Today is National Holocaust Remembrance Day. As I solemnly reflect, I also remember the Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, and their detailed descriptions of freeing prisoners at Dachau camps:
The 552nd had just helped destroy the Nazi Siegfried line in southern Germany, literally blowing it up. Moving northward, April 29, 1945, they encountered one of the camps, liberating any surviving prisoners. On the move again, May 2, 1945, they happened on what turned out to be a “death march” of remaining Dachau victims.
The 522nd, along with the 100/442nd, was once again vital to the Allied objective.
But, tell me – had you ever heard of the 522nd before now?