Henry Shiyama
| Date and Place of Birth: | January 23, 1920 Onomea, Hawaiian Islands |
| Date and Place of Death: | February 12, 1944 Cassino, Italy |
| Baseball Experience: | Amateur |
| Position: | Unknown |
| Rank: | Corporal |
| Military Unit: | Company C, 1st Battalion, 100th Infantry Battalion, US Army |
| Area Served: | Mediterranean Theater of Operations |
Henry M. Shiyama was born in Onomea, Hawaii, on January 23, 1920. He
attended McKinley High School on Oahu and was employed as a shipping
clerk at Swift and Company in Honolulu.
On November 15, 1941, he was inducted in the Army and initially served
with the 298th Infantry Regiment at Schofield Barracks. Like many people
in Hawaii, he was Nisei - second-generation Japanese, and on December 7,
1941, when the Japanese attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbor,
everything changed. Americans of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii were
treated with suspicion and those in military service found their duties
suddenly reduced to menial tasks.
Eventually, the 100th Battalion was formed, a fighting unit made up
entirely of second-generation Japanese. Shiyama took basic training with
the 100th at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, and quickly became a part of the
100th "Aloha" baseball team. The Aloha team initially played against the
military police unit at Camp McCoy but soon found competition in nearby
towns. In February 1943, the 100th Battalion moved to Camp Shelby,
Mississippi for advanced unit training where the Aloha team continued to
play.
The 100th Battalion left Camp Shelby for North Africa on August 11,
1943. They landed at Oran, Algeria on September 2, where they guarded
supply trains for a couple of weeks. It was in North Africa that the
Aloha baseball team played their last game. Challenged by the 133rd
Infantry Regiment, the 100th called upon Lieutenant Paul E. Froning, who
had just joined them. Froning would pitch in the minors after the war
and helped defeat the 133rd, 26 to 0.
On September 19, 1943, the 100th Battalion left the relative safety of
North Africa for Italy. They landed at Salerno and went into combat
against the Germans on September 29.
Corporal Shiyama was killed in action on February 12, 1944, near
Cassino, Italy. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He is
buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.
Thanks to Kerry Yo Nakagawa of the Nisei Baseball Research Project and Hawaii State Library for help with this biography. Photo of 100th Battalion team courtesy of Sons and Daughters of the 100th Infantry Battalion Archives. Visit www.ajawarvets.org for more information on Americans of Japanese ancestry servicemen.
Date Added: February 8, 2013
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