Heroes All! Nisei Veterans of WWII and Korea has been added as an adjunct to an exhibit of the National Japanese American Historical Society NJAHS honoring veterans of the MIS and the Presidio’s historic Building 640.

This will be the first Heroes All! exhibit since 2008, when the work was shown at the National Steinbeck Center. Black and white portraits of Nisei Veterans of the MIS and 100/442 are exhibited alongside their interviews. Portraits and interviews are the work of Tom Graves. More information will soon be available at heroesall.com.

Heroes All! will be exhibited alongside On Pacific War and Peace-the Story of the Nisei Linguist in the MIS 1941-1952 in the Presidio Officers Club. The National Japanese American Historical Society is establishing the Building 640 Museum in the Presidio. Building 640 was the original site of the Military Intelligence Service language school for MIS soldiers. Details are available at njahs.org.

March Meeting Features Tom Graves’ Production

Joe Rosenthal Chapter USMC Combat Correspondents Association–Bay Area Marine Corps Reporter

An American Story – a documentary about California World War II veterans of Japanese ancestry was shown to attendees at the Chapter March 18 meeting and was termed “well written and produced” by viewers.

Tom Graves, the documentary writer and producer, worked on the DVD for the past 18 months before showing it to the CCs (Combat Correspondents).

The story portrays the bravery of the veterans in war where they earned seven Presidential Unit Citations and 9,000 Purple Hearts for battle wounds while serving with the 442nd “Go For Broke” Regimental Combat Team or as linguist with the Military Intelligence Service (MIS).

Upon return from war, they faced discrimination when they attempted to join veterans groups. They eventually formed their own units with the help of sympathetic vets appalled at their treatment. Japanese American veterans now have a documentary DV telling their story to hand down to their following generations.

Norbert J. Malecki

Dear Editor,

I was pleased to read Kenneth Jessen’s article, Executive Order 9066: Misdirected Exercise of War Powers, in your March 2009 issue.

The mass incarceration of over 110,000 people (twothirds of them U.S. citizens) during WWII, remains one of America’s greatest violations of civil liberties. And although I am happy to learn this lesson is taught at Grenada (Colorado) High School (and required in all California high schools), elsewhere the sad chapter of American history has been mostly forgotten.

By granting Army General DeWitt broad powers after Pearl Harbor, FDR’s Executive Order 9066 wrote a blank check to uproot families, businesses and entire communities. In a stunning suspension of the U.S. Constitution, Japanese Americans were removed from California, Oregon, Washington and parts of Arizona, and locked into 10 federal internment camps, including Amache in Colorado.

As noted in Jessen’s article, Ralph L. Carr was the only governor to offer his state as a new home to displaced West Coast Japanese Americans. Colorado voters “rewarded” him by voting him out of office. In an effort to prove their loyalty, thousands of young men left their interned families and volunteered for the Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team. They fought in France and Italy and became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history. Six thousand additional Japanese Americans formed the Military Intelligence Service, fighting in secret in the Pacific Theater and working to establish a civilian government in post-WWII Japan.

President Reagan and the U.S. Congress issued a formal apology in 1988, but the stigma of incarceration dogs many former internees who won’t even discuss it with their children. Though no particular fan of Reagan, I still admire what may have been his finest speech, delivered as a young Army captain in 1944 at a ceremony honoring a fallen 442nd soldier: ‘’Blood that has soaked into the sands of a beach is all of one color. America stands unique in the world: the only country not founded on race but on a way, an ideal. Not in spite of but because of our polyglot background, we have had all the strength in the world. That is the American way.’’

Your readers can learn more about the human cost of the Internment by reading the outstanding new book, Kiyo’s Story: A Japanese American Family’s Quest for the American Dream, by Kiyo Sato, Soho Press, New York, 2009. And I’ve recently completed An American Story, a DVD presentation on the Japanese American Experience before, during and after WWII.

Tom Graves
San Francisco, Calif.

San Francisco photographer Tom Graves announces the release of An American Story, a 14-minute DVD on the history of Nisei Veterans in California. By telling the story of California’s Nisei Veterans before, during and after WWII, An American Story teaches the broader history of the Relocation and anti-Asian discrimination. An American Story grew out of research supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program. Because Post 8985 was the first VFW Nisei Post in California, it features prominently in the DVD.

Tom screened An American Story to groups of veterans at the 59th Nisei VFW Reunion in Orange County in February. High school teachers have encouraged him to get the DVD into California’s classrooms, where the Relocation is part of the 11th Grade curriculum. One reviewer wrote, “This story is certainly an important part of recent American history that we cannot allow to be swept into a mere footnote. Thank you for bringing it front and center. I applaud your dedication and effort.”

AN AMERICAN STORY DVD

Tom Graves announces the release of An American Story, a 14-minute DVD on the history of Nisei Veterans in California. By telling the story of California’s 4 Nisei Veterans before, during and after WWII, An American Story teaches the broader history of the Relocation and anti-Asian discrimination. The DVD grew out of research supported by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program.

An American Story premiered at the 59th Nisei VFW Reunion in Orange County in February. High school teachers have encouraged Tom to get the DVD into California’s classrooms. In the meantime, he is screening the DVD for veterans’ groups.

An American Story is available for only $10 per DVD, plus $3 shipping (regardless of quantity) to each address. This DVD comes with a unique guide designed to encourage conversations between grandparents and grandchildren. Please send your check to Tom Graves, 400 Clipper St., San Francisco, CA 94114-3623. The price includes sales tax for California residents. Please direct questions to tom@tomgraves.com, 415-550-7241.

Don’t delay. This DVD needs to be seen by every Nikkei and by everyone who loves this country.