Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II

The author describes his 2019 trip to locations in northern Italy where his story takes place. Reenactors of the 442nd Regiment Combat Team transported him and veterans’ relatives to the top of Monte Folgorito. Brown was amazed by “the sheer audacity” (464) of climbing this steep mountain in the middle of the night in full gear, calling the soldiers “the living embodiment of the spirit that has always animated America” including “the highest ideals of America and the Western democracies” (464). At the same time, the soldiers were also “proudly Japanese” carrying in them “a host of related beliefs and attitudes” (464), including the Bushido code of samurai warriors.

President Harry Truman attempted to right the wrongs of concentration camps with his 1948 Japanese American Evacuation Claims Act, and in 1952, the McCarran-Walter Act permitted Japanese immigrants to apply for citizenship. However, neither financial compensation nor an apology came until 1988 with the Civil Liberties Act, which acknowledged that the imprisonment of Japanese Americans was “carried out without adequate security reasons and without any acts of espionage or sabotage” (473). In the next five years, the 89,219 victims were compensated $20,000 each. It took years for the American government to publicly acknowledge the contribution of the 442nd.