Ben Kuroki and Ed Wakayama: Comparative Study

8/14/2019 Ben Kuroki and Ed Wakayama: Comparative Study

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A Comparative Study ofBiographies: Ben Kurokiand Edgar Wakayama, War

Veterans

BISTA KrishnaFENG Shu


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Ben Kuroki: Shame, Honor, andDuty


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Ben Kuroki: Early Life

Born on May 16, 1917 in Nebraska, U.S. toJapanese-American immigrants

Attended Hershey High School & became

Vice-President of his senior classGraduated from high school in 1936 at the

age of 19

Father encouraged to enlist in the U.S.Military in 1941


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Ben Kuroki: Military Career

1940 Sept: 3,500Nisei drafted to thewar

operation

1942 Jan: Firstmilitary training at

Sheppard Field,Texas

1942 Aug: Assigned tothe 93rdBombardment Group


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Historical Facts

1868The 14th Amendment of citizenship inthe U.S. Constitution

1870 Asians or "aliens ineligible for

citizenship (Congress), discriminationagainst the Nssei

1890The first Japanese immigrants arrive inthe U.S.

1924 Immigration Act -"ineligible tocitizenship

1930Japanese American Citizens

League(JACL) Nisei can belong.


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In the aftermath of PearlHarbor

1941 August JACL appointsMike Masaoka as its

national spokesman.

December 7 The Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor

Mike Masaoka is picked upby the FBI in Nebraska.

The FBI arrests 1,300 Nsseileaders identified as

dangerous enemy aliens.


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Historical Facts: Contd

1942 Jan 5 All Nisei draft reclassified ormade aliens ineligible . Assigned menialduties.

Feb 19 : President Roosevelt signedExecutive Order (forced exclusion on thebasis of race)

March through August: On the WestCoast, more than110,000 Japanese

Americans are expelled from their homes


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In 1942

June 6 The Battle of Midway: the U.S. Navysinks four of the aircraft carriers that

attacked Pearl Harbor. (developed cold

relation)Mid-summer Heart Mountain, Wyoming &9 other American-style concentrationcamps enclosed with barbed wire

December 6 Rioters at Manzanar seekout JACL leaders. The camp policestation shoot into the crowd, killing two

and wounding nine.


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The War- Same & Guilt


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Kuroki was

Assigned to the 93rdBombardment Group inFlorida . told that Japanese-Americans would notserve overseas. a clerk for the Eighth

Air Force at a base inEngland in 1942. was sent to gunneryschool & became a tail

gunner on a B-24


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When Ben was in mission

B-24 crashed & landed inSpanish Morocco and wascaptured by Spanishauthorities

participated in OperationTidal Wave, Romania (Aug1, 1943)

flew 30 combat missions inthe European theater

flew 5 more missions for hisbrother Fred

Injured in the battle andsent back to home in

Nebraska in 1944


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Kuroki

During rest & recovery,visited Japanese Americaninternment camps in orderto encourage able-bodiedmales to enlist in the U.S.

military

joined the crew of a B-29Superfortress (Sad Sakiafter Kuroki) 20th U.S. Army

Air Force, based on TinianIsland

Kuroki participated inanother 28 bombing

missions over mainlandJapan


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Historical Facts Contd

1943February 1 The War Departmentchanges the Nisei's 4-C draft classificationto 1-A

February 3 the civilian agency takes the

same Army questionnaire, and compelsevery man and woman in camp to answerit.

August 1 Sgt. Ben Kuroki flies on bombingof

oil refineries at Ploesti, Rumania.

August 21 the first group of Nisei soldiers

to


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Ben Kuroki

1944 April 24 Sgt. Ben Kuroki starts week-long visit toHeartMountain to boost recruitment anddiscourage draft resistance.

June 26 The Nisei soldiers of the 442nd RCT and 100thBattalion first engage the enemy in Italy.

December 17 President Roosevelt ends the exclusion of

Japanese Americans from the West Coast, allowing JapaneseAmerica to go home.

December 18 U.S. Supreme Court rules in the Endo casethat

loyal citizens cannot be detained against their will.


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Advocacy efforts by BenKuroki

Encouraged fellow being to participate in thewar

Addressed tension between national security& civil liberty

spoke about the need for racial equality andagainst prejudice

engaged in a series of speaking toursdiscussing these issues

Kuroki stated, "I had to fight like hell for the

right to fight for my own country".


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Inequalities he witnessed

4000 Japanese descents were deniedacademic admittance

Japanese American resided outside the states

of California, Oregon and Washington were notsubject to internment

They were victims of resentment, suspicionand discrimination in the war time

While in the Army Air Corps barracks at Tinian, henearly lost his life in July 1945 when a drunkensquadron member shouted "Tojo and Kuroki...damned

Japs" and stabbed him with an Army-issue knife.Master sergeant Russell Olsen of New York stepped

between the assailant and Kuroki, who was thentaken to the hospital for two dozen stitches to his


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Historical Facts: Contd

1945 August 11 Japan surrenders & World War IIformally ends.

1947 December 24 President Harry S. Trumanpardons all wartime draft resisters, including the Nisei

resisters from Heart Mountain and other camps.1988 August 10 President Ronald Reagan signs intolaw the Civil Liberties Act, which provides for aformal apology by the government and redress of

$20,000 to each survivor of incarceration underExecutive Order 9066. By this time nearly half ofthose who had been imprisoned had died.

In Japan, women were also given the right to vote for

the first time in its history after war.


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Ben Kuroki: Voices

"Not only did I go to war tofight the fascist ideas ofGermany and Japan but also tofight against a few Americanswho fail to understand theprinciples of freedom andequality upon which thiscountry wasfounded.(October 29, 1946)

During a nationwide radiobroadcast of American Town

Meeting of the Air onNovember 22nd 2005 , "I'vegot one more mission to go.

There is still the fight againstprejudice and race hatred. I

call it my 59th mission, and Ihave a hunch I won't be


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Ben Kuroki: Post War Life

met his future wife Shige Tanabe in Idaho,married August 9, 1946 at Pocatello.

attended the University of Nebraska,attaining a Bachelor's degree in journalism

in 1950.Started a journalistic venture in 1952 as a

reporter and editor, retired in 1984.

awarded the Distinguished Service Medal forhis impressive combat participation duringthe war and for overcoming numerousincidents of prejudice on August 12, 2005.

awarded an honorary Doctorate from theUniversity of Nebraska on August 13, 2005


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Awards

Distinguished FlyingCrossa total of threetimes

completed 58 missions in

air combat & rank ofTechnical Sergeant.

Air Medal with five oakleaf clusters

A "best editorial" awardfrom the MichiganPress Association

An honorary doctoratedegree (the University of

Nebraska)


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Video Links

The Japanese American Internmentof World War II (http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq

)Manzanar (http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=vP

)
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqmx2XhHxeYhttp://de.youtube.com/watch?v=vPBe1NqwqYQ&feature=relatedhttp://de.youtube.com/watch?v=vPBe1NqwqYQ&feature=relatedhttp://de.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqmx2XhHxeY


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Ed Wakayama

born in Manzanar on March22,1943

Schooling in Japan:Elementary to High School

Returned to the US in 1962 &entered Northeastern

University in Boston, MA

Drafter in 1967 after

graduation and servedduring the Vietnam War until1970

His biggest fear -history

repeating itself

Baby Wakayama with his

parents


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Manzanar: War RelocationCenter


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Life in Manzanar:

uncomfortable, cramped,dull.

internees lived in military-style barracks,

Privacy was a majorproblem,

Dust flew through thecracks in the woodenwalls.

the camps had no schools


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Manzanar National HistoricSite

"There were 10,000 people here;there are 10,000 stories to betold.Ed Wakayama tells,The United States was alsoat war with Germany and Italy;why werent GermanAmericans and ItalianAmericans imprisoned,too?The answer is simple . . .money and prejudice.


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the Manzanar CemetaryNow, Manzanar Pilgrimage


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At Manzanar RelocationCenter


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Ed Wakayamas father

was jailed for translating campmaterials into Japanese

forced to sign away his U.S. citizenship

at the point of a gunobliged to move back to Japan

lived in Hiroshima and all wiped out by

the atomic bomb


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Now Wakayama is

a decorated Armycolonel

reside in Richmond,VA 65,

educated atNortheasternUniversity

expert on Japaneseinternment and civilrights

a passionate

message forAmerica: Learn


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the events of 9/11, 2001

was working in the Pentagon not far fromwhere American Airlines Flight 77 hit, at

9:38.

went back into the burning building twice,leading and calling people out of the

smoky darkness to safety.

Wakayama stayed until 9 that night,

caring for those in shock.spent hours more answering dozens ofphone messages from worried family andfriends.


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Soldier's Medal from TomChristie

Col. J. Edgar Wakayama with

Army's highest for noncombatant heroism.


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Career and Education

His Career:Manager, Research for the DepartmentsDefense and Homeland SecurityProfessor at Medical College of Virginia

Richmond, VAClinical Laboratory Officer , A Biochemist andA Nuclear Medical Science OfficerColonel U.S. ArmyClinical Laboratory Officer U.S. Army

Education:bachelor, biology and medical technologymaster, clinical chemistryUniversity of Oregondoctorate, biochemistry,University of Nevada *
http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/CompanyDetail.aspx?CompanyID=24363736&cs=QFBc8LYFIhttp://www.zoominfo.com/Search/CompanyDetail.aspx?CompanyID=24363736&cs=QFBc8LYFI


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Now Ed Wakayama

Conducts researchat Georgia TechResearch Institute,

for the

departments ofDefense andHomelandSecurity.

visits schools totalk about the

Japaneseinternment.


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Comparison: Keroki &Wakayama

Born in the U.S. from AmericanJapanese parents

Both served in the U.S. military

Both faced the social discrimination andinjustices

Wakayama was a baby when Kuroki

was in aerial combatmentBoth are the best examples of successin life though they have high adversity


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Bibliography

Feldscher, Karen, "The Patriot - Colonel Ed Wakayama's Long

Road from Manzanar", Northeastern University Magazine(March 2004), 24-32.Edds, Kimberly "New Museum Revives Painful Memories forInternees", Washington Post, 26 April 2004, p. A03.Hymon Steve "Finally, Sharing Manzanar's Bitter Tale", LosAngeles Times, 25 April 2004, p. 1.

Manzanar National Historic Site web site, National ParkService. http://www.nps.gov/manz/.The War Relocation Camps of World War II: When Fear wasStronger than Justice, a National Park Service TeachingLesson.http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/89manzanar/8

9manzanar.htm.The news source for the Manzanar Committee Online,http://www.manzanarcommittee.org/.Twenty-one Asian American World War II Vets to Get Medal ofHonor. Department of Defense, News Items, May 19, 2000,http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2000/n05192000_20005

191.html.Hebert Bob "Stories From the Inside" New York Times


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Contd

Kral, E.A. (2006). "Profile: Ben Kuroki". Nebraska StateEducation Association. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.http://www.nsea.org/news/KurokiProfile.htm

Frank, Abe (2000). "Ben Kuroki". Conscience and theConstitution. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved on

2007-08-06.

"Ben Kuroki, American". Time. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.

"Nebraska WWII Hero Ben Kuroki to be Honored atPremiere of NET Television" (pdf). NET Nebraska (2007-06-28). Retrieved on 2007-08-07.

"Proud to be Ben Kuroki's kind of people", Journal Star(2007-08-02). Retrieved on 2007-08-06.

Nelson, K. Nebraskan hero Ben Kuroki meets with Bushhttp://www.nebraskalife.com/BenKuroki.asp


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Especial thanks to

Dr. Davidson, our Guru

And our classmates

The guest

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Ben Kuroki and Ed Wakayama: Comparative Study