Japanese American Veterans Collection
The Japanese American Veterans Collection documents the rich heritage of Hawaiʻi‘s Japanese American veterans and their families. AJA veterans served with distinction during World War II as members of the 100th Infantry Battalion, Hawaiʻi Territorial Guard, Varsity Victory Volunteers (VVV), 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT), 1399th Engineers, and the Military Intelligence Service (MIS).
Digital Resources
- Signal Corps photographs
- National Archives documents relating to the 442nd RCT (also see the 442nd RCT Veterans Club Collection, listed below)
- Chaplain Hiro Higuchi correspondence (also see the Higuchi Papers collection, listed below)
- Chaplain Israel Yost documents (also see the on-site collection of Chaplain Yost Papers, listed below)
Selected JAVC Collections
The University Archives & Manuscripts Department holds several small JAVC collections that aren’t mentioned here; please contact us for a full listing.
442nd RCT Veterans Club Collection
442nd RCT Veterans Club Collection finding aid 
This collection of materials from the 442nd RCT Veterans Club in Honolulu, includes photographs, memorabilia, materials documenting the 442nd RCT, and copies of National Archives documents relating to Japanese American veterans.
Hiro Higuchi Papers
Hiro Higuchi Papers finding aid
Hiro Higuchi served as a chaplain in the 442nd RCT during World War II. The collection includes wartime correspondence documenting Higuchi’s activities and impressions of the war, as well as life on the homefront in Hawaiʻi.
William T. Hiraoka Papers
William Hiraoka was drafted into the war on November 14, 1941, before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the classification of Japanese Americans as 4-C (Enemy Aliens). He was transferred to the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) in April 1942 where he served for the remainder of the war.
JAVC Reference Files
JAVC Reference Files Collection Description
The Japanese American Veterans Collection Reference Files consist of newspaper clippings, publications, and other documents collected by librarians. They document topics related to Japanese American veterans in Hawaiʻi.
Japanese Internment and Relocation Files: The Hawaiʻi Experience, 1942-1982
The Japanese Internment and Relocation Files: The Hawaiʻi Experience includes government and private documents, oral histories, and photographs that document the experiences of Japanese internees from Hawaiʻi during World War II.
Katsugo Miho Papers
Katsugo Miho served in the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion of the 442nd RCT. The collection contains wartime and postwar newspapers documenting the unit, speeches Miho gave in Germany in 2001, and oversized photographs of the early state legislature.
MIS Oral History Project Collection
MIS Oral History Project Finding aid
Over 6,000 Japanese Americans worked for the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World War II in every combat theater, translating vital intelligence for the U.S. Army. MIS veteran James Tanabe conducted these interviews.
Hideo Nakamine Papers
Hideo Nakamine Papers finding aid
Hideo Nakamine served in the 442nd’s 522nd Field Artillery Battalion (FAB) during World War II. His papers contain photographs and printed materials documenting the history of the 522nd FAB.
John Adrian Rademaker Papers
John Adrian Rademaker Papers finding aid
John Adrian Rademaker, a Professor of Sociology, published These Are Americans: The Japanese Americans in Hawaii During World War II in 1951 to document the contributions made to the war effort by of people of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaiʻi, including the Varsity Victory Volunteers, the 100th Infantry Battalion, and the 442nd RCT. His papers contain photographs, correspondence, and research materials related to the book.
Kiyoshi Sasaki Papers
Kiyoshi Sasaki Papers finding aid
Kiyoshi Sasaki served in the Military Intelligence Service. The collection consists of a book of dedications and photographs of his classmates during MIS training in Minnesota, and a scrapbook containing military documents and ephemera covering both the training period and his service in China and in post-war, occupied Japan.
Claude Takekawa Papers
Claude Takekawa Papers finding aid
Claude Takekawa is a veteran of the Varsity Victory Volunteers and the 442nd RCT. His papers document the postwar activities of the Varsity Victory Volunteers.
Ted Tsukiyama Papers
Ted Tsukiyama Papers finding aid
Ted Tsukiyama is a veteran of the Varsity Victory Volunteers, 442nd RCT and the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). His papers collect research on the Hawaiʻi Territorial Guard, the Varsity Victory Volunteers, the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd RCT, the Military Intelligence Service, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, the 1399 engineers, and the Office of Strategic Service.
Bishop M. Tottori Papers
Bishop M. Tottori Papers finding aid
Bishop Mitsumyo Tottori is believed to be the only Buddhist minister in Hawaiʻi who was not interned during World War II. The collection contains notebooks Tottori created containing the names of the Nisei soldiers he prayed for during World War II as well as the Vietnam and Korean conflicts. His family has provided translations for the World War II notebooks and various prefatory materials to the collection.
VVV Oral History Project
VVV Oral History Project Collection
This collection includes interviews of former Varsity Victory Volunteers members done by Dr. Franklin Odo. The interviews are the basis of Odo’s book, No Sword to Bury.
Shiroku “Whitey” Yamamoto Papers
Whitey Yamamoto served in the 442nd RCT. The collection, consisting largely of newspapers and other publications, documents the post-war activities of the veterans, and post-war media coverage of the war.
Chaplain Israel Yost Papers
Israel Yost was chaplain to the 100th Infantry Battalion. His collection includes personal and official letters, photographs, and other wartime materials.
