Combat Chaplain: The Personal Story of the WWII Chaplain of the Japanese American 100th Battalion (A Latitude 20 Book)

329 Pages·2006·8.44 MB·English

by  Monica Elizabeth Yost, Michael Markrich

Autobiography/mil itary h istory
In OCTOBER 1943, twenty-seven-year-old combat infantry chaplain Israel Yost arrived
in Italy with the 100th Battalion, a little-known National Guard unit of mostly Japanese
Americans from Hawaii.Yost was apprehensive when he learned of his assignment to
this unusual unit composed of soldiers with whom he felt he had litle in common and COMBAT
who were mostly Buddhists. But this would soon change. Before long Yost found him- ✙ ✙ ✙ ✙
self living and working shoulder to shoulder with these men under enemy fire in freez-
ing temperatures and mountainous terrain. In the midst of the difficulties and dangers,
he had many opportunities to experience and observe the generosity of the soldiers
toward himself and others, including the Italian peasants they encountered. He wrote to CHAPLAIN
his wife of their obsession with finding fresh food to supplement their C-rations, their
largely unintelligible Island pidgin, and his friendships with Captain Katsumi Kometani,
the battalion’s morale officer and dentist; Captain Jack Mizuha, later a Hawaii Supreme
✙ ✙ ✙ ✙ ✙ ✙ ✙
Court justice; and Lieutenant Spark Matsunaga, who would go on to serve many terms
as a senator from Hawaii.
For the next nineteen months at the front—from Salerno to Monte Cassino to Anzio THE PERSONAL STORY
to Bruyères, France—Yost assisted medics, retrieved bodies from the battlefield, buried
enemy soldiers, struggled to bolster morale as the number of casualties rose higher and
higher, and wrote countless letters of condolence, al in addition to fulfiling his minis- OF THE WORLD WAR I I CHAPLA IN
terial duties, which included preaching in the foxholes.Although his sermons won few
converts,Yost’s tireless energy and concern for others earned him admiration from his OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN
fellow soldiers, who often turned to him as a trusted friend and spiritual advisor.
At war’s end, no other battalion would receive as many decorations and honors as the 100TH BATTAL ION
100th.Yost returned to Pennsylvania and the life of a small town pastor. Forty years later,
with the help of the letters he had written almost daily to his wife and his field diaries,
he wrote of his wartime experiences in the hopes that they might one day be published
as a record of the remarkable character and accomplishments of the 100th. Combat
Chaplain presents this heartfelt memoir intact with the addition of photographs and
subsequent letters and speeches by Yost and other veterans.
✙ ✙ ✙ ✙ ✙
“Israel Yost was a man of faith who was also a man of courage and hope. His memoir ✙ ✙ ✙ ✙
is a testament to his humanity, his integrity, and his unwavering support of Japanese
American soldiers who were not only fighting the enemy abroad, but also social injus-
tice at home. His personal account of his two years with the 100th Battalion provides
the unique perspective of a military chaplain who begins with no experience or under-
standing of Japanese Americans, but who quickly forms an unbreakable bond with the
Nisei soldiers he served.” —Daniel K. Inouye, U .S . Senator
ISBN-13: 978-0-8248-3082-3
ISBN-10: 0-8248-3082-2
Cover design: Liz Demeter I S RAEL A . S . YOST
univer s ity of hawai ‘ i pre s s
honolulu, hawai ‘ i 96 822–1888 www.uhpress.hawaii.edu M O N I C A E . Y O S T A N D M I C H A E L M A R K R I C H , E D I T O R S
YOST c OMBAT cHAPLA IN
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C ombat
Chapla in
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C OMBAT
CHAPLA IN
The P e r s o n a l S t o r y o f t h e
W o r l d W a r I I C h a p l a i n
o f t h e J a p a n e s e A m e r i c a n
1 0 0 t h B a t t a l i o n
I S R A E L A . S. Y O S T
Monica E.Yost and
Michael Markrich, editors
A Latitude 20 Book
University of Hawai‘i Press
Honolulu
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© 2006 Estate of Israel A. S. Yost
All rights reserved
Printed in United States of America
11 10 09 08 07 06 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yost, Israel A. S., 1916–2000
Combat chaplain : the personal story of the World War II :
chaplain of the Japanese American 100th Battalion / Israel A. S. Yost ;
Monica E. Yost ; Monica E. Yost and Michael Markrich, editors.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8248-3023-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8248-3023-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8248-3082-3 (pbk : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8248-3082-2 (pbk : alk. paper)
1. Yost, Israel A. S., 1916–2000. 2. United States. Army. Infantry
Battalion, 100th. 3. World War, 1939–1945—Personal narratives,
American. 4. World War, 1939–1945—Chaplains—United States—
Biography. 5. United States. Army—Chaplains—Biography. 6. Japanese
American Soldiers. 7. World War, 1939–1945—Campaigns—Italy.
8. Chaplains, Military—United States—Biography. I. Yost, Monica
Elizabeth, 1942– II. Markrich, Michael. III. Title.
D810.C36U69 2006
940.54'78092—dc22
2006007355
Maps in this book are from The Story of the 442nd Combat
Team: Composed of 442nd Infantry Regiment, 522nd Field
Artillery Battalion, 232nd Combat Engineer Company.
Information-Education Section, MTOUSA, 1946.
University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on
acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence
and durability of the Council on Library Resources
Designed by Liz Demeter
Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
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C O N T E N T S
Foreword Monica E. Yost vii
Preface Michael Markrich ix
List of Abbreviations xiii
Prologue xv
1. The Assignment 1
th
2. The Making of the 100 19
3. From Parson to Chaplain 31
4. Back to Serious Business 47
5. How Long in These Hills? 66
6. A Reprieve before Cassino 93
7. Failure at Cassino 113
8. Anzio and Rome 136
9. North to Pisa 158
10. La Belle France 180
11. On the Border 205
12. Italian Finale 226
13. Three More Months 251
Epilogue 262
Afterword Monica E. Yost 281
Appendix: Memorial Address—
th
100 Infantry Battalion 293
Works Cited 299
Index 301
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F O R E W O R D
Monica E. Yost
OR M E this book is a tribute not only to my father, but also to the
Fmen of the 100th Battalion. Reading my father’s memoir and other
materials about the 100th that he saved was an emotional experience for
me not only because of the picture I saw of him, but also because of
what I learned about the men with whom he served. I was touched
deeply by their bravery, their stamina, their strong bonds of camaraderie,
and their kindness to an outsider from Pennsylvania. Every time I read
certain pages as I worked on editing the manuscript, I felt sadness for the
men who died, the families who never saw their loved ones return, and
the men who did return but with disabilities and traumatic memories. I
am pleased that this book will add to the historical record about the
exceptional men of the 100th. And I have an overwhelming sense of how
fortunate I am that my father was one who did come home in good
health.
I thank Michael Markrich for his enthusiastic help in editing the
manuscript and the members of Club 100 for their contribution of infor-
mation and photos. I also thank my husband, LaVern D. Rasmussen, for
his patience and constant support while I worked on this project.
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P R E F A C E
Michael Markrich
HER E W E R E many famous regiments in World War II, but none
Treceived greater recognition and honors than the 100th Battalion and
the larger force of which it became a part, the 442nd Regimental Com-
bat Team. The 100th Bn and the 442nd RCT stood out from the other
units because they were brave, highly motivated, and successful soldiers
who were predominately Americans of Japanese ancestry (AJAs) from
Hawaii. At a time when Japanese Americans were considered officially
suspect by the U.S. government, the sacrifices and proud combat record
of these soldiers, mostly in Italy and France, bore testimony to their loy-
alty and belief in American ideals.
Among the men serving with the AJAs from Hawaii during some of
their most difficult and dangerous times was Israel A. S. Yost, a young
army chaplain from a small town in Pennsylvania. What follows is the
manuscript he wrote in 1984, several years after he retired from the
ministry.
Chaplain Yost’s memoir of his time with a battalion of men from
Hawaii is the account of an outsider who is able to express his private
thoughts candidly about those with whom he served. His request to
serve as a combat infantry chaplain led to a chance assignment to the
100th Bn, which was essentially a reconstituted National Guard unit from
Hawaii. He soon found himself, a white Lutheran minister, sent to serve
as a spiritual adviser to a battalion of young Japanese Americans whose
families were overwhelmingly Buddhist. Some had never even heard of
the Lutheran faith. A few, because of his first name, assumed he was a
rabbi.
Little could Yost have imagined that the 100th Bn would be assigned
the role of advance guard in an American military campaign in southern
Italy. The men suffered terribly from enemy fire, from unrelenting rain
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