i was told later on my 20th birthday, my company commander, without my knowledge, had submitted my name for commission. it took about a month and half to process that and in november i got my commission. frankly, i wasn't too happy about that. i wanted to remain and enlisted man, have the life with all the men and gamble and do things like that. >> what were some of the reasons you think you were chosen? i know you've thought about this. >> i know i was considered a good patrol leader. i remember in italy, in the early days of the war, the second battalion had to replace the third battalion, the

replacement had to be done during the day, which is a tricky maneuver, in broad daylight to move a battalion of troops to replace another battalion elsewhere because the casualties are high. i don't know why, they called upon e company for special patrol and my company commander just said, you go. i said, what's my mission? find a trail from here to there. you have to be out of the sight of the enemy. well, what had happened, a long, walking on this trail along the mountainside, away out of the sight of the enemy, i came across stacks of 432nd battalion men just lined up dead.

this was the job of the registration officer, ready to be picked up and taken away. so i looked at them and said, this is a horrible thing, to have a whole battalion pass by and see these dozens of men lying dead, all shapes and maybe some with no heads and, you know, all of that business. i told my squad, let's back up and went down in the valley and went up again to join the trail. i got back to the battalion and told the battalion commander, i'm ready. okay. lead the way. i started leading the battalion. at this point, i went down. the word came down from the colonel, hold it. he called me back and said what

in the hell is happening here? why don't you just continue? i said, colonel, if you go further around the bend, there are several dozen dead, all lined up, in all conditions and i don't think you want your men to pass by that and throw up and faint. at that point, i became his favorite patrol leader. i didn't ask for it. so after that, he thought i was great and every time he had a special patrol, said, you know where you go. i became pretty good at it. >> when the general requested a retreat parade where he had the 422 assembled so he could

address them. describe what happened at this event. >> when the battle ended, i was then an officer for a couple of days. i was told that the colonel received the message from general dalquist, ordering him to assemble the 442nd in some field so he could address us and give us the official thanks and gratitude of the 36th division. so we were called to participate in a retreat parade, which is the high formal parade, where the band marches and each company in turn, we go through a whole ritual of e company, each company accounted for, f company, all accounted for.

so we assembled in the field. the general looked out at the regiment and he started berating the colonel, actually scolding him. i got this from officers who were there. said, counsel, i told you to says colonel, i told you to have the whole regiment out there. apparently, you disobeyed my orders and sent most of your men out on fur lowe or passes. the colonel turned around and say, general, this is the regiment. only two men from each company are left in the company area to guard the equipment. the rest of them are all here. he was so dump founded, he could not talk. see, what he had seen was, for example, i think it was k

company, the company commander was a staff sergeant, and there were? nine men behind him, two men in the company area. total of 12 survived the last battalion battle. my company was almost close to that. the company with the largest number of personnel was my company, e company. we had 42 men. when you consider that the four contingent of officers and men of a company was 197, granted we went into battle, we were already cut by one-third because we were battle elsewhere, to come down to that number, 800 casualties, the general could not speak. he presented a plaque. that plaque was handed over to a clerk.

that plaque ended up in somebody's duffle bag. it was not located until long after the war. right after that, our colonel asked for reassignment. he says, i can't continue this. >> because working under the general? >> to be called upon to lead his men to death. you see, we knew we were expendable. we knew we were so good, we were requested by other units to serve as shock troops or assault troops. that's what we were. we were put from one area to another. after the lost battalion, we went down to the south to regroup ourselves and get replacements, when we went back to italy, we were the assault

troops to lead the last charge. >> i want to go back to get your impression as a new officer, when you saw how devastated the 442 was. what was going through your mind? >> you describe it rather correctly. when i was informed they wanted to see me, we were all set to cross the line, go into combat. i had already ordered the men to take off their packs just to carry the ammo and water and medicine. that means you will get into heavy combat. here i was looking at my clock, waiting for my time to come. this messenger comes up, hey, the captain want to see you. so i thought, there must be a change of ordered so sensitive it can't go through the

walkie-talkie. i went back, gave me an envelope and says the agigen wants to see you. for a moment, i thought, what have i done wrong? you see him for court martials. i got on the jeep and they drove me back where the headquarters was. i reported. the sergeant saluted me. i looked around. didn't occur to me he was saluting me. i went in, sergeant inouye reporting. well, what am i here for? he says, well, you're an officer now. all you have to do is take the oath. it was so unexpected, i didn't know what was going on. i took the oath. took a physical and i found that i was physically underweight.

can you imagine, i was 115. my waist was something like 27. but hard as nails. my hair was down to my shoulder because we were in combat for about a month and a half without break. it was long. i got a haircut and when weapon got back, the war was just about over. i got into the last, oh, hour or so. by then, it was all over. when i left my platoon, it was one of the smaller ones. i left with about 18 men.

when i came back, we had 11. so seven casualties. they were wounded but none were killed. >> you saw that devastation in your platoon as well? >> technically, i did not participate in the heat of the last battalion battle. i had participated in the battles preceding that. >> later on, we probably won't get into it very much, but you take pride as an officer, of not having fatalities or very many fatalities? >> i had only one. >> i was wondering if in your mind as an officer if you really thought about the orders of the actions to really protect your men and if this -- what happened in the last battalion? >> for one thing, did what an officer was not supposed to do. the common practice, don't get too close to your men, don't get

intimate with them because the loss would be so devastating. but i made up my mind i had to know each person as intimately as i can. i wanted to be selective. i did not believe in calling up my platoon and saying i need six volunteers. that's nonsense. if i have a mission that's deadly one, i will surround myself with men i can depend upon, men who are well trained and who have the discipline so i got to know every one of them. we have to send letters. today, i don't think they do that. at that time one of the

responsibilities was to look at letters, and if anything wrong was put on it, cut it out or cross it out, because this was military secret. in these letters, afternoon times the inner most thoughts are expressed. let's say you're married, you just got word from your wife that you're a father of a son now, first son. and you write back and say, oh, i will do everything to go home, i want to see toshio or what have you. at that point, you may not be the type of person i would want in a deadly patrol because you would be too cautious. right? if i got another letter i'm

sensoring and that letter said, i just heard from jack that you're messing around with so-and-so. these things happen. wait until i get back, i'll -- i'll -- stuff this down here. i'm reading it, you're in no shape for rational thinking and discipline. i'm not going to take you. so i used to go out on many, many patrols. in fact, during a period of 60 days, i remember i led 72 patrols, a lot of patrols, more than one a day. of the 72 patrol, i would say at least ten of them were rigged. with the understanding of the colonel because i could not pick

certain people all the time. i would have to have some rigged patrols i would involve the others and make them think this is a real bloody one. if you started to yell out, throw that bloody grenade, they will hear things. even if a german is not there. >> so this was important for the morale of your group, so they feel this is a key component. you realized -- >> if i felt a man was getting close to breaking up, the stress was too great, all of us are in the same condition, we need a little break, i would see to it that there was some reason, without losing face -- i remember, for example, i took off a fellow's glasses, i said, it's dirty.

i made believe i was cleaning it and i dropped it and stepped on it. i said, oh, i'm sorry. you better go back and get a new pair. we all had extra pairs in the duffle bag and said, you better go back and get a new one. i'd call up the captain and say, keep him there a week. don't send him back. >> that's amazing. that's interesting. >> how did you develop that? >> huh? >> how did you develop that management style? that's a management style. >> i don't know what you call it. i wanted to go home. i wanted to stay alive. >> did anybody use those techniques? >> i don't know. >> captain crowley or anybody else you worked with? >> i don't know. all i know is after every battle, you let the men out. we have a weekend pass or something like that.

what i always did, i stayed back. i let all of them go. i would tell them, go out, do anything you want, get drunk, have a good time, but you be back here within 24 hours. not for three day, 24 hours, just don't kill someone, that's all, or violate the laws. so my platoon would come back after 12 hours of absolute chaotic fun, come back loaded and drunk, but we trained so that when we got back to combat two or three days later, we were full, fresh, trained ready to go, alert, no hangover. when you lead a platoon of that caliber, you're in good shape.

>> wonderful. >> they're alert. i wanted to get home. it's that simple. >> i'd like to go to italy and talk a little bit about the fighting in italy. that's where you were wounded and would like to understand how you lost part of your arm, if you can talk about this. >> well, i think it's true, there are moments in combat that you get temporarily insane, i think. because a rational person, a reasonable person would not do those things. in my case, i was in charge of this platoon, and as we progressed during the morning, i

was shot through the guts. the messenger walking behind me said, hey, you're bleeding. i thought some rock had hit me, something like that. i looked around, there was nothing. he said i was bleeding, i put my hand there, sure enough there was blood. sure enough there's . but it did not hurt. the one thing about internal injury, there are not too many pain nerve ends there. so, i thought, it's not bleeding too badly. i keep on going. and then all hell broke loose. that's when machine guns stopped us. and so by luck, i knocked out the first one. the second one i'm getting ready with a grenade in my hand. and when i turned around, i saw this german standing just about 15 feet away with his rifle grenade aimed at me. thank god he was a lousy shot.

he hit my elbow. instead of me, you know? and so i'm happy i had the presence of mind, i began looking for my grenade. i told them hit the ground because there's a grenade somewhere, it was in my right hand. it was frozen. you know, at that moment i think muscles all froze. so, i took it out and threw it at him. >> you took it out of your right hand, the grenade? >> yeah. and now my limb is just hanging with shreds and it's flapping and the blood is just shooting out. and you got to be crazy for me to pick up my tommy gun and move forward and fire. then i got hit in the leg and i rolled down the hill. then i applied the tourniquet and told them to keep on going until everything was over.

well, you see, you might see the heroics, but if i had to think about it today, you don't think i'd be charging in there like that. the first injury, i would say good-bye, i'm going. but at that time i suppose i was young and the mission was very important. >> thank you very much for your time. this has been a wonderful interview. >> we were a bunch of crazy men. >> it's an incredible story. that's why we're here capturing it. thank you so much for your time. >> you're watching "american history tv" where every week we bring you eyewitness accounts of the people and events that have shaped our nation. saturdays at 8:00 a.m., sunday at 3:00 p.m. and mondays at 4:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. you used the term

progressivism and we hear that term progressive today being used quite a bit. what's your definition of that? >> ah, my students always ask that and it will take a while to explain it. what progressive meant at the time was people wanted a more efficient government. they wanted a gov and a social order generally that was dedicated to harmonizing social relations and they also wanted a government that was small "d" democratic. and part of that was that they wanted to -- the progressives wanted to try to either bust up the big businesses in america or regulate them much more strictly. >> was this the first election in which progressivism had had a voice? >> no, no. i wrote a biography about 1896, and he was an early progressive. he was defeated in 1896. >> you were going to expand on that? >> i was going to say shifting the focus slightly from

presidential level to how people imagined it on the ground, progressivism had a very acceptable concept to everyday people who wanted a better quality of life, who wanted certain state responses at the local level even things such as political reform to make sure that corrupt politicians were held accountable or more responsive to voters, so even at the local level you get certain kinds of referendums that come into place that allow everyday voters to be much more invested in who would represent them. police reform is on the table. you get the professionalization of all sorts of grass-the roos organizations that can be responsible in ways that the federal government might or might not have been but they didn't just start at the top. >> so to you, what do you see, what's the -- your stand on the 100th anniversary of 1912? why does 1912 matter 100 years later? >> well, for me what's

interesting about it it's this wonderful moment where african-american leadership in this election really don't know where to go. they are looking at roosevelt who had all the promise of representing the best traditions of the republican party, symbolically represented by lincoln. he came into his position obviously in the make of mckinley's assassination. courting african-american voters. but his star had dimmed greatly by 1912. even though he talked a tough game when it came to progressivism, he was courting southern delegates in this third party race, so they weren't certain if they could -- this was really the first time that the republican party is not the heir apparent for african-american voters who are few in number because of disenfranchisement. as it turns out, in reference to woodrow wilson who is the sort of dark horse at the moment that he hopes he's the president for

all the people. and i think that actually resonates so profoundly at this particular moment pause we have just the opposite in play. it's dubois who is one of the leading intellectuals of this moment is banking on woodrow wilson as a democratic candidate who represents as a party leader the traditions of a white supremacist party in terms of everything following the civil war, dubois sees in woodrow wilson a kind of intellectualism, a kind of professionalism, a kind of thoughtful leadership that could ultimately lead to him being the president of all the people, but the rhetoric today is almost completely the reverse. the president of all the people in the 2012 election is to push back against the potential for the president having special interests like african-american voters or latino voters, so there's an interesting arc over 100 years in how that language is used in terms of this sort of

big tent approach to reform and change. >> i think it's very important what was said, the whole language of the people against the special interests really is greatest in the progressive era, not just 1912 but before then, too. and you have a lot of ambiguities and contradictions in reform because there are a lot of southern progressives, white southern progressives who think that jim crow is a progressive measure. they think only when white people and black people can develop separately will they not get in each other's way and you've got, of course, a lot of dispute between people puts washington on one side, and dubois on the other side. the era is important now because think of a lot of the institutions we have today, a lot of the important laws we have today, the income tax amendment becomes part of the constitution 1913. direct elected senate were in 1913. >> these are progressive planks.

>> yes. >> even the regulatory state we take for granted on one hand and is subject to criticism and attacks on the other came into being in the progressive era. >> some people like glenn beck said america started down the bad wood in 1912. woodrow wilson was the beginning of the left's triumph making a huge le vviathian state. >> telling the american story on "american history tv," see our schedules and get past programs on our website, and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. >> watch more programs from "american history tv" the rest of this holiday week in prime time on c-span3. on tuesday night, we'll back on world war ii starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern reporting and censorship during the war, and the experiences of associated press reporter ed kennedy.

and at 9:00 p.m., hear from three original members of the band of brothers, from the 101st airborne division along with two actors who appeared in the hbo miniseries, "american history tv" in prime time, all week, here on c-span. >> welcome to old countdown museum, wichita, kansas. >> yeah! ha! >> here in the city of wichita, brent and trace, of course, waking up the city for 22 years and we think we've got a heck of a start, that's why the mayor comes in every wednesday. today he's going to be talking a little bit about the problem we're having in the city with taxicabs, so 9:20, hang on for that if you will. >> june 2nd and 3rd book tv and "american history tv" explore the literary culture in wichita, kansas. >> modest-looking paper-wrapped binding, but what it contains is an alphabetical list of the

members of the senate and the house of representatives done in 1831. i believe this was issued only as it says here for the member's immediate use only. not that they had xerox machines but they weren't supposed to loan this out because, as you can see, it will tell you exactly where everybody lived, so you could go and buttonhole them and punch them if you didn't like them. >> watch for "book tv" and "american history tv" in wichita on june 2nd and 3rd. each week at this time "american history tv" features an hourlong conversation from c-span's a sunday night interview series "q and a." here's this week's encore "q and a" on "american history tv." >> this week on "q and a," part two of our lk