Quiet Warriors

On February 19, 1942, two months after the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. Nearly 8,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans in the Seattle area were sent to evacuation camps. Among them, two thirds were American-born Nisei. Many of the young men would later fall into two groups: “No-No Boys” and volunteers for the army. Now that they are aging, the quiet Nisei ex-soldiers are willing to tell their unspoken stories. Having been through war themselves, they have an immense desire for peace. In this second part of the interview series, three Military Intelligence Service (MIS) veterans share their true voices. By Mikiko Amagai