Skip to main contentBiographyStaff Sergeant George Oiye was born on February 19, 1922 in a log cabin at a gold mining camp near Basin Creek, Montana. It was forty below zero on the continental divide and his Japanese born parents and two older sisters had fifty cents to live on for the winter. The nearest store was seven miles away and was a twelve-hour trip on home made snowshoes. They lived there for two years and moved to Helena, Montana to work in the Northern Pacific Railroad round-house; from there they moved to Trident, Montana, at the headwaters of the Missouri River to work in a cement factory. George went to grammar school at Trident and high school at Three Forks, Montana, seven miles away. In 1938 his parents bought a small, twenty-three acre truck farm at Logan, Montana and they lived there for fifty years.
When Pearl Harbor was bombed, George was enrolled in mechanical and aeronautical engineering at Montana State College in Bozeman, Montana. He was also enrolled in ROTC and became drill sergeant and captain of the rifle team. Through his scholastic leadership he became president of the Society of Mechanical Engineers in spite of racial prejudice and his draft classification of 4-C (Enemy alien unfit for military service), that prevented him from volunteering for military service until February of 1943, when President Roosevelt rescinded the classification 4-C and changed it to 1-A. On May 5, 1943, Mr. Oiye was drafted into the Army Infantry and sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi for training with the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team where he was assigned to Battery C of the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion.
The 522nd Field Artillery Battalion supported the 100th /442nd Infantry Regiment through out Italy and France and became very famous for it's forward observer's expertise and accurate fire direction of their twelve105 mm howitzers. One of the most famous battles of the entire WWII was the "Rescue of the Lost Battalion," by the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team. In October of 1944, 223 soldiers of the 36th Infantry Division from Texas, were surrounded by Nazi SS troops in the Vosges Mountains of France. S/Sgt Oiye was selected to be one of the field artillery forward observers of that battle, at a cost of over 800 casualties to the 100th/442nd RCT.
In March of 1945, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion was called out to support the 7th and 3rd Armies, to breech the Siegfried line in Germany, while the 100th/442nd Infantry went back to Italy to breech the Gothic line. Both efforts were heroic and the 522nd FABN has become recognized for its participation in the Liberation of Dachau and Bertchesgaden.
Mr. Oiye was honorably discharged from the US Army on January 4,1946 and is identified in the Aerospace and large laser industry for his achievements. He retired in 1998 at the age of 76 and continues to support Japanese American WWII Historical Activities and Christian Outreach.
Oiye, George
1922 -
When Pearl Harbor was bombed, George was enrolled in mechanical and aeronautical engineering at Montana State College in Bozeman, Montana. He was also enrolled in ROTC and became drill sergeant and captain of the rifle team. Through his scholastic leadership he became president of the Society of Mechanical Engineers in spite of racial prejudice and his draft classification of 4-C (Enemy alien unfit for military service), that prevented him from volunteering for military service until February of 1943, when President Roosevelt rescinded the classification 4-C and changed it to 1-A. On May 5, 1943, Mr. Oiye was drafted into the Army Infantry and sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi for training with the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team where he was assigned to Battery C of the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion.
The 522nd Field Artillery Battalion supported the 100th /442nd Infantry Regiment through out Italy and France and became very famous for it's forward observer's expertise and accurate fire direction of their twelve105 mm howitzers. One of the most famous battles of the entire WWII was the "Rescue of the Lost Battalion," by the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team. In October of 1944, 223 soldiers of the 36th Infantry Division from Texas, were surrounded by Nazi SS troops in the Vosges Mountains of France. S/Sgt Oiye was selected to be one of the field artillery forward observers of that battle, at a cost of over 800 casualties to the 100th/442nd RCT.
In March of 1945, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion was called out to support the 7th and 3rd Armies, to breech the Siegfried line in Germany, while the 100th/442nd Infantry went back to Italy to breech the Gothic line. Both efforts were heroic and the 522nd FABN has become recognized for its participation in the Liberation of Dachau and Bertchesgaden.
Mr. Oiye was honorably discharged from the US Army on January 4,1946 and is identified in the Aerospace and large laser industry for his achievements. He retired in 1998 at the age of 76 and continues to support Japanese American WWII Historical Activities and Christian Outreach.
Person Type(not entered)
