09/12/2026
"When they asked for volunteers to fight, I volunteered...I didn't want to be disloyal. So I joined the 442nd RCT, which was the only unit open to Japanese Americans."
- Robert Ichigi Kashiwagi, 442nd RCT veteran
Robert Ichigi Kashiwagi was born in 1919 in Hayward, CA. The son of Japanese immigrants, Frank Hayato and Tatsu Kashiwagi, Robert excelled in school and had hopes of attending UC Berkeley. He put those dreams on hold to work on the family farm.
Several months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Kashiwagi family was removed from their home in Woodland, CA, due to Executive Order 9066. They were sent to the Merced Assembly Center, then later transferred to a more permanent camp in Amache, CO. During this period, Robert was ill from a lung condition and confined to bed rest in camp.
In February 1943, the call went out for volunteers to join a new Japanese American combat team. At Amache, Robert’s younger brother, George, immediately volunteered. Robert also volunteered – from his bed – and later passed his physical. In May 1943, the brothers left Amache for basic training at Camp Shelby, MS.
Robert and George trained at Camp Shelby for a year - Robert with Company K and George with the 552nd Field Artillery Battalion. In May 1944, they sailed with the 442nd RCT to the European Theater.
On June 26, 1944, Robert entered the Rome-Arno Campaign. In his role as First Scout, Robert was sent out in front of his platoon to gather essential information on the enemy. On July 17, 1944, Co. K fought in a bitter battle for the town of Luciana in Italy. While guarding a crossroad, Robert was caught in an artillery barrage and wounded by shrapnel. He later returned to his unit.
In October 1944, the 442nd RCT was sent to eastern France for the Rhineland Campaign. Now an assistant squad leader, Robert was the last man on the line, carrying the gr***de launcher for his squad.
After hard-fought battles in Bruyères and Biffontaine, the 442nd RCT hardly had time to rest before it was called upon to rescue the “Lost Battalion,” the 1st Battalion of the 141st Infantry Regiment. The battalion had been cut off and surrounded by the German army. After days of intense fighting including an uphill charge by Companies I and K, the Nisei soldiers finally broke through to the lost battalion.
After 17 days of combat in the Vosges Forest, the unit suffered over 800 casualties that included those killed, wounded and missing in action. They stayed on the front lines into November, when Robert and his squad were involved in a firefight while out on patrol. During the skirmish, he was caught in a mortar barrage, resulting in one of his fingers being cut to the bone. As Robert made his way to the aid station, another barrage hit the trees above him. “Hot shrapnel went through my boot and imbedded into my foot,” he recounted. “My foot was still attached but it had a hole in the side.”
After recovering from his wounds, Robert could not rejoin the 442nd RCT and was reassigned to Port Marine Maintenance in Le Havre, France. In late-1945, while awaiting shipment home in Le Havre, Robert was surprised to see his youngest brother, Tom. He had been drafted into the U.S. Army from the Amache incarceration camp. Newly arrived in France, Tom was part of the occupation forces. Their sister, Iseko June, was also supporting the war effort on the homefront as a nurse in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps.
Robert returned to the United States and was discharged on December 31, 1945. He married Lillian Asoo in 1947 and they raised their children, Gordon, Cathy and Kerry, in Sacramento, CA. Retiring after 32 years with the Division of Highways for the State of California – now known as CalTrans - Robert stayed active in his community. He sang in his church choir, became involved with the Boy Scouts, and visited schools, spoke to students about the Japanese American experience.
In 1985, Robert and a group of Nisei veterans returned to Bruyères, France, for the 41st anniversary of the liberation of Bruyères. He remained connected to his old Co. K buddies and was especially close to the remaining members of his squad.
Robert Ichigi Kashiwagi passed away in 2008 at the age of 89 years old.
Photos courtesy of the Robert Kashiwagi Family.
To learn more about American WWII soldiers of Japanese ancestry, please visit us at https://nvnvets.org.
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