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| Pfc Tsuyoshi Furukawa, 100th Infantry Battalion, died shortly after crossing the Volturno River in Italy. https://i.pinimg.com/736x/39/8c/a5/398ca5522ec760252c9a3632f285f861--japanese-american-ww-photos.jpg https://www.pinterest.com/pin/472666923376003434/?lp=true https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3775428&ref=acom |
Tsuyoshi Furukawa never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on September 5, 1917 in Hawaii. His parents were born in Japan. Tsuyoshi lived in Japan from age 9 to age 18. I don't know if Tsyoshi had any brothers or sisters. By 1940 he had completed two years of high school and was working for the Fuji Sake Brewing Company.
He enlisted in the army on December 9, 1940 and served as a private first class in Company E, 100th Infantry Battalion. After Pearl Harbor the army didn't know what to do with the Hawaiian National Guard soldiers of Japanese descent. Early on these troops had their rifles taken away. Eventually they were given the chance to fight in Europe. The 100th would first see action in Italy in late September 1943 at Salerno.
By late October the 100th crossed the Volturno River to capture hills that were part of the German Winter Line. These hills were needed to clear the way to taking Monte Cassino. Casualties in early November were heavy. The Battalion lost over 50 men in less than 10 days. With the heavy fighting that also resulted in more than 200 wounded, Pfc. Furukawa was transferred to Company A because there were not enough men to fill out all six companies. Pfc. Furukawa died on November 12, 1943, most likely from wounds sustained from earlier fighting.
His grave is at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
To mark having over 100,000 visits to my project to honor the fallen of WW2 on their 100th birthdate, I created this video to share. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY. Now more than 200 fallen have been profiled with more than 200,000 visits. Is there interest in seeing a similar video highlighting those from the group of second 100?
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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