Headquarters Company, 100th Battalion, 442nd RCT
![John Tsukamoto (HQ Co., 100th Bn.) [Courtesy of Dr. Eric Tsukamoto]](https://www.100thbattalion.org/wp-content/gallery/photos-john-tsukamoto/Tsukamoto-John.png "John Tsukamoto (HQ Co., 100th Bn.) [Courtesy of Dr. Eric Tsukamoto]")
He became a carpenter’s apprentice and found work with the U.S. Navy. He was at his job on December 7, 1941, when Japan attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Like other Americans of Japanese ancestry (AJA), he was ordered to help build the stockade where they themselves would later be held. As he witnessed these events, he sensed how difficult life was about to become for Hawai‘i’s Japanese community.
Despite the discrimination surrounding him, John decided he would serve his country. He believed that as an American citizen it was his duty to defend the United States. He was inducted on June 25, 1943, and assigned to Company E, 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
During training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, he forged deep friendships with his fellow soldiers — bonds that lasted a lifetime. Company E met monthly for decades after the war and gathered with other 442nd groups several times a year. They celebrated one another’s successes, encouraged each other’s children, and showed up for every milestone. John honored this devotion and attended every E Company gathering he could, because to him, family always shows up.
After completing training, John deployed to Europe with the 442nd RCT but was reassigned to the 100th Infantry Battalion — the “One Puka Puka.” The 100th had suffered heavy casualties in Italy and needed reinforcements; John joined the unit as it continued its fierce and grueling campaign. In time, the 100th and the 442nd would merge, forming one of the most decorated units in American military history.
Among the many battles they fought was the liberation of Bruyères, a French town near the German border. Even today, Bruyères remembers the 100th/442nd with profound gratitude. Monuments, statues, and reenactments honor the soldiers they called the “gentlemen warriors” — men who treated women and elders with respect, were generous to children, and upheld the highest standards of conduct. As John recalled, they reminded each other often to live up to their pledge: to be the best soldiers they could be and never dishonor the American name.
In Facing the Mountain, author Daniel James Brown describes how the men of the 442nd — including the replacements in the 100th Battalion — carried their cultural values into battle. They practiced oyakōkō (filial piety), determined to return home with their honor intact. They upheld giri, their duty to one another, with older men looking after the younger just as worried mothers had pleaded. They endured unfamiliar food and harsh conditions with humor: “We ate lamb, stink cheese, all kinds of raw vegetables. And no rice! But ‘when you have to, you have to,’ the old guys said.”
Most of all, they held fast to gaman — endurance with dignity. John remembered climbing steep hills under fire, bullets raining down, young men barely in their twenties advancing because it was their duty. They believed that perseverance and righteousness would carry them through — and so they went.
When the 100th/442nd returned home to Hawai‘i, their ship was greeted by cheering families, Hawaiian music, hula dancers, and the Mayor of Honolulu. In time, John received a Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts, a Good Conduct Medal, a Distinguished Unit Badge, and other honors for his service. Yet the insignia he cherished most was the 442nd patch with the raised torch of the Statue of Liberty. He kept the original one from his uniform — still dirty from the field.
After the war, John met and married Yukie Kigawa, and they raised three children: Janice, Deanna, and Eric. He returned to the U.S. Navy as a master carpenter, mentoring apprentices who admired his precision and creativity. Skilled enough to craft many of his own tools, he loved carpentry’s blend of craftsmanship and geometry. Even after retirement, he continued working, widely respected for the quality of his carpentry. He worked almost until his passing in 1991.
John Kazuo Tsukamoto never forgot his E Company brothers or his service as a replacement with the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The values he lived — unwavering loyalty to the United States, a determination to oppose discrimination, respect for the Constitution, and moral integrity — guided him throughout his life. The accomplishments of the 100th/442nd helped shape the Hawai‘i we know today, and the debt we owe these men is immeasurable.