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bookish1ifedeb 's review for:
Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II
by Daniel James Brown
Although I knew about the incarceration of Japanese-Americans at the onset of World War I, this is the first history I have read about what unfolded. And I knew very little about the famed Nisei Regiment, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, comprised of the sons of many of those immigrants locked up in internment camps.
The unit went on to become the most decorated military unit of its size and term of service in U.S. history, including 21 Medals of Honor, 29 Distinguished Service Crosses, and a host of other honors. Their 18,000 men suffered extraordinary casualties during their two years in combat in Italy and Germany, partly because of their reputation for doing the impossible, and sadly, because for a time they were led by an idiot with zero combat experience. And then they came home to find they were still deemed "enemies" in the eyes of many Americans, their one-time homes and businesses forfeit, and their prospects for the future stunted by racism.
Learning about the resisters was also new to me–chief among them Gordon Hirabayashi, a Quaker who simply and politely refused to sign any documents surrendering himself to what he deemed un-Constitutional treatment based on race. Although the Supreme Court (stacked with Roosevelt appointees who didn't want to go against the President during a war) failed to uphold the principles Hirabayashi argued, his and others' refusal to comply ultimately led to post-war restitution.
The remarkable story of one Hawai'i-born Japanese-American, Kats Miho, whose father was incarcerated within days of Pearl Harbor, and whose sister witnessed the destruction of Hiroshima, even as he served in Europe, is just one example of the many tales embedded in this history of amazing Americans.
The stories of the 442nd soldiers were fortunately recorded by the Densho Project, a Seattle-based history group that interviewed many of the unit's survivors, and their family members, to capture their stories for posterity. Daniel James Brown accessed their records, interviewed survivors, visited the sites of their hard-won battles, and brought their stories to new audiences.
This is fascinating, unsettling, disturbing on so many levels, but ultimately an inspirational story of a group of first-generation Americans who chose to fight for the very country that tried to disown them. Astonishing stuff.*
*The length of time it took me to complete this book had everything to do with being stressed by the 2024 election, and nothing at all to do with the quality of this book.
The unit went on to become the most decorated military unit of its size and term of service in U.S. history, including 21 Medals of Honor, 29 Distinguished Service Crosses, and a host of other honors. Their 18,000 men suffered extraordinary casualties during their two years in combat in Italy and Germany, partly because of their reputation for doing the impossible, and sadly, because for a time they were led by an idiot with zero combat experience. And then they came home to find they were still deemed "enemies" in the eyes of many Americans, their one-time homes and businesses forfeit, and their prospects for the future stunted by racism.
Learning about the resisters was also new to me–chief among them Gordon Hirabayashi, a Quaker who simply and politely refused to sign any documents surrendering himself to what he deemed un-Constitutional treatment based on race. Although the Supreme Court (stacked with Roosevelt appointees who didn't want to go against the President during a war) failed to uphold the principles Hirabayashi argued, his and others' refusal to comply ultimately led to post-war restitution.
The remarkable story of one Hawai'i-born Japanese-American, Kats Miho, whose father was incarcerated within days of Pearl Harbor, and whose sister witnessed the destruction of Hiroshima, even as he served in Europe, is just one example of the many tales embedded in this history of amazing Americans.
The stories of the 442nd soldiers were fortunately recorded by the Densho Project, a Seattle-based history group that interviewed many of the unit's survivors, and their family members, to capture their stories for posterity. Daniel James Brown accessed their records, interviewed survivors, visited the sites of their hard-won battles, and brought their stories to new audiences.
This is fascinating, unsettling, disturbing on so many levels, but ultimately an inspirational story of a group of first-generation Americans who chose to fight for the very country that tried to disown them. Astonishing stuff.*
*The length of time it took me to complete this book had everything to do with being stressed by the 2024 election, and nothing at all to do with the quality of this book.