But, finally, in March 1944, the Four-Four-Two received their orders to ship out to Italy.Īlthough they had been anxious to get to the front, Yuki and Shig aren't really emotionally prepared for what they find in combat. But then, basic training gave way to endless war games and Yuki thought they would never get a chance to fight. Added to that, Japanese recruits find they are still facing the same racist attitudes from others in and around Camp Shelby, Mississippi, even though they are fighting for the same country. Yuki is determined to prove his loyalty to his country.Īs part of the all Japanese 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Yuki and Shig find basic training hard and tough, but they are determined to prove themselves. Having just turned 18 years old, Yuki and his best friend Shigeo 'Shig' Omura have both decided to enlist, and despite the fact that the country he is going to defend is still holding his father prisoner. The United States mow needs more soldiers and are letting Japanese men enlist, as long as they swear allegiance to this country. In fact, all west coast Japanese peoples, regardless of whether they were Nisei, born in the United States and whose parents were from Japan, or Issei, first generation Japanese immigrants, had been relocated to various internment camps around the country, as per Executive Order 9066 signed by President Roosevelt.
Now, in April 1943, Yuki, his mother, younger brother Mick, and sisters Kay and May have all been living in the Central Utah Relocation Center, also known as Topaz. In December 1941, right after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, high school student Yuki Nakahara witnessed his father, a California strawberry farmer, being arrested by the FBI as a Japanese spy and them tell his mother she is now an enemy alien.
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