Gender

Male

Birth date

1919-11-1

Place of birth

Ventura CA, U.S.A.

Inducted

1941-10-1, Los Angeles CA

Enlistment type

Draftee

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Combat

Units served

442nd Regimental Combat Team, 100th Battalion, Company C

Military specialty

Infantryman

Stationed

Basic Training: Camp Roberts Military Reservation, Paso Robles, CA
Other Stations:
Camp Robiinson, AR
Camp Shelby, MS
France
Italy

Separated

KIA Mt. Folgorito IT

Unit responsibility

April 1945: Make frontal attack on the Gothic Line which had withstood attacks for four or five months.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

Rhineland Campaign
Po Valley Campaign
North Apennines Campaign
Bruyeres, France/''Lost Battalion''

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Bronze Star Medal
Purple Heart Medal
Good Conduct Medal
Distinguished Unit Badge w/Oak Leaf Cluster
Combat Infantryman Badge
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal

Killed in Action 5 April 1945 - during attack of Gothic Line on ''Georgia Hill'', Mt. Folgorito, Italy.

Additional information

Katsumi Leonard Takasugi (Kats), son of Wakamatsu Frank Takasugi and Tono Kenmotsu Takasugi, was born on November 1, 1919. He was the eldest of eleven children followed by George Joji, Knox Haruo (deceased), John Hiroshi (deceased), Thomas Goro (deceased), Jim Shoichi (deceased), Herbert Hoover, Frank Hideto, Ida Etsuko (deceased), Frances Keiko, and Abe Masamichi. He attended Mound Elementary School in Ventura, Ventura Junior High School, Ventura Senior High School and Ventura Junior College. His goal was to work in the air conditioning and refrigeration field. Leonard was a member of the Boy Scouts and Nisei Methodist Church of Oxnard, CA.

Leonard was selected in the first peacetime draft in 1941, entered service in October and received his basic training at Camp Roberts, CA. He was also stationed at Camp Robinson, AR and Camp Shelby, MS. He served in the Northern Apennines Campaign, the Rhineland Campaign where he fought in the Battle of Bruyeres and the Lost Battalion Rescue in France, and in the Po Valley Campaign in Italy.

When Leonard came back to say goodbye to his family before going overseas, it was ironic for him to visit his parents and brothers and sisters who remained in camp in Gila River, AZ under Army guards who wore the same uniform as he did. He was fighting for his country, while his country's government had forced his family, along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans, into internment camps surrounded by barbed wire when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942.

Leonard's brothers George and John entered the service in the summer of 1944, followed by brother Knox. All four brothers were in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team - T/Sgt Leonard Takasugi (Company C, 100th Battalion), T/5 George Takasugi (Company A, 100th Battalion), PFC John Takasugi (Company G, 2nd Battalion) and PFC Knox Takasugi (Company D, 100th Battalion). They were in four different companies of the 442nd RCT, but all four brothers were fighting the same batttles not far from each other. On April 5, 1945 Leonard was killed in action during the attack of the Gothic Line on 'Georgia Hill', Mt. Folgorito during the last push. His brother George was wounded on the same day.

Leonard is buried at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park, 5400 Valentine Road, Ventura, CA.