"The 100TH, Seeds of Aloha" Europe Production Tour Reflections

Kathi Hayashi [daughter of Tokuichi Hayashi (100th INF BN, Co. A)], President of the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans (Club 100), recently accompanied the production team for the upcoming film, "The 100TH, Seeds of Aloha." This article reflects on her recent journey on the 20-day Film Production Tour supporting Producer Steve Sue and non-profit ID8, as they traveled across historic battlefields connected to the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd RCT, and the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion.

Also included is a reflection by Jot Turner [grandson of Lt. Col. Farrant L. Turner (HQ)], who joined "The 100TH, Seeds of Aloha Shadow Tour." Their shared experiences along their travels, offer a deeper understanding of the stories behind the educational documentary, “The 100TH, Seeds of Aloha,” and the powerful messages of healing, high-performance thinking, aloha, and conflict resolution that it seeks to share with the world. The film is also an opportunity to firmly establish that the 100th Infantry Battalion, with their Hawaiʻi roots, were pioneers in Nisei World War II history. The men in the original 100th were the first to endure being segregated into a combat unit based on looking like the enemy, and led the way through their training record to encourage the establishment of the 442nd RCT. They were the first to see combat in Europe and fought for nearly nine months before the 442nd RCT arrived in Italy to fight with the 100th. 

Highlights from "The 100TH, Seeds of Aloha" Europe Production Tour. [Video courtesy The 100TH, Seeds of Aloha production team (https://100thfilm.com/)]

▶︎ Reflections by Kathi Hayashi:

The film tour covered over 2,000 miles of travel via motor coach starting in Salerno, where the 100th landed with a little over 1,300 men on September 22, 1943. With the Germans in superior hilltop locations, after 4 months only 521 were able to fight due to death or severe wounds – the media started calling them “The Purple Heart Battalion.”100th soldiers planted the “seeds” to overturn America’s perception that looking like the Japanese enemy determined one’s loyalty. 

Club 100 representatives pay homage to 100th Battalion Medal of Honor soldier, Sadao Munemori (Able Co.) at a statue in his honor at Pietrasanta. He threw his body over a grenade to save his fellow soldiers. [Photo courtesy: Cliff Kimura]

The tour followed the steps of the 100th “up the Italian boot” until it became the 1st Battalion of the 442nd, but was allowed to keep the “100th” designation due to their battle achievements. We then followed the 100th/442nd’s path to the French cities of L’Escarène, Nice, Bruyères, and Biffontaine. We also took a side trip to Dachau, Germany, to interview those who remember how the 522nd split off from the 442nd to save Jewish prisoners in a death march to Austria. The Nazi plan was to remove evidence of the atrocities in the concentration camps. 

[Left photo] The Kaneshiro [George Yamamoto (100th Inf Bn, Co. A)] family with Mount Folgorito in the background.  The 100th/442nd broke through the Gothic line, resulting in the war in Europe ending a month later in May 1945. [Right-Top photo] Kathi and Nora DeBievre, owner and tour director for Nisei Legacy Tours. [Photo courtesy: Cliff Kimura] [Right-Bottom photo] Kathi with French friends including Alice and Marion Zeller. In December 1944, their brother Maurice attended a Christmas party hosted by men of the 442nd, who chose to throw a party for the starving children of L’Escarene instead of one for themselves. This “seed of Aloha” is still remembered warmly. [Photo courtesy: Cliff Kimura]

Last year, I joined a group of Club 100 descendants and friends on a 100th Infantry Battalion battle sites tour organized by Nisei Legacy Tours and led by Nora De Bievre. It was great to help set up interviews with many villagers that I met on prior trips and to learn more of the battle history and what our 100th patriarchs experienced. 

This year, eight Club 100 descendants and spouses joined the 100th film’s “Shadow Tour” to learn about the area near Mount Folgorito and share in the celebration of the official renaming of a public square in San Terenzo Monti as “Daniel K. Inouye Piazza,” near where he lost his arm in combat. Below, the grandson of Lt. Col. Farrant Turner, shares his reflection of the trip and of his grandfather, who the 100th soldiers revered. I fully concur with Jot and his grandfather’s leadership. 

Film crew for the educational documentary, “The 100TH, Seeds of Aloha” shout “100” in front of The Torch Monument.  [Photo courtesy: Nora De Bievre]

There were so many “lucky” events that I call “synchronicities,” where I felt the ancestral “mana” of the 100th/442nd opening opportunities for us. We randomly met a woman on the street that invited the entire 12-person film crew to her home, where we sang and had soft drinks. 

A 92-year old man gave me a roll of radio wire that he found in the hills. I thanked him, but sensed he wanted to tell me his story but could not because I didn’t understand Italian. Somehow, the mana attracted a woman from a national partigiani group to come by to say hello – she spoke English! 

Through the translator, I was able to understand that the 92-year old man, Umberto Vangeli, wanted to tell his story of being a 10-year old during the massacre of San Terenzo Monti. He was 10 when the Nazis occupied their town and 11 when the 100th/442nd soldiers came to liberate it on April 21, 1945 – when Lt. Daniel K. Inouye lost his right arm in combat. 

Umberto remembers he and two friends were used as human shields by the Germans when the partigiani, or Italian resistance, attacked. The 3 friends managed to run away and the partigiani killed the 16 Germans. It was a short win, because the next day, more German soldiers arrived to retaliate and massacred 159 villagers, including women and children. We heard across the region, that there was a German rule: for every German soldier killed in their village, 10 civilians would be killed. 

[Left photo] [L-R] Jot Turner [grandson of Lt. Col. Farrant Turner (HQ), Kathi and his wife, Marietta. [Right-Top photo] Signor Vangeli gifts radio wire he found in the hills used by the 100th/442nd. He was 10 years old when they liberated his village of San Terenzo Monti. [Right-Bottom photo] Kathi teaches 92-year old Umberto Vangeli how to make a Shaka.

This is the kind of terror that most Americans are not aware of when they enjoy their Veterans Day holiday or parade in their hometowns. For the villagers that endured this torture, the 100th/442nd soldiers are revered as saints for selflessly putting their lives on the line so they could go back to a normal and peaceful existence. People openly cried as they recalled the horror of fear, cruelty and evil intentions. One lady came to me and said, “Can I touch you?” then gave me a hug and a pin with the words “Bella Ciao.” I later found out it is the name of a song popularized in WWII for an Italian resistance fighter that sacrificed his life to fight Nazis.

Artist Rosanna Rotondi presented me with a beautiful, large, Raku platter she created. She uses the Japanese technique of kintsugi or mending broken pieces with gold to create something beautiful again. The metaphor of mending broken pieces is her way to describe the villages of Tendola and San Terenzo Monti. With faith, we all can rise and make beauty from ruins. I am grateful for the soldiers of the 100th and 442nd that planted the seeds of Aloha over 80 years ago, and to see the trees of mutual love continue to flourish. Please look for the raku plate displayed at the Clubhouse. 

[Left photo] Artist Rosanna Rotondi of Tendola, Italy, gifts Kathi a Raku plate created in the Japanese style of Kintsugi, which uses gold to mend broken pieces to create a new work of art. Tears of appreciation were shed as Rosana explained that the plate is a metaphor for how the 100th/442nd brought the broken pieces of their village back together so they would live happy and normal lives. The plate is displayed at the Clubhouse. [Photo courtesy: Cliff Kimura] [Right photo] [L-R] Multi-Platinum songwriter Harold Payne, Kathi, and Honorary Mayor of Bruyères Yves Bonjean.

I was proud to read the Proclamation of Appreciation to the towns of San Terenzo Monti and Tendola from the Mayor of Honolulu, Rick Blangiardi. The villagers were thrilled that he has Italian ancestry. I was equally proud that Club 100 5th generation (gosei) descendants, Tara and Genna Kaneshiro [great-granddaughters of George Yamamoto (A)] participated in the sign unveiling. 

[Left-Top photo] Kathi presents proclamations from Mayor Blangiardi to Mayor of Fivizzano Gian Luigi Giannetti and Mayor of Fostinovo Antonio Moriconi. [Left-Bottom photo] Plaque showers gratitude to Daniel K. Inouye for his action resulting in him receiving the Medal of Honor. [Right photo] We were proud to see young 100th descendants of Hawaii and Victoria from the village participate in the unveiling of the plaque honoring Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.

There were so many other examples of mana, healing and energy to move toward goodness and kindness. I can’t wait for the film that Producer Steve Sue is targeting to finish in time to celebrate the 250th birthday of America. Two world class musicians, Harold Payne and David Kopatz, were on the tour and created epic songs based on the mana they felt, which they confirmed was palpable and inspirational. Please click here for some highlights from the recent production tour, with theme song for the film (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uuH_AdPNCI). Please help to support this project here: https://100thfilm.com/

▶︎ Reflections of the 100th and my Grandfather by Jot Turner:

I am now retired although I was in executive leadership roles for many years – vocationally, in churches, on boards, and more. I know the impact of a good leader and the importance of building a strong leadership team. Good leaders build unity, engender confidence, and inspire resilience. It filters down through the leadership chain to every member of the organization. I do not take this for granted.

I didn’t know my grandfather, Farrant L. Turner (HQ). He died when I was just 5; but that doesn’t mean I could not appreciate him. My father, his son, was 15 and on board when the S.S. Maui and the original 100th Infantry Battalion sailed from Honolulu. He told my two brothers and me stories of his father and more importantly modeled his values as a servant leader. Our grandfather lived on in our father and hopefully in the three of us as we impacted the world in our various vocations.

[Top photo] 100th descendant Jot and his wife, Marianne, relax in vintage U.S. Army vehicle as Kathi  points out Club 100 decals to Nisei Legacy Tours owner Nora DeBievre. [Bottom-Left photo] Eight Club 100 representatives at the base of Mount Folgorito with 2 villagers. [Bottom-Right photo] Marble plaque unveiled by the cities of Tendola and San Terenzo Monti to name a street and Piazza in honor of Senator Daniel K. Inouye, who lost his right arm near this area and liberated their towns from starvation and fear of death. 

I’ve read numerous books and articles about the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regiment, but until I joined the Seeds of Aloha tour this past November and witnessed firsthand the amazingly rugged terrain surrounding the breaking of the Gothic Line in Italy during the final weeks of World War II while trying to imagine these Nisei soldiers working together in the nighttime assault on Mt. Folgorito without light or sound under the constant threat of discovery, and then later in battle with entrenched German outposts on the high points, I could not comprehend the magnitude of what they accomplished. Truly unbelievable!

Where did they find the strength to persevere day after day, night after night, month after month liberating villages with the help of partisans that had suffered starvation, violence, oppression, and constant danger? 

I have to imagine that my grandfather played a crucial role in who those soldiers became. He embraced them when others ostracized them. He built morale, drove them to attain levels of fitness, combat readiness and resolve they did not know they had. He was no longer present when the Nisei liberated the ridges and villages we witnessed last month, but his influence from early 1942 through October 1943 lived on with those original soldiers, the replacements, and the 442nd RCT that followed.

Sen. Daniel Inouye earned his Medal of Honor liberating San Terenzo Monti and Tendola. We were there November 9th for the dedication of “Piazza Daniel Inouye” in San Terenzo Monti where two entire villages turned out for the ceremony. Sen. Inouye was not part of the original 100th; however, he revered my grandfather and recognized his influence over the entire history of the Nisei in WWII. When my older brother, Albert Farrant Turner Jr., received his appointment to West Point in 1970 from Sen. Inouye, he said, “It gives me great pride to appoint the grandson of Lt. Col. Farrant L. Turner.”

Though I did not know him, I am filled with love, respect, and appreciation for my grandfather’s contribution to the incredible legacy of the Nisei. I am filled with the same for all those dedicated soldiers and what they accomplished both during and after the war. This trip brought this home in ways I could not have imagined.

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This article has been reprised from the November 2025 Puka Puka Parade newsletter articles, written by Kathi Hayashi [daughter of Tokuichi Hayashi (100th Inf. Bn., Co. A)] and Jot Turner [grandson of LTC Farrant L. Turner (HQ)]. Back issues of the Puka Puka Parade can be viewed online, courtesy of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa eVols digitial repository — the most recent issues available to the public can be viewed here: https://hdl.handle.net/10524/66742. For more about the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans Puka Puka Parade, please visit https://www.100thibv.org/post/puka-puka-parade-marches-on-eighty-years-later.