Title:

Pfc. Noboru Hokame, Hawaiian-born Japanese-American, and his Chicago buddy, Pfc. Charles P. Carroll, spent their convalescent furlough together recently at Carroll's home, 2102 S. Central Park, Chicago 23, Illinois. Hokame, a member of the 100th Battalion which was later merged into the 442nd Combat Team, was wounded in Italy and France and wears the Purple Heart with an oak leaf cluster. Since Hokame could not go home to the Island of Maui on convalescent leave, Carroll invited him to Chicago where the two boys have been warmly welcomed by Carroll's family and friends. Of Hokame's action on the front line, Carroll said, I'd rather fight with just one unit of Japanese-Americans than an entire Army of ordinary soldiers. These boys mean business, and you have a better chance of coming out of a battle intact with them than anybody else I know in the Army. -- Photographer: Iwasaki, Hikaru -- Chicago, Illinois. 3/9/45

Contributing Institution:

The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.