The first and only comprehensive biography of unjustly forgotten war hero Ben Kuroki, a Japanese American farm boy from Nebraska who flew fifty-eight combat missions during World War II while battling racism, injustice, and prejudice on the home front.
WINNER OF THE NEBRASKA BOOK AWARD
With a foreword by Naomi Ostwald Kawamura of Densho. Introduction by William Fujioka of JANM. Afterword by Jonathan Eig.
Ben Kuroki was a 24-year-old Japanese American farm boy whose heritage was never a problem in remote Nebraska—until Pearl Harbor. Among the millions of Americans who flocked to military stations to enlist, Ben wanted to avenge the attack, reclaim his family honor, and prove his patriotism. But as anti-Japanese sentiment soared, Ben had to fight to be allowed to fight for America. And fight he did.
As a gunner on Army Air Forces bombers, Ben flew 58 missions spanning Europe, North America, and the Pacific, including the climactic B-29 firebombing campaign against Japan that culminated in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In between his harrowing combat tours, he challenged FDR’s shameful incarceration of more than a 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry in America. In the euphoric wake of America’s victory, the decorated war hero used his national platform to carry out what he called his “fifty-ninth mission,” urging his fellow Americans to do more to eliminate bigotry and racism at home.
Ben’s extraordinary story is a quintessentially American one of patriotism, principle, perseverance, and courage. It’s about being in the vanguard of history, the bonding of a band of brothers united in a just cause, a timeless and unflinching account of racial bigotry, and one man’s transcendent sense of belonging—in war, in peace, abroad, and at home.
