A Book Worth Reading

[Steele]

I just finished Facing the Mountain, a story of the Japanese experience durring WW2, both as incarcerated citizens and as soldiers in the fabled 442nd Regimental Comabat Team. It was written by Dan Brown who also pennned Boys in the Boat, very much worth a read as well. The author is known for meticulous research and a matter of fact writing style, yet his work is also very moving.
It is not an easy read. What these people faced on the battle field, in the concentration camps, and also at home, is hard for someone like myself to fully understand. In comparison I have had a soft and privileged life. My father in law is a Nisei veteran, a term used to describe second generation Japanese immigrants. Initialy he trained with the 442nd, but was quite tall for a Japanese American and as such qualified to be a paratrooper and eventually jumped over Europe in the battle of the Bulge. We only learned some of the details much later, as he quietly and humbly related his experience as part of the Densho project, an oral history of the Nisei experience referenced in the book. All told I found the book to be heartfelt and insightful and hope others do as well.

[BeauV]

Wow! Thank you. I’ll give it a read.

[Jamie]

Very interesting. I'll give that a read.

My first ever glimpse into that experience was reading Stud Terkel's oral history The Good War where they interviewed some internees and members of the 442nd. A dark pocket of America's where the only light was the behavior of the people impacted.