Uniformly Undeserved

Guilty of only looking like the enemy, the Japanese American community was sucked into uniformly undeserved treatment at the hands of their government after December 7, 1941. Eiji Takara was an American-born person of Okinawan/Japanese descent who had been sent back to Japan in the 1930s to be educated and became what was known as Kibei. Despite the intense suspicions about his loyalty to America, he was recruited by the Military Intelligence Service to help translate and analyze intercepted Japanese military communications. He more than proved his loyalty and worth by assisting in the successful interception and killing of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and the famous "Marianas Turkey shoot".

His best friend and "cousin" Saburo Jahana enlisted in the Army to extricate himself from the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center and served in the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team. He fought in the famed rescue of the "Lost Battalion" operation in France and lost an arm in the process.

The experiences of Eiji and Saburo and their families serve as powerful proof that Americanism is not a matter of creed or race but of the heart.