02.501 --> 0:10:05.460 It was a prison for families who looked just like them, 0:10:05.901 --> 0:10:10.901 little kids, old folks, moms and dads. The Hawaiian guys 0:10:11.060 --> 0:10:14.060 finally understood that what the four hundred and forty second 0:10:14.180 --> 0:10:17.420 had in common was way more important than their differences. 0:10:17.981 --> 0:10:20.421 They all had something to prove that they could be 0:10:20.501 --> 0:10:23.980 as good, make that better than anyone else. 0:10:24.981 --> 0:10:29.300 Overnight the regiment was formed. Next morning you had the 0:10:29.381 --> 0:10:30.300 for forty second. 0:10:32.221 --> 0:10:37.021 They were well organized, fearless. Their nickname was Gopher Broke. 0:10:37.901 --> 0:10:39.901 They got to Europe in the spring of forty four 0:10:40.021 --> 0:10:44.060 and instantly became famous. They pushed back the Nazis in Italy, 0:10:44.901 --> 0:10:49.021 but the price was high. Over the course of three months, 0:10:49.060 --> 0:10:53.021 nearly twenty five percent of them, more than twelve hundred 0:10:53.060 --> 0:10:58.981 men were wounded or killed by that summer. Joe Soccato 0:10:59.060 --> 0:11:01.381 had also enlisted in the four hundred and forty second. 0:11:02.060 --> 0:11:04.820 Being turned away from the Air Force didn't deter him. 0:11:05.221 --> 0:11:06.501 He was going to serve. 0:11:07.381 --> 0:11:10.540 I wanted to show that I'm an American and I 0:11:10.540 --> 0:11:14.860 should joined the service. I had showed my loyalty to 0:11:14.981 --> 0:11:16.501 the country. 0:11:16.660 --> 0:11:18.660 The high point of his training was a trip he 0:11:18.700 --> 0:11:21.221 took on leave. He went to New York City with 0:11:21.221 --> 0:11:24.141 some of his platoon mates. Joe was like, let's have 0:11:24.180 --> 0:11:26.941 all the New York experiences before we go off to war. 0:11:27.660 --> 0:11:29.620 So he says, why don't we check the world of 0:11:29.700 --> 0:11:32.300 a story to say that we stayed at the world 0:11:32.300 --> 0:11:35.021 of the story. So we each put ten bucks piece 0:11:35.420 --> 0:11:38.460 cost us forty dollars and we only stayed there three 0:11:38.540 --> 0:11:41.100 four hours, looking out the windows and stuff like that. 0:11:42.300 --> 0:11:46.261 Listen, that's big money. When these guys only made twenty 0:11:46.300 --> 0:11:48.901 one dollars a month and they didn't even stay there 0:11:48.940 --> 0:11:51.221 for the night. They just wanted to say that they'd 0:11:51.221 --> 0:11:55.581 done it. Right after that, Joe shipped out to Europe 0:11:55.940 --> 0:11:59.381 and he struggled. It was like the canalopes, but worse. 0:11:59.981 --> 0:12:01.180 He was pretty out of shape. 0:12:02.060 --> 0:12:04.780 Our first day in battle, we had to climb this hill. 0:12:05.660 --> 0:12:07.621 I couldn't climb the hill. He had to pool of 0:12:07.660 --> 0:12:11.860 branches and roots and pull myself up. I had to 0:12:11.981 --> 0:12:16.060 have somebody else carry my pack up, somebody else carried canteens. 0:12:16.381 --> 0:12:17.820 When I got to the top, I was the last 0:12:17.820 --> 0:12:20.021 one up. All I had was my rifle. 0:12:22.261 --> 0:12:25.021 He could barely make it up the hill. But here 0:12:25.060 --> 0:12:28.581 he was joining the toughest unit on the European front. 0:12:29.501 --> 0:12:32.261 He would have to pull it together fast. The four 0:12:32.341 --> 0:12:36.180 hundred and forty second was heading to France. They were 0:12:36.221 --> 0:13:01.221 going to Hitler's doorstep. In the fall of nineteen forty four, 0:13:01.621 --> 0:13:04.780 the Allied forces were in the French Mountains, just twenty 0:13:04.901 --> 0:13:08.701 miles from the German border. The Nazis had occupied that 0:13:08.820 --> 0:13:13.060 area for four long years, and now the Allies were 0:13:13.101 --> 0:13:16.741 trying to push them out. These mountains were the Nazis' 0:13:16.820 --> 0:13:20.700 last line of defense, so Hitler ordered that they must 0:13:20.741 --> 0:13:26.021 be held at all costs. On October twenty fourth, the 0:13:26.060 --> 0:13:28.621 first battalion of the one hundred and forty first Infantry 0:13:28.660 --> 0:13:32.820 got in order advanced to a strategic ridge. Keep in 0:13:32.861 --> 0:13:36.940 mind this was all held by the Germans. There were 0:13:36.940 --> 0:13:39.580 about two hundred and seventy men in the first battalion. 0:13:40.021 --> 0:13:43.141 It was part of the thirty sixth Division, originally from Texas. 0:13:43.820 --> 0:13:47.100 In other words, not Joe's unit. We'll get back to 0:13:47.180 --> 0:13:50.301 Joe in a minute. The first battalion set out in 0:13:50.341 --> 0:13:54.581 the freezing rain, marching on muddy mountain tracks and Most 0:13:54.621 --> 0:13:57.141 of them had only a day's worth of food, water, 0:13:57.221 --> 0:14:00.501 and AMMO. They figured the supply trucks would catch up 0:14:00.501 --> 0:14:03.700 to them, but they went too far and too fast. 0:14:04.261 --> 0:14:10.501 Five miles into the forest. It was weirdly easy astro 0:14:10.580 --> 0:14:11.741 toortalm was there. 0:14:12.381 --> 0:14:16.540 We had practically no resistance for those five miles. I mean, 0:14:16.700 --> 0:14:20.181 little little firing here and there, but we thought, hell, 0:14:20.301 --> 0:14:23.580 this is really going to be something, you know. But 0:14:23.621 --> 0:14:28.541 they were finally got up to our objective. The Germans 0:14:28.661 --> 0:14:32.381 counterattacked and they worked there where on and they cut 0:14:32.460 --> 0:14:34.181 us off from the rest of the unit. 0:14:36.421 --> 0:14:39.821 They were on a hilltop, the enemy was on three sides, 0:14:40.341 --> 0:14:42.421 and there was a steep drop off on the other. 0:14:43.261 --> 0:14:47.341 The battalion was caught in a deadly trap. At dawn 0:14:47.421 --> 0:14:50.741 the next day, their commander, Martin Higgins, sent out a 0:14:50.781 --> 0:14:53.941 twenty five man patrol. He wanted to see if they 0:14:53.941 --> 0:14:55.941 could sneak through the enemy lines. 0:14:56.261 --> 0:14:59.221 And they never made it. I think only about five 0:14:59.460 --> 0:15:02.261 men came back from that patrol and they said, we 0:15:02.301 --> 0:15:05.941 couldn't get through. There's too many Germans. So that's when 0:15:05.941 --> 0:15:07.620 we realized, now we're surrounded. 0:15:08.861 --> 0:15:12.221 They didn't have much AMO, medicals, applies or batteries for 0:15:12.261 --> 0:15:15.461 their two way radios, and they had almost nothing to 0:15:15.541 --> 0:15:19.381 eat or drink. So the order went out send in 0:15:19.501 --> 0:15:22.821 the four hundred and forty second The Gopher Broke guys 0:15:22.861 --> 0:15:26.781 were told to go rescue the lost Battalion. Different units 0:15:26.781 --> 0:15:30.460 took different paths through the forest. Joe's company was ordered 0:15:30.460 --> 0:15:33.340 to take Hill six one seven. It was the high 0:15:33.421 --> 0:15:37.141 ground overlooking the road to the lost Battalion. Without it, 0:15:37.741 --> 0:15:42.541 they would never reach those men. They started marching before 0:15:42.580 --> 0:15:46.941 dawn on October twenty sixth. It was cold, rainy, and muddy, 0:15:47.541 --> 0:15:51.501 and by mid morning they were already pinned down. You see, 0:15:51.541 --> 0:15:54.220 the Germans were totally dug in, and they had a 0:15:54.221 --> 0:15:58.861 deadly strategy. They'd hit the Americans hard, then they'd pause, 0:15:59.460 --> 0:16:02.341 fall back a little, and force the gis to move 0:16:02.421 --> 0:16:07.061 forward into machine gun and artillery fire. So for the 0:16:07.101 --> 0:16:11.101 next two days, Joe's company kept inching towards Hill's six 0:16:11.261 --> 0:16:17.941 one seven, getting picked off one by one as they 0:16:17.941 --> 0:16:21.701 were trying and failing to take that hill. Other units 0:16:21.701 --> 0:16:24.621 of the four hundred and forty second were noticing something 0:16:24.701 --> 0:16:28.261 weird while they were being sent further in the rest 0:16:28.261 --> 0:16:30.501 of the one hundred and forty first was staying behind 0:16:31.901 --> 0:16:34.741 dan Enoey thought he knew why. 0:16:34.941 --> 0:16:39.781 You see, we knew we were expendable. We knew that 0:16:39.901 --> 0:16:43.541 we were so good that we were requested by other 0:16:43.661 --> 0:16:47.821 units to serve as shock troops or assault troops. That's 0:16:47.821 --> 0:16:48.501 what we were. 0:16:51.821 --> 0:16:55.301 Meanwhile, as the days ticked by, members of the Lost 0:16:55.341 --> 0:17:00.461 Battalion were running out of supplies and losing hope. Jean 0:17:00.580 --> 0:17:03.741 Earhart was a member of the Lost Battalion. He remembers 0:17:03.821 --> 0:17:05.100 the thirst most of all. 0:17:05.781 --> 0:17:11.981 They's cut us aalt from food, water and everything. Have 0:17:12.101 --> 0:17:17.141 you ever been thirsty, Well, think about doing a lout 0:17:17.221 --> 0:17:18.901 water that period of time. 0:17:21.461 --> 0:17:25.101 Finally, on the night of October twenty eighth, Joe's company 0:17:25.141 --> 0:17:27.181 reached the base of Hills six one seven. 0:17:28.061 --> 0:17:31.701 We're a cross enemy lines. The forest was so dense 0:17:31.981 --> 0:17:34.941 you can barely see your hint. So we marched all 0:17:35.021 --> 0:17:37.541 night and we're now on the back of this ridge, 0:17:38.621 --> 0:17:41.381 and then a dawn we started attack. We caught the 0:17:41.381 --> 0:17:43.661 Germans off guard. They didn't know they we were in 0:17:43.741 --> 0:17:44.301 behind them. 0:17:44.341 --> 0:17:49.100 Now Joe had a machine gun and he used it 0:17:49.101 --> 0:17:50.061 against the Nazis. 0:17:50.821 --> 0:17:54.021 He chased them out of the fox holes, chased them 0:17:54.021 --> 0:17:56.621 off the hill, and they scattered the other way. 0:17:57.581 --> 0:18:01.021 But then the Germans turned the tables. Suddenly Joe's company 0:18:01.101 --> 0:18:01.941 was on the defensive. 0:18:02.741 --> 0:18:05.661 We got surrounded. Now they're going to con attack. Artillery 0:18:05.741 --> 0:18:08.261 such coming in, so we had to jump into the 0:18:08.301 --> 0:18:09.181 Germans fox holes. 0:18:09.221 --> 0:18:13.101 This time Oh duck for cover, popping up to shoot 0:18:13.101 --> 0:18:15.381 at the enemy. Trying to help the rest of his 0:18:15.421 --> 0:18:16.421 friends who were out there. 0:18:17.261 --> 0:18:20.941 Anything that's moved, I was shooting at it. Next thing 0:18:20.941 --> 0:18:24.141 you know, I was run out of ammunition, and when 0:18:24.221 --> 0:18:26.621 Jumans wanted to come up, he's going to throw a 0:18:26.621 --> 0:18:32.541 grenade at me, So I got the pistol and stopped 0:18:32.621 --> 0:18:36.541 him in the stuff the no more two women's So 0:18:36.581 --> 0:18:38.861 I got down on the hold to start filling my 0:18:38.901 --> 0:18:39.461 clips up. 0:18:41.701 --> 0:18:44.461 He listened for his friends. He knew a guy named 0:18:44.501 --> 0:18:48.741 Sibruro Tanamachi was nearby. Joe and Tanamachi had been together 0:18:48.781 --> 0:18:51.381 since training. They both been on that trip to the 0:18:51.461 --> 0:18:54.221 Waldorf in New York, and they knew all about each other. 0:18:55.221 --> 0:18:58.541 He joined the army because parents wanted him to marry 0:18:58.581 --> 0:19:01.421 some girl and he didn't like her, so he volunteered 0:19:01.461 --> 0:19:03.701 with the r says, I don't know why you did that. 0:19:03.901 --> 0:19:06.141 He didn't want to get married. 0:19:05.941 --> 0:19:06.021 And. 0:19:08.181 --> 0:19:11.541 Just earlier that morning, Tanamachi told Joe that he didn't 0:19:11.541 --> 0:19:13.021 feel right going into battle. 0:19:13.541 --> 0:19:15.741 His stomach hurt, something was off. 0:19:16.581 --> 0:19:20.621 So I told him stay back, don't go, don't go 0:19:20.701 --> 0:19:24.701 on the strip noises, he's gotta go. 0:19:27.341 --> 0:19:29.461 The men of the four hundred and forty second didn't 0:19:29.501 --> 0:19:34.381 stay behind. They went ahead, even when they had their doubts. 0:19:36.021 --> 0:19:39.061 Once Joe had refilled his gun with mo he scanned 0:19:39.101 --> 0:19:40.861 the area again and. 0:19:40.981 --> 0:19:42.461 Leaning back when I was looking up the hill, and 0:19:42.541 --> 0:19:44.461 I seen the group of JIMINSS just going up the 0:19:44.501 --> 0:19:45.781 hill machinguns. 0:19:46.381 --> 0:19:49.261 And at that same moment he saw Tanamachi with the 0:19:49.301 --> 0:19:51.821 squad creeping through the trees. 0:19:52.821 --> 0:19:55.501 Oh my god, I hollered at you guys to watch off. 0:19:55.541 --> 0:19:58.661 The machine guns are taking the hill. Back tana Machi 0:19:58.741 --> 0:20:01.021 for some reason, he got up a sayd square and 0:20:01.101 --> 0:20:03.741 he got shot. 0:20:04.141 --> 0:20:06.461 Joe watched Tanamachi crumble down. 0:20:07.261 --> 0:20:10.021 So I called over this, hold him, picked him up, 0:20:10.061 --> 0:20:14.981 and I except that and he's gurgling and he's trying 0:20:14.981 --> 0:20:18.301 to say the blood is coming out, and he just 0:20:18.341 --> 0:20:23.061 swept body wouldn't lived on me. Then I know he died, 0:20:24.541 --> 0:20:34.861 and I cried oggedn't God, why why. 0:20:38.341 --> 0:20:41.541 Joe gently laid his friend down, and he looked down 0:20:41.581 --> 0:20:45.101 at his hands. They were covered in Tanamachi's blood. 0:20:46.661 --> 0:20:48.421 I was going to get to be the shot him 0:20:48.581 --> 0:20:54.741 was died trying. I threw a pack off and picked 0:20:54.821 --> 0:21:01.181 up Tom and I z exact backed up, run this 0:21:01.261 --> 0:21:04.701 wind and run the road. Shot two three guys and 0:21:04.741 --> 0:21:08.101 then white acacis were waving the group of coming out, 0:21:08.581 --> 0:21:11.101 and I made sure that nobody behind him had a 0:21:11.141 --> 0:21:14.941 gun house. I had to shoot him. 0:21:15.381 --> 0:21:18.061 The Germans on Hill six one seven were giving up, 0:21:18.501 --> 0:21:23.421 waving their white handkerchiefs. They'd been stopped cold by Joe's 0:21:23.461 --> 0:21:26.701 one man stand. The counter attack was over. 0:21:28.461 --> 0:21:32.301 Meanwhile, the rest of Joe's company was right behind him. 0:21:32.621 --> 0:21:35.620 His anger had pulled them out of their foxholes, and 0:21:35.661 --> 0:21:37.661 his bravery made them break. 0:21:38.621 --> 0:21:41.141 The rest of the troops come up and took the hill. 0:21:42.661 --> 0:21:43.581 They took that hill. 0:21:44.261 --> 0:21:48.061 Tanamachi's sacrifice meant that they were one step closer to 0:21:48.181 --> 0:21:49.421 saving the Lost Battalion. 0:21:51.061 --> 0:21:52.381 Joe's loyalty to his. 0:21:52.261 --> 0:22:16.580 Friend and to his country had led the way. On 0:22:16.661 --> 0:22:20.261 October thirtieth, the day after Joe Saccado helped take Hill 0:22:20.341 --> 0:22:26.301 six one seven, the Lost Battalion was finally rescued. Marty Higgins, 0:22:26.541 --> 0:22:29.381 commander of the battalion, remembered how it felt when the 0:22:29.421 --> 0:22:31.981 four hundred and forty second reached them. 0:22:32.381 --> 0:22:34.941 I was asked by many people, what did I think 0:22:34.941 --> 0:22:39.101 of these little guys coming through? I swear to God 0:22:39.141 --> 0:22:42.340 they looked like Jige to us. 0:22:43.421 --> 0:22:46.021 By then, Joe had been injured by a motor show. 0:22:46.701 --> 0:22:50.301 A piece of shrapnel went straight through his backpack into 0:22:50.341 --> 0:22:52.701 his lung, but he survived. 0:22:53.381 --> 0:22:55.341 I had more than nine lives. 0:22:55.901 --> 0:22:57.181 He was one of the lucky ones. 0:22:58.061 --> 0:23:01.301 After days of intense fighting, the four hundred and forty 0:23:01.341 --> 0:23:06.941 second was decimated. Jean Erhart from the Lost Battalion remembered 0:23:06.941 --> 0:23:08.221 the scene as they left the. 0:23:08.221 --> 0:23:15.101 Ridge were moving out of that area. There were trucks. 0:23:15.181 --> 0:23:19.701 They're floating boys up just like you would cordwood, and 0:23:19.861 --> 0:23:24.941 trucks that gave their life and someone else could. The 0:23:26.381 --> 0:23:31.021 one life sacrificed for another. That's why it makes them 0:23:31.061 --> 0:23:39.261 so great. Unselfishness, dedication. I don't know whether I don't 0:23:39.301 --> 0:23:43.621 whether I could help. That is dedicated a given spirit. 0:23:43.741 --> 0:23:47.781 If I had been mistreated in my family, because they 0:23:47.821 --> 0:23:48.741 were mistreated. 0:23:50.821 --> 0:23:53.821 We don't know the exact numbers of Japanese Americans who 0:23:53.901 --> 0:23:57.261 died or were injured rescueing the lost battalion, but it's 0:23:57.301 --> 0:24:02.021 believed that fifty four were killed and approximately two hundred 0:24:02.061 --> 0:24:05.821 and eighty were wounded. And while the lost battalion was 0:24:05.861 --> 0:24:08.340 sent back to a hot meal and medical care, the 0:24:08.421 --> 0:24:11.981 four hundred and forty second was ordered to keep fighting. 0:24:13.101 --> 0:24:16.141 They stayed on that god forsaken ridge, clearing out the 0:24:16.301 --> 0:24:22.541 enemy for another nine days, but they succeeded, and the 0:24:22.621 --> 0:24:27.421 Americans finally punched a hole in the German line. Joe 0:24:27.421 --> 0:24:31.381 would spend the next eight months in hospitals. Eventually he 0:24:31.541 --> 0:24:33.620 was transferred by boat to New York Harbor. 0:24:34.701 --> 0:24:37.101 I looked the Statue of Liberty for the ast side 0:24:37.101 --> 0:24:39.661 I've ever seen. I was happy. 0:24:39.981 --> 0:24:45.061 I was whole, And in nineteen forty six, the last 0:24:45.061 --> 0:24:47.461 of the four hundred and forty second set sail for 0:24:47.581 --> 0:24:51.541 home too. It was the most decorated US Army regiment 0:24:51.621 --> 0:24:56.061 of its size, earning over eighteen thousand awards for bravery 0:24:57.221 --> 0:25:01.541 that included twenty nine Distinguished Service Crosses, more than three 0:25:01.661 --> 0:25:06.061 hundred and thirty Silver crosses, and more than two thousand 0:25:06.141 --> 0:25:11.501 Bronze Stars. That July, they paraded down Constitution Avenue in 0:25:11.541 --> 0:25:13.981 the rain, but they were going to a reception on 0:25:14.021 --> 0:25:17.461 the White House lawn. Here's President Harry Truman. 0:25:18.541 --> 0:25:23.141 You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice 0:25:23.661 --> 0:25:28.101 and you've won. Keep up that fight and we'll continue 0:25:28.141 --> 0:25:28.380 to win. 0:25:29.381 --> 0:25:32.941 That's great Republic stand for just what his Constitution says. 0:25:33.221 --> 0:25:38.021 It stands far the welfare of all the people, all 0:25:38.101 --> 0:25:38.621 the time. 0:25:41.261 --> 0:25:45.581 The welfare of all the people all the time. That's 0:25:45.581 --> 0:25:49.261 what it means to be American, right, except, of course 0:25:50.141 --> 0:25:56.021 when it doesn't. Joe got a medal to at Distinguished 0:25:56.021 --> 0:25:58.741 Service Cross. He heard about it while he was in 0:25:58.781 --> 0:25:59.381 the hospital. 0:26:01.021 --> 0:26:04.341 It's this letter from the younger brother and he says, me, 0:26:04.421 --> 0:26:08.181 a newspaper clipping of my hometown, Redlands. So he set 0:26:08.301 --> 0:26:09.981