The public is invited to the 69th annual 100th Battalion Memorial Service 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Hanapepe Veterans Cemetery. Hosted by the West Kauai Club 100, a group founded for veterans and families of the 100th Infantry Battalion, the ceremony
The public is invited to the 69th annual 100th Battalion Memorial Service 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Hanapepe Veterans Cemetery.
Hosted by the West Kauai Club 100, a group founded for veterans and families of the 100th Infantry Battalion, the ceremony honors all 100th Battalion veterans and coincides with the date the battalion suffered its first Killed in Action during World War II.
The 100th Infantry Battalion, according to the Veterans of Foreign Wars periodical, has been regarded as among the greatest fighting units on the battlefields of Italy and France.
Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, no unit in WWII had more to prove to a wary nation than the Nissei, or second generation Japanese-American, soldiers who made up the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion which was part of the RCT.
By the war’s end in 1947, the 100th had earned eight Medals of Honor, 24 Distinguished Service Crosses, 147 Silver Stars, 1,703 Purple Hearts, and three Presidential Unit Citations.
On Oct. 5, 2010, the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the 442nd RCT, the 100th Infantry Battalion, and 6,000 Japanese- American Veterans who served in the Military Intelligence Service.
Tony Elliott of the State Office of Veterans’ Services will deliver the keynote address is supported by the Kauai Veterans Council, and light refreshments will be available following the service.
