Nisei soldiers break their silence : coming home to Hood River / Linda Tamura.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tamura, Linda, 1949-

Series:

Scott and Laurie Oki series in Asian American studies.

The Scott and Laurie Oki series in Asian American studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Participation, Japanese American.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Japanese Americans.

Japanese American soldiers--Oregon--Hood River--History--20th century.

Japanese American soldiers.

Japanese American soldiers--Oregon--Hood River--Biography.

Hood River (Or.)--Ethnic relations--History--20th century.

Hood River (Or.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (368 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Seattle : University of Washington Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence is a compelling story of courage, community, endurance, and reparation. It shares the experiences of Japanese Americans (Nisei) who served in the U.S. Army during World War II, fighting on the front lines in Italy and France, serving as linguists in the South Pacific, and working as cooks and medics. The soldiers were from Hood River, Oregon, where their families were landowners and fruit growers. Town leaders, including veterans' groups, attempted to prevent their return after the war and stripped their names from the local war memorial. All of the soldiers were American citizens, but their parents were Japanese immigrants and had been imprisoned in camps as a consequence of Executive Order 9066. The racist homecoming that the Hood River Japanese American soldiers received was decried across the nation.Linda Tamura, who grew up in Hood River and whose father was a veteran of the war, conducted extensive oral histories with the veterans, their families, and members of the community. She had access to hundreds of recently uncovered letters and documents from private files of a local veterans' group that led the campaign against the Japanese American soldiers. This book also includes the little known story of local Nisei veterans who spent 40 years appealing their convictions for insubordination.Watch the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHMcFdmixLk

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Oral History Methodology

Introduction

Part I: Early Years

1. "Growing Up in Two Worlds" : Balancing Japanese America

2. "Nice People So Long as They Are in a Minority" : The Japanese American Community in Hood River

Part II: World War II

3. "Why Didn't You Tell Us the War Was Coming?" : Community Fallout from Pearl Harbor

4. "Fighting for Good Uncle Sam" : Nisei Enter the Military

5. "The Two-Sided Sword" : Wartime Changes for Japanese American Families

6. "Getting Shot from Ahead of Us and Behind Us" : War in the South Pacific

7. "From Somewhere in Europe" : War in Europe

8. "I've Got a Lot of Fighting to Do Right Here" : Charged with Willful Disobedience

9. "Discard My Uniform for Good" : The End of the War

Part III: After the War

10. "No Japes Wanted in Hood River" : The Hood River Situation

11. "Ninety Percent Are Against the Japs!" : Veterans and Their Families Return

12. "You Could Feel It" : Resettling in the Community and Elsewhere

13. "Time Is a Good Healer" : Rebuilding

14. "Guilty of Courage" : Discipline Barrack Boys' Appeals

Part IV: Today

15. "Opening the Closets of History" : The Community Today

16. No "Ordinary Soldiers" : The Patriot Test

Afterword

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9780295804460

0295804467

OCLC:

815970810