Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence

Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence: Coming Home to Hood River

Talk by Linda Tamura

Saturday, December 15, 2012 - 3:00 - 4:30 p.m.

Wing Luke Museum
719 S King Street, Seattle

Includes complimentary refreshments and museum admission.

Event Overview

Author Linda Tamura will talk about her new book, Nisei Soldiers Break Their Silence: Coming Home to Hood River. The book 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 and serving as linguists in the South Pacific. 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.

About the Author

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.

Admission

This event is free of charge. No tickets are required, but seating is limited. Includes complimentary refreshments and museum admission.

Book Sales

Books will be available for purchase at the event.

Questions?

For more information, contact Densho at info@densho.org.

Event Sponsors

This event is sponsored by Union Bank.

Co-sponsored by the Nisei Veterans Committee, Nisei Veterans Committee Foundation, Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington, and the Seattle JACL.

Additional support provided by 4Culture.