Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:38 | The Army had created a special unit comprised of Japanese-Americans to fight in Europe. When Virgil Westdale arrived to join the outfit, they thought he was in the wrong place. He didn't really look Japanese. The erstwhile pilot became an infantryman and headed to Italy.
Keywords : Virgil Westdale Japanese-American Fort Custer Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) Japanese Italy Naples Benito Mussolini Rome prejudice Nisei
Virgil Westdate's father came from Japan to the US when he was 16 years old in 1906. After meeting Virgil's mother at church, the couple set about farming in Indiana.
Virgil Westdale was a college student when he got his private pilot license with an eye toward the Army Air Corps. FDR's Executive Order 9066 allowing removal of Japanese citizens from the West Coast would filter down to affect him, since his father was a Japanese-American.
Virgil Westdale was progressing in his flight training when a federal inspector showed up and took his pilot license. No explanation was given but he knew why. His father was Japanese. Then the War Department transferred him to the Army.
The poverty in Naples was severe. Virgil Westdale recalls how civilians would scramble to collect the food scraps discarded by the Americans. In Rome, the Pope came out and blessed the GIs but as soon as they left Rome, they faced the withering fire of German 88s.
The closer the Germans retreated toward Germany, the harder they fought. Virgil Westdale was a member of the storied 442nd, a unit comprised solely of Japanese-Americans. It was near the Brenner Pass that they had so many casualties, they were withdrawn to get replacements.
There was a battalion that was lost, cut off and in big trouble. Other units had tried to get to them and failed. It was decided that the 442nd would be sent in. Virgil Westdale was a member of that legendary Combat Team composed of Japanese-Americans. They did not fail.
Virgil Westdale recalls how his unit was sheltering in a French family's house when it came under fire from German 88s. It was soon after that the brass began arguing over what to do with his fabled 442nd Combat Team. It was decided to split the infantry and artillery components and send the artillery into Germany and the infantry back to Italy.
It was near Augsburg that Virgil Wesdale got to see for himself what the Germans were doing to people they considered undesirable. He saw the results of extermination, the bodies in pits and the emaciated survivors. It was sickening. He could no further into the concentration camp to see the rest of it.
When the 442nd returned home, Virgil Westdale was left behind due some beef the 1st Sergeant had with him. When he finally left Germany to travel to France for transport home, he was bunked for a night in a miserable unheated building. He and a friend decided to set out in the night to seek food and warmer shelter in the German town.
Don't let a dictator take over your country. Virgil Westdale had returned from the European theater after the Allies put an end to one such dictator and he began a successful career as a scientist with 25 patents to his credit.
