UPDATE: Saturday
The Army today republished the page on the 442nd Regimental Combat Team following an outcry after it was taken down earlier this week as part of a D3efense Department “digital content refresh” targeting what the Trump administration deems to be “woke” or promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
In a statement sent this afternoon, the Army said “The 442nd Regimental Combat team holds an honored place in Army History and we are pleased to republish an article Opens in a new tab that highlights the brave Soldiers who served in the “Go-for-Broke” brigade.
”In accordance with a Presidential Executive Order and guidance from the Secretary of Defense, the Army recently took down the Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Heritage webpage that featured content about the 442nd Infantry Regiment and Nisei Soldiers. The Army is tirelessly working through content on that site and articles related to the 442nd Infantry Regiment and Nisei Soldiers will be republished to better align with current guidance. There are still many stories available on Army websites that celebrate the bravery of the 442nd Infantry regiment that were not impacted by the Heritage webpage. The Army remains committed to sharing the stories of our Soldiers, their units, and their sacrifice.”
ORIGINAL STORY
The Army’s removal of online content highlighting the service of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, including the shuttering of a web page dedicated to the history of the legendary 442nd Regimental Combat Team, has drawn backlash in Hawaii.
The takedowns and deletions are part of a “digital content refresh” ordered by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that calls for removing web content that the new administration of President Donald Trump deems to be “woke” or promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
But Army officials insist that there is no intent to dishonor veterans and that they will continue to honor the legacy of the 442nd, a World War II unit made up of Japanese American servicemen who fought the Nazis in Europe that is among the most decorated combat units in American history.
The Pentagon has flagged thousands of photos and other digital content for removal as part of the ongoing process. Several pages highlighting the service of women, gay service members and members of ethnic minorities has been removed — though several flagged for potential removal still remain up.
But the recent removal of the 442nd page, in particular, elicited swift anger in Hawaii. Roughly two-thirds of the unit was made up of soldiers from Hawaii, and the others came from mainland Japanese American communities, many of whom enlisted from West Coast internment camps they and their families were imprisoned in during the war.
The web page was part of the Army’s Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Heritage website, which was removed in its entirety but has been copied by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit project dedicated to preserving internet history, where it still can be viewed.
A review of content on the Army’s website and other military websites by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser found several photos and articles connected to the 442nd and other nisei veterans still online. But other content, including photos and pages highlighting Filipinos and Pacific Islanders, was conspicuously absent. The removals have elicited strong reactions, and many in the community are expressing concerns about further deletions.
Byrnes Yamashita, president of the Hawaii organization Nisei Veterans Legacy, told the Star-Advertiser that “the removal of information about the contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) as well as other minorities from DOD public information sources is an affront to all racial, ethnic and religious minorities as well as those interested in fairness and equity. This action strengthens our resolve to keep the story of the Nisei Soldiers of World War II alive.”
“The recognition of Asian and Pacific Islander American service in the military is not only important but essential,” said Edmund Aczon, board chairman of the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu. “It acknowledges the sacrifices and contributions of those who have fought for this nation while often contending with prejudice and marginalization. For Filipinos, this recognition is particularly poignant, as generations from Hawaii have volunteered to serve in the U.S. military, driven by a sense of duty and pride. Keeping this history alive is not just about honoring their sacrifices; it is about ensuring that future generations understand the depth of our community’s resilience, loyalty, and contributions to the ideals of freedom and democracy.”
But Army officials say that while they have taken down content, they ultimately intend to rework and republish some of it in way that reflects the Trump administration’s priorities — especially when it comes to the 442nd.
In a statement to the Star-Advertiser, Army spokesmen Christopher Surridge said that “content on the 442nd Infantry Regiment and Nisei Soldiers were featured on the Army’s Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders heritage webpage, which has been taken down in accordance with Presidential Executive Orders and (Hegseth’s) guidance. Articles related to the 442nd Infantry Regiment will be republished once we have had the opportunity to redesign and reorganize content to better align with current guidance.”
On Friday, U.S. Rep. Ed Case sent a letter to Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll asking for an official explanation for the removal of the page and other content, and a timeline for when it may be restored or replaced with new content.
“While the Army still maintains some websites covering the history of the 442nd/100th RCT and other Nisei units, a simple search of the Army’s homepage reveals that countless webpages dealing with Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) have been removed,” Case wrote. “It is clear that the Army is intentionally removing these websites based solely on race without any consideration of or respect for historical context. It must be assumed from these actions that the Army has already begun and will continue to remove further such websites, including those highlighting the 442nd/100th RCT and other Nisei units.”
“Erasing history one website at a time is no different than the tragic practices of the authoritarian regimes throughout history that so many of our own have sacrificed to oppose,” Case added. “It not only diminishes public access to crucial historical information but also risks erasing the sacrifices and contributions of these American heroes from the digital archive of our nation’s military legacy.”
Local filmmaker and author Stacy Hayashi, who directed the film “Go for Broke: An Origin Story” and wrote the 442nd-centered graphic novel “Journey of Heroes,” told the Star-Advertiser that “the act of removing or trying to erase their history is just offensive to me as an American.”
She said that it’s not possible to leave race out of the discussion of the history of the 442nd and other Japanese American soldiers during World War II, arguing “that’s the whole point of it, because they looked like the enemy.”
After Imperial Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the military rounded up many Japanese Americans and heavily restricted jobs available to Japanese American service members due to suspicions they would work against Americans and help Axis forces. But many nisei pushed to serve in combat, demanding the opportunity to fight on the front line.
The 442nd was organized in 1943 and saw heavy action in Italy and Germany itself. It became particularly celebrated for its daring rescue of “The Lost Battalion,” a unit of Texas National Guardsmen that became surrounded by German forces in the Vosges Mountains in October 1944. Noteworthy veterans of the 442nd unit included the late Hawaii senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga. Inouye was badly wounded, losing an arm, and received a Medal of Honor for his actions in battle.
Also included in the removed content were items related to Japanese Americans recruited into the Military Intelligence Service during the war. While most of America was distrustful of Japanese Americans, some in the military saw them as valuable untapped assets. Nisei troops working in intelligence served secretly in the Pacific and Asia where they helped translate Japanese radio transmissions and documents and interrogated prisoners. Many would later play a key role in the American occupation of Japan and the country’s eventual transition to democracy.
Pearl City resident Brandon Higa had a grandfather who served in the MIS and many other relatives who served in the 442nd and other units during the war. He argued that that the ongoing deletions and pull-downs are rife with contradictions.
“They’re running, you know, a simple search engine for keywords or whatever, and they’re popping up. But all you got to do is actually read the content to understand that this doesn’t count for at least what are the claimed reasons for removal,” Higa said. “(The nisei) were excluded, right? You know, it was an effort to get in … the whole concept of, you know, DEI is giving unqualified people jobs, that that doesn’t fly, especially in this context.”
“It’s a part of Japanese American history, but it’s (also) part of American history,” Higa added. “It’s part of what it is to be an American and serve your country, regardless of where you’ve come from and what your social status or social background or ethnic background is.”
