Unlikely Liberators: The Men of the 100th and 442nd

by Masayo Duus, Peter Duus (Translator)

Unlikely Liberators is the action-filled story of the men of the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Not trusted to fight in the Pacific, these sons of Japanese immigrants were sent instead to the European theater. In the eyes of their own government and the Europeans they liberated, they were an unlikely group of fighting men. They nevertheless engaged the enemy with astonishing heroism, winning battle after battle at Anzio, Salerno, Cassino, and in the Vosges Mountains. At the end of the war, the 100th and the 442nd emerged as America’s most decorated units. They provided ample evidence of their patriotism to a country that had questioned their loyalty.

Masayo Duus begins her story with the formation of the Japanese American units, which were an outgrowth of America’s ambivalent attitude toward the entire Japanese American community at the outbreak of the war. She recounts their experiences in training and during the early battles in Italy, including the conflicts between Japanese American and Caucasian troops. The final part of the story focuses on the battle in the Vosges forest, where the 442nd fought fiercely to rescue the "lost battalion" of Texans hopelessly cut off by the enemy.

Based on extensive research in War Department archives and nearly three hundred interviews with veterans of the 100th and 442nd, Unlikely Liberators first appeared in serialized form in Japan, where it won the Bungeishunjusha Reader’s Prize. It is an absorbing and personalized account of young men suddenly separated from their families and friends, often confused and sometimes suspicious about what the army wanted from them. It portrays them as individuals confronting the multiple crises of war and social rejection and it shows that their greatest achievement was not their victory over a foreign enemy, but over prejudice at home. This book is a tribute to those men, who by their heroism reestablished for all Japanese Americans their personal dignity as full citizens in the country of their birth.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, World War II, American

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2006

Reviews

[Kori-Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm reading this book as it's quite personal. My grandfather, Yozo Yamamoto, was a member of the all-nisei 100th Infantry Battalion. In fact, my grandfather was interviewed for this book while he was alive.

I heard and read things here and there about the 100th Battalion and 442nd Regiment, but never took the time to really learn about their experiences. I'm starting to understand the terrible obstacles these Japanese Americans had to face, and have come to appreciate the sacrifice these men and their families made. In a sense, they were in caught between two worlds, they were not American enough to the Americans and not Japanese enough to the Japanese.

I've read that in some families, one son fought for the US and the other fought for Japan. What a horrible predicament for the family, and for the brothers fighting on both sides of the war. And for many of them they were fighting for the US, the very country that held their families behind barbed wires in internment camps.

In light of what's going on in the US goverment and in the Middle East, it's important to remember that we cannot discriminate and act on fear-mongering. I remember sometime after 9/11, a news broadcast showed how Japanese Americans publicly came out to support Arab and Muslim Americans to show how the treatment of Japanese Americans after the Pearl Harbor attack paralleled the treatment of Arabs and Muslims after the 9/11 attacks.

[Diz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells the history of the 100th and the 442nd, which were made up of Japanese-Americans fighting in Europe during World War II. It's amazing to see how dedicated these second-generation Japanese-Americans were to the United States despite the racism of the time and the internment camps that many Japanese-Americans on the west coast were imprisoned in. The author allows us the chance to get to know some of the soldiers personally, so it is really heartbreaking when many of them are injured or killed during battle.

[Judd Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Likely, the best unit ever to serve in the US Army. This is a incredible story that will likely never be repeated. Fortunately, their racist and ignorant General Dahlquist will hopefully never be repeated as well. For the men of the 100th and 442nd, our debt to you can never be repaid. RIP , you are great Americans.

[Selena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly repeating info from other sources.

[Incunabula_and_intercourse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderfully informative read about a topic I deeply care about! Cleared up a few questions I had about the 442nd and raised new ones to be explored.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and well written.