Photographs and archival records relating to the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) are available through several collections and repositories, including the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the University of Hawai‘i Mānoa Hamilton Library, and the Hawai‘i War Records Depository. The Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA) has also digitized and made available documents relating to Americans of Japanese ancestry who served during World War II.
The 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans (Club 100) maintains its own digital archives of 100th Infantry Battalion records and assists with historical inquiries at the Education Center. Please contact us for assistance.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Documents
Volunteers from the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA), based in Maryland, have been spending years at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) facility to identify archived documents relating to Americans of Japanese ancestry (AJA) who served during World War II. Their research was instrumental in the review that led to the upgrading of the Distinguished Service Crosses of twenty 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd RCT soldiers to Medals of Honor in June 2000.
During the first ten years of the project, volunteers Sus and Fumie Yamamoto and Maggie Ikeda copied documents identified in the National Archives. One set was sent to the 442nd Veterans Club in Honolulu and another to Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. With the encouragement of Ted Tsukiyama, a veteran of the 442nd and Military Intelligence Service, the 442nd Veterans Club supported JAVA’s efforts as it began to scan and catalog new documents that were discovered. A protocol for searches of key words has been established by the JAVA team. These scanned documents are available on the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA) website.
The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Library’s Japanese American Veterans Collection also includes National Archives (NARA) Documents Relating to the 442nd RCT, including records from July 1944 onward. Because the 100th Infantry Battalion was attached to the 442nd RCT beginning in June 1944 and was formally integrated with the regiment in August 1944, records relating to the 100th are also found among these materials.
Japanese American Veterans Collection
The Japanese American Veterans Collection (JAVC) at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa Hamilton Library includes photographs and documents relating to the 100th Infantry Battalion, Hawaiʻi Territorial Guard, Varsity Victory Volunteers (VVV), 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT), 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion, and the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). Its digital resources include U.S. Army Signal Corps photographs, National Archives documents relating to the 442nd RCT, correspondence from the Chaplain Hiro Higuchi collection, documents from the Chaplain Israel Yost collection, and other JAVC materials.
Included in the JAVC is the 442nd RCT Veterans Club Collection, which contains photographs and materials documenting the 442nd RCT, including documents about the 100th Infantry Battalion.
Hawai’i War Records Depository
The Hawai‘i War Records Depository (HWRD) at the University of Hawai‘i Mānoa Hamilton Library is a comprehensive collection documenting life in Hawai‘i during World War II. Designated as the official depository for material related to Hawai‘i’s part in World War II by the Hawai‘i Territorial Legislature in 1943, the University of Hawai‘i gathered materials donated or loaned by individuals, organizations, and government agencies across the state. The collection includes correspondence, personal accounts, photographs, reports, maps, newspapers, and other wartime records and memorabilia.
Photographs taken by the U.S. Army Signal Corps and U.S. Navy during World War II, including photographs of the 100th Infantry Battalion, are available through the Hawaiʻi War Records Depository Photos online collection.