Daniel Inouye, WWII Medal of Honor Recipient and US Senator, Dead at 90

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by vienna

EDIT:

Regarding their "illegal" actions: the war was one by men for whom the niceties of legal/illegal were trumped by the desire to serve their obligation to the fullest. Legal niceties are best left to the REMFs...


<O>

You misunderstood me here a bit I was not meaning to condone the men that returned to their units merely that according to military law doing this was considered going AWOL as you we supposed to be sent into the reserve pool and would be very unlikely to return to your original unit most likely a Neise would of course have been sent back to the 442nd do to their being separated which shows just how dedicated they really where that they would leave a hospital as soon as they where able.This is why many men in elite units or very dedicated units like the 442nd would go AWOL back to their original unit they wanted.Most officers looked the other way when this was occurred on both ends.

Further more the 442nd societies own website makes no mention of it having had the highest casualty rate of any regiment in the US Army during WWII.They do mention being the most decorated regiment because this is a fact the army does recognize it as the as the most highly decorated unit in its history thus far.

http://www.the442.org/442ndfacts.html

[vienna]

Further more the 442nd societies own website makes no mention of it having had the highest casualty rate of any regiment in the US Army during WWII.

The 442nd website is noticeably not complete. Some sections are not yet posted...

From Wikipedia:

The 442nd is commonly reported to have suffered a casualty rate of 314 percent, informally derived from 9,486 Purple Hearts divided by some 3,000 original in-theater personnel. The official casualty rate, combining KIA (killed) with MIA (missing) and WIA (wounded and removed from action) totals, as a fraction of all who served, is 93%, still uncommonly high. Many Purple Hearts were awarded during the Vosges Mountains campaign and some of the wounded were victims of trenchfoot. But many trenchfoot victims were forced—or willingly chose—to return to their unit even while classified as "wounded in action". Wounded soldiers often escaped from hospitals to return to the fight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_I...(United_States

I'd say a 93% casualty rate is rather a bit up there. I challenge you to find another regular Army unit of comparable size with a higher casualty rate. The 442nd was nicknamed "The Purple Heart Battalion" during WWII by other units...

Here is a more detailed history of the 442nd from the University of California archives:

http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=...ew=entire_text

An couple of interesting side notes:

Units of the 442nd were involved in the liberation of Jews from Dachau prison, an irony since many of the men of the 442nd had families interred in detention camps in the US and had, themselves volunteered from those camps;

In the Riviera, a group of Nisei soldiers on guard duty captured a one-man German submarine, a first for an Army unit...

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by vienna

The 442nd website is noticeably not complete. Some sections are not yet posted...

From Wikipedia:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_I...(United_States

I'd say a 93% casualty rate is rather a bit up there. I challenge you to find another regular Army unit of comparable size with a higher casualty rate. The 442nd was nicknamed "The Purple Heart Battalion" during WWII by other units...

Here is a more detailed history of the 442nd from the University of California archives:

http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=...ew=entire_text

An couple of interesting side notes:

Units of the 442nd were involved in the liberation of Jews from Dachau prison, an irony since many of the men of the 442nd had families interred in detention camps in the US and had, themselves volunteered from those camps;

In the Riviera, a group of Nisei soldiers on guard duty captured a one-man German submarine, a first for an Army unit...

The Wikipedia article is the only place that says that and it is lists no source as to where this information comes from.Making the information not valid in my opinion.I am not a fan of placing an a verifiable claim on a unit not matter how outstanding it may have been.

So far as I can tell without going into extensive research and looking at the records of every single regiment of the US Army that was in combat during WWII I find no quick and verifiable way to say what regiment had the highest rates.

Without seeing a verifiable source I am not prepared to make such a claim on any unit.Having said that there where units where almost completely or completely wiped out for example the units that fought in the Philippines these units would have suffered 100% lose rates because every single man was either killed or wounded and became a POW or simply became a POW.

You seem to be taking my claim as a disrespect for the 442nd not so I am an avid reader of military history and am fully aware of what this unit did in combat I am simply saying that no where do I see verifiable information or a verifiable source of information that they are in fact had the highest casualty rate for a regiment but they simply cant because we know that regiments in the Philippines in 1941/42 where totally destroyed as a combat force meaning that their rate which includes KIA WIA and POW was 100%.

I am not saying that the 442nd did not surfer a high loss rate it did but it was not the highest.

[vienna]

I am not saying that the 442nd did not surfer a high loss rate it did but it was not the highest.

You still haven't proven it wasn't the highest. Many, many military sites state the claim as a fact, not just 442nd sites. As far as units being totally wiped out, I don't think a an entire Regimental Combat Team or Batallion of the size of the 442nd/100th was ever wiped out in WWII or any other action. If so, please state your cite...

I don't believe you are trying to be disrespectful of their history. I'm just asking you prove your assertions they were not the highest casualty unit in WWII...

<O>

[Stealhead]

Because no site makes this claim except Wikipedia and it provides no citation or source to back the claim.No other site I have seen claims makes the claim that they where the highest they do note the fact that they had a high rate but not the highest.

I have nothing further to say on this you are the one that is insisting on this even though the only place that makes the exact claim and in a poorly worded fashion and has nothing to back the claim a Wikipedia article that has no source to a claim it makes is a very poor thing to rely on.

you cant ask me to prove something when you can not prove that your claim is correct which it is not because entire regiments got decimated in the Philippines in 1941/42 you don't need to look up the exact ones the simple fact that nearly every single US Army solider in the Philippines was either killed wounded or taken POW means that their unit suffered 100% casualties and never where not reformed.

Form the Wikipedia page you forgot a small detail which I have bolded and underlined for you;

"The 442nd is commonly reported to have suffered a casualty rate of 314 percent, informally derived from 9,486 Purple Hearts divided by some 3,000 original in-theater personnel. The official casualty rate, combining KIA (killed) with MIA (missing) and WIA (wounded and removed from action) totals, as a fraction of all who served, is 93%, still uncommonly high. Many Purple Hearts were awarded during the Vosges Mountains campaign and some of the wounded were victims of trenchfoot. But many trenchfoot victims were forced—or willingly chose—to return to their unit even while classified as "wounded in action". Wounded soldiers often escaped from hospitals to return to the fight.[citation needed]"


I have nothing further to say on this you are the one that is insisting on this even though the only place that makes the exact claim and in a poorly worded fashion and has nothing to back the claim a Wikipedia article that has no source to a claim it makes is a very poor thing to rely on.You need to look through the things that you posted because none of them make any mention of your claim except the Wiki page that gives no source or citation without that it nothing but words typed by someone that has no way to prove what they typed is correct.

Show me a reliable source that shows that the 442nd did in fact have the highest casualty rate I will gladly agree with this I have looked myself and not found any such data though.I am not going to go though every single regiment that served in WWII and collect all of that data that would take months and is unnecessary as if the 442nd did in fact suffer that highest rate it would be claimed in ore than one place and have a verifiable source.

I am to trying to argue with you or make you look foolish I simply wish to show the proper respect the 442nd and not credit them with things that are not confirmed as being factual.