Digital Resources: National Archives Documents Relating to the 442nd RCT
For many years the 442nd Veterans Club in Honolulu sponsored a project in which volunteers copied documents located in the U.S. National Archives that related to the activities of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) during World War II. The copies were then sent to Hawaiʻi, allowing local researchers to access these valuable historical materials on the 442nd RCT without the need to travel to Washington, D.C. Copies of the National Archives documents are available at the 442nd Veterans Club Archives and at the University Archives & Manuscripts Department of the University of Hawaiʻi Library.
When the project began, volunteers made photocopies of the documents, but in 2003 they switched to digitizing the documents. The photocopies in the Library’s 442nd Veterans Club Collection are arranged according to the Record Group, box, and file number that were used at the National Archives, but the set of documents that were scanned starting in 2003 lack Record Group information. Starting in 2017, volunteers from the Sons and Daughters of the 442nd RCT started scanning the Library’s paper photocopies for widespread access, in the process making them searchable. The Library thus now has two sets of NARA documents online: the more recent scans of the documents originally photocopied before 2003 and the circa 2003 scans created by the original 442nd Vets Club volunteers.
NARA Scans – Documents photocopied before 2003
The scans of the Library’s photocopies are being placed online in the eVols repository as they become available.
NARA Scans – Post 2003 scans
The documents listed below include monthly reports by the 442nd RCT Headquarters and general orders and memoranda issued by the United States Army. The monthly reports, dating from July 1944 through May 1946, provide a general overview of the 442nd RCT’s activities. General orders and memos document troop movements, alerts, assumptions of command, inactivation, the awarding of medals, and parades. These documents provide a sampling of the types of materials that can be found in the National Archives records.
Monthly Reports of the 442nd RCT: 1944-1946
- July 1944
- 3 September 1944
- 31 October 1944
- 15 November 1944
- 15 December 1944
- 13 January 1945
- 6 February 1945
- March 1945
- April 1945
- May 1945
- 15 June 1945
- 5 July 1945
- 2 August 1945
- 3 September 1945
- 10 October 1945
- 12 November 1945
- 15 December 1945
- 1 January 1946
- 21 January 1946
- 20 February 1946
- 17 March 1946
- 20 April 1946
- 20 May 1946
General Orders
- Assumption of Command, 21 January 1946
- Inactivation of Units, 22 January 1946
- Inactivation of Units, 26 January 1946
- Inactivation of 2nd Battalion, 29 January 1946
- Good Conduct Medal, 6 March 1946
- Good Conduct Medal, 14 March 1946
- Good Conduct Medal, 16 March 1946
- Purple Heart, 25 March 1946
Memos, Letters, and Other Documents
- Alert, 24 December 1944
- Limited Alert, 24 December 1944
- Letter: Commendation from General Francis Oxx,
15 October 1945
- Letter: Thank you from General Mark Clark,
8 November 1945
- Troop Movement, 27 November 1945
- Checklist for Army Day Parade, 21 March 1946
- Special Bulletin from Hawaii [sic], 9 April 1946
- Retreat Parade, 20 April 1946
