The 442nd Regimental Combat Team (“442nd RCT”) was organized on March 23, 1943 in response to the War Department’s call for volunteers to form an all Japanese-American army combat unit. Over 12,000 Japanese-American volunteers responded. Ultimately, 2,686 volunteers from Hawaii and 1,500 volunteers from American concentration camps assembled at Camp Shelby, Mississippi to undergo military training in April 1943.