Beyond Barbed Wire
Review
An excellent historical video on the role of the Nisei in World War II, with numerous interviews and lots of historical footage.
Synopsis
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The film starts off talking to the daughter of one of the members of the 442nd.
One of the actual members of the 442nd.
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There's a lot of talk about family honor and fighting for the US.
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FDR's address to the Congress.
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The film then talks about the internment camps.
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The video talks about differences between the Hawaiian Japanese-Americans and those that lived on the mainland US.
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Another interviewee talks about how the US military did not want any Japanese-American troops, and how the ones from Hawaii were shipped to Wisconsin.
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Most of the Japanese-American troops ended up fighting in Italy where they established an incredible record of accomplishments and bravery. They also suffered severe casualties.
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The people being interviewed talk about the differences between the mainland Nisei and the Hawaiian Nisei.
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One of the interviewers says that the Hawaiian-born Nisei would sometimes get money from their parents since their parents were still working; they weren't put into internment camps like those of the mainland Nisei.
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There's an incredible story of how two of the members, one a Nisei and the other of Korean ancestry, went on an incredibly dangerous mission to capture a Nazi prisoner-of-war for intel purposes.
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The Nisei soldiers had made it possible for the army to drive out the Nazis. The could have entered Rome first, but were told to wait and let the white soldiers enter first.
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The 100th group had suffered over 50% casualties before they were joined by the 442nd.
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One of the tasks they had was guarding German POWs, some 80,000 of them. The guard towers used to watch over them were the same kind as was used to watch over the Issei and the Nisei in the internment camps in the US.
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There's more discussion of the internment process.
The interviewees says that the conditions changed for the 442nd in France since they were under the command of a man who was not as concerned about them as the ones had been in Italy. They were even lied to about how many Germans they were going up against. The General in command of the area even made sure that the 442nd did not get credit for liberating the city.
The video then talks about the Nisei in the Pacific in the Military Intelligence Service. One of the things they did was to broadcast over loud speakers in Japanese, trying to get civilians and soldiers to surrender. They also translated captured documents and interrogated prisoners.
In order to rescue around 200 Texans of the “Lost Battalion”, the 442nd suffered around 800 casualties. It is possible that the General in charge of everything was discriminating against the Nisei in the battles of the area.
A newsreel of the time showing the 442nd returning to the US.
Truman addresses them and notes they fought both the enemy and prejudice and won.
Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page
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