USPS "Go For Broke" Japanese-American Soldiers of the 442nd Regiment

USPS on 3 June 2021 released a long overdo commemorative stamp honouring  the Japanese-American soldiers of the 442nd Regiment who fought primarily on the European front during WWII. The designated city for this postmarked stamp was Los Angeles. A commemorative book, also offered by the USPS, details the history of the 442nd and the effort to get this stamp developed and released.

This first day cover stamp was designed by Art Director Antonio Alcalá and is based on the photograph of a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team -- U.S. Army Private First Class Shiroku “Whitey” Yamamoto who was part of the 442nd Antitank Company.  The photograph was taken in 1944 at a railroad station in France. The stamp was printed in the intaglio print method. The colour scheme of the stamp is patriotic, and the type runs up the side in manner suggestive of the vertical style in which Japanese text was traditionally written.

For a time after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, these second generation Japanese-Americans were subjected to increased scrutiny and prejudice because of their heritage. Thousands were detained in internment camps in the United States. Known as nisei, these second generation Japanese-Americans eventually formed what became one of the most distinguished American fighting units of World War II: the all-Japanese-American 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team, whose motto was “Go for Broke.”

The Army also turned to the nisei to serve as translators, interpreters and interrogators in the Pacific theater for the Military Intelligence Service. Nearly a thousand nisei served in the 1399th Engineering Construction Battalion and more than 100 nisei women joined the Women’s Army Corp. Altogether, some 33,000 Japanese Americans served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Lastly, I would like to thank a high school classmate of Japanese-American heritage who alerted me to sign a petition in 2019 to have this commemorative stamp issued. I duly signed it. And I'm happy to see the USPS has finally honoured these American patriots who overcame so much hatred and discrimination to serve with distinction in WWII.