Hawaii's 100th Infantry Battalion Separate was the first U.S. Army combat unit​ composed of Americans of Japanese ancestry (AJAs). Its original members had been inducted into the Army before Japanese planes swept down on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. How the loyalty of these soldiers was questioned by other Americans, then put to the test, and finally proved beyond doubt on the battlefields of Europe is the subject of this book. Sometimes called the Purple Heart Battalion because of its casualty lists, the 100th established a record in Italy and France that made it one of the most decorated units in the history of the U.S. Army.