Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Four-Four-Two by Dean Hughes

Yuki Nakahara is an American. He was born here and is a citizen. His parents on the other hand, were not. After Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which directed the removal of "enemy aliens" from coastal areas labeled war zones. Because of their Japanese ancestry, Yuki's father was sent to a prison for investigation while Yuki and the rest of his family were rounded up and sent to an internment camp in Utah. They were called traitors and cursed as "the enemy."
Yuki, and many of the other young Americans of Japanese Ancestry (AJA), want nothing more than to prove their patriotism by fighting for America, THEIR country.

This story is truly amazing. Reading about what these men endured, how they fought, where they fought, how they were used as assets in the European theater, and how they died was fascinating.

Yuki was fictionally deployed as part of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team, a combat team that in real life was comprised of about 18,000 AJAs throughout the course of the war. They are still the most decorated unit in U.S. military history. Approximately 50% earned a Purple Heart and they suffered a staggering 314% casualty rate.

I highly recommend this book. It is an extremely timely story! So much of the political atmosphere right now regarding Muslims in America sounds so similar to the attitude and behavior of the U.S. government its citizens around the time of World War II.

Here are a couple of interesting links for more information about Japanese Americans in World War II.
Go For Broke National Education Center
The mission of this organization is "to educate and inspire character and equality through the virtue and valor of our World War II American veterans of Japanese ancestry."

Allegiance
George Takei of Star Trek fame, who was rounded up and relocated to an internment camp with his family, has created a Broadway musical based on a true story of another family.

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