Go for Broke!

3/13/2026

As wartime propaganda exercises go, I thought this to be one of the better and often quite funny features. It celebrates the achievements the 442nd - a regiment formed of Japanese American soldiers and commanded, somewhat reluctantly, by “Grayson” (Van Johnson). Like many, even most, in the US Army he was sceptical of the skills and the loyalties of this band of squaddies, and his disdain was barely hidden towards them or towards his boss. These troops prove to quite a formidable bunch and gradually their efforts on the continent and in the Far East illustrate that they are a match for anyone. It’s that fact that “Grayson” gradually comes to realise as the war rumbles on and the fatalities start to impact on him more than he might ever have thought possible. It’s a fight against the Nazis