Baker Company, 100th Infantry Battalion
![Jerry Sakoda (Co. B, 100th Inf. Bn.) [Courtesy of Arlene Sato]](https://www.100thbattalion.org/wp-content/gallery/photos-jerry-sakoda-1/jerry-sakoda-1x.png "Jerry Sakoda (Co. B, 100th Inf. Bn.) [Courtesy of Arlene Sato]")
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Army suddenly found itself uncertain how to deploy the approximately 1,400 American soldiers of Japanese ancestry (AJA) stationed in Hawaiʻi. On June 5, 1942, as the Battle of Midway raged, Sakoda and his fellow AJA soldiers quietly departed Honolulu. They arrived in Oakland, California, and officially received their designation as the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate).
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Army suddenly found itself uncertain how to deploy the approximately 1,400 American soldiers of Japanese ancestry (AJA) stationed in Hawaiʻi. On June 5, 1942, as the Battle of Midway raged, Sakoda and his fellow AJA soldiers quietly departed Honolulu. After arriving in Oakland, California, they officially received their designation as the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate).
The battalion trained first at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, where Sakoda later recalled, “The civilian population was friendly, although they had never seen so many Japanese American faces in La Crosse and other cities we visited while on pass.”
After months in the Midwest, the unit was transferred to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, for intensive training in the challenging bayou terrain of Louisiana, where the men contended with chiggers, poison oak, and snakes. By July 1943, the 100th Infantry Battalion had been certified for combat. In August 1943, the battalion was sent to North Africa before being attached to the 34th Infantry Division of the U.S. Fifth Army in preparation for the invasion of Italy.
Sakoda served as a private in Baker Company, 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate), 133rd Regiment. The battalion landed near Salerno in September 1943 and quickly entered heavy combat. Among its early successes was the capture of Benevento, which earned the unit mention in “Stars and Stripes” as the most forward unit in the Fifth Army at the time. For heroic actions near Alife, all twelve members of Sakoda’s squad received the Bronze Star Medal.
Amid the brutal campaign through southern Italy, Sakoda experienced moments of deep personal loss. On the eve of a major assault across the Volturno River, he met with his friend Sgt. Shukichi Sato (Co. F), who showed him a photograph of the infant son he had never seen. Sato was killed that night by a “Bouncing Betty” mine — a memory that remained one of the war’s most poignant moments for Sakoda.
The 100th pushed toward Monte Cassino, enduring grueling combat. On June 2, 1944, during the final drive toward Rome, Sakoda was wounded by machine gun fire in both thighs. While he lay injured in a bomb crater, a sniper continued to shoot at nearby surrendering German soldiers — men who, unarmed, Sakoda shared his last cigarettes with before they were taken to the rear.
After months of recovery in the hospital, Sakoda returned to Hawaiʻi on December 26, 1944.
Honorably discharged on June 12, 1945, Sakoda married Mabel Uohara of Kōloa on April 20, 1946. He later began a long career with the Veterans Administration, retiring in 1973. In 2008, the couple moved from Honolulu to Berkeley, California, to be near their daughter. Five years later, Sakoda recorded these memories as a testament to service, sacrifice, and resilience.