Overview

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

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9780295997063

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Reviews

Nisei Soldiers touches deeply into America's reckoning with race and bigotry and deserves a wide reading. The author offers a persuasive and compelling account of the treatment of Japanese Americans in peace and wartime. -- William G. Robbins Oregon Historical Quarterly Tamura's Nisei Soldiers is an interesting, solidly researched, and well-written piece of history, one that fills a gap in the literature on the American war experience. -- Thomas Saylor Oral History Review ... an excellent history of the Hood River Nisei who served during WW II. Her book is backed by all of the expected (and nicely utilized) sources... what helps to distinguish the book as unique are the multitude of rare interviews... Highly recommended. Choice An important book about a shameful era in the history of the Columbia gorge... Tamura uses interviews and newly uncovered documents to tell a shocking story. -- Jeff Baker The Oregonian Tamura has done well to write this book, which strikes a blow at historical amnesia and resonates in Puget Sound country. -- Mike Dillon City Living This important chronicle of the community's wartime contributions interweaves fact and anecdote... Tamura provides an engaging outlet for a hidden voice... Publishers Weekly Linda Tamura's revelatory community history, Nisei Soldiers, exposes the racism experienced by Japanese American soldiers from Hood River, Oregon during World War II and the postwar years...Her poignant case study fills a necessary gap in the social history of Japanese American postwar resettlement. -- Melanie English Pacific Northwest Quarterly, A superb read, an excellent source of Northwest social history, and a welcome addition to the literature on Japanese internment. -- Eric Cunningham Columbia Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence is a much-needed account of a crucial period in Japanese American history... Linda Tamura's clearly written, discerning, and engaging book deserves careful study by both specialists and general readers interested in Japanese Americans' contributions during and after the Second World War. -- Brian Casserly Michigan War Studies Review

A superb read, an excellent source of Northwest social history, and a welcome addition to the literature on Japanese internment.--Eric Cunningham Columbia (01/01/2013)

Author Information

Linda Tamura is professor of education at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. She is the author of The Hood River Issei: An Oral History of Japanese Settlers in Oregon's Hood River Valley.

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