National Affairs: Go for Broke

Down Constitution Avenue this week marched one of the smartest, toughest fighting units the U.S. had ever sent to the battlefield. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team—all Nisei except for a sprinkling of officers—was home from the wars. On the rain-soaked Ellipse adjoining the White House, the wiry little soldiers, their crisp khaki crumpling to a soggy brown, stood rigidly at attention while President Truman fixed the Presidential Unit Citation banner to the regimental colors.

For the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the war had been doubly hard. Its men had not only fought the Germans at their defensive best up the spine of...