FACING THE MOUNTAIN: A TRUE STORY OF JAPANESE AMERICAN HEROES IN WORLD WAR II By Daniel James Brown (New York: Viking Books, 2021, 560 pp., $30, hard cover) Daniel James Brown’s “Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II” recounts the narrative of the Japanese American wartime experience by focusing on the individual histories of Gordon Hirabayashi, Katsugo “Kats” Miho, Fred Shiosaki and Rudy Tokiwa. Hirabayashi famously contested Executive Order 9066 in the courts, […]
A ‘family-themed inquiry’ into the ‘wages of war’
January 1, 2019 by Leave a Comment
WHEN THE AKIMOTOS WENT TO WAR: AN UNTOLD STORY OF FAMILY, PATRIOTISM, AND SACRIFICE DURING WORLD WAR IIBy Matthew Elms (Arlington, Va.: American Battle Monuments Commission, 2015, 146 pp., $15, paperback) This book by Matthew Elms is a heart-rending Japanese American family-themed inquiry into the dismaying “wages of war.” It is published by the American […]
A Nisei’s path to pacifism
July 19, 2018 by Leave a Comment
MY LIFE’S JOURNEY By Ted T. Tsukiyama (Honolulu, Watermark Publishing, 2017, 160 pp., $17.95, paperback) Ted Tsukiyama is a charter member of the Nisei, “the Greatest Generation.” Born in Hawai‘i in 1920, the son of shopkeepers, he was a student at the University of Hawai‘i when he was mobilized into the Hawaii Territorial Guard on […]
Film examines little-known origins of famed 442nd unit
April 26, 2018 by Leave a Comment
For Yonsei Stacey Hayashi, the effort to preserve the story of the famed all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team is not only a labor of love, but it’s also a part of her family legacy. With a great uncle in the original 100th Battalion, and another in the 442nd — which the 100th morphed into — […]
100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd RCT monument in France refurbished
January 18, 2018 by 1 Comment
Nestled in an undergrowth clearing near Bruyères, France is a monument dedicated to the members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, who were instrumental in helping to liberate the town of Bruyères, as well as Belmont and Biffontaine, during World War II in fall 1944. Complete with a plaque in […]
Digital exhibit to tell Nisei veterans’ stories
December 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The stories of the World War II Nisei soldiers, including heroes like Kazuo Masuda, Takejiro Higa and the late Sen. Daniel Inouye, will be highlighted in the upcoming Congressional Gold Medal Digital Exhibition, which the National Veterans Network in association with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, will develop, a statement issued by these entities said. […]
A social and operational — though somewhat lacking — history of the 110th and 442nd
July 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Going for Broke: Japanese American Soldiers in the War against Nazi Germany By James M. McCaffrey (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013, 424 pp., $34.95, hard cover) With another book documenting the experiences of Nisei military participation during World War II, Dr. James McCaffrey’s “Going for Broke” attempts to re-narrate the perseverance, struggle, and triumph […]
JA Nat’l Museum hosts ‘Go For Broke’ exhibit in Los Angeles
January 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment
LOS ANGELES — The Japanese American National Museum’s “Go For Broke: Japanese American Soldiers Fighting on Two Fronts” exhibit chronicles the history of Nisei soldiers from the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service who served during World War II. The soldiers fought to prove their loyalty to the […]
Nikkei history meets multi-generational family memoir
January 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
LOOKING AFTER MINIDOKA: AN AMERICAN MEMOIR By Neil Nakadate (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2013, 236 pp., $20, paperback) Although its publisher markets “Looking after Minidoka” as a “memoir,” this volume can lay equal claim to being a “history.” It is, in fact, the superlative fusion of these two genres that accounts for the most […]
Inouye posthumously receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
December 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — The late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye was one of 16 people to receive the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Nov. 20 at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. President John F. Kennedy established the medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor, 50 years ago. Inouye served in the 442nd Regimental […]
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