Bridge to the Sun
The Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II
Buy the Book: Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Penguin Random House, IndieBound, KoboTitle: Bridge to the Sun
Published by: Knopf
Release Date: September 27, 2022
Pages: 480
ISBN13: 978-0525655824
OVERVIEW
One of the last, great untold stories of World War II, Bridge to the Sun by Bruce Henderson— #1 New York Times bestselling author and military historian—tells the saga of the Japanese American U.S. Army soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater, as their families back home in America were being rounded up and held in government internment camps. It is a gripping, true tale of courage, sacrifice and adventure. Gerald Yamada, President of the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA), wrote a personal and stirring Afterword.
Following Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military was desperate to find Americans who spoke Japanese to serve in the Pacific war. They soon turned to the Nisei—their families first U.S. citizens whose parents immigrated from Japan. Eager to prove their loyalty to America, several thousand Nisei—many of them volunteering from the internment camps where they were being held behind barbed wire—were selected by the Army for top-secret training, then rushed to the Pacific theater. Highly valued as expert translators and interrogators, these Japanese American soldiers operated in elite intelligence teams alongside Army infantrymen and Marines throughout the Pacific, from Iwo Jima to Burma, from the Solomons to Okinawa.
Bridge to the Sun reveals, in riveting detail, the harrowing and largely untold story of the Nisei and their major contributions in the Pacific war, through six Japanese American U.S. soldiers. After the war, many of these Nisei became translators and interrogators for war crime trials, and later helped to rebuild Japan as a modern democracy and a pivotal U.S. ally.
GALLERY
PRAISE
"Bruce Henderson’s brilliantly researched and superbly written book, “Bridge to the Sun: The Secret Role of the Japanese Americans who fought in the Pacific in World War II,” is filled with grace, courage, and patriotism.”
—Christian Science Monitor
"If Marvel Studios ever decides to make a film about real-life superheroes, it should seriously consider adapting Bruce Henderson's story of the Japanese American soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater during World War II."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"Epic saga of courage, heroism, patriotism."
—The Hawaii Herald
“Exceptional...Bruce Henderson enriches his sweeping overview of the Pacific campaign with intimate profiles . . . A stirring tribute to the courage and sacrifice of young men who exemplified ‘the true definition of patriotism.’”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Henderson brings a great deal of investigative acumen to his latest. He follows the stories of several Nisei—first-generation American citizens born in the United States whose parents were immigrants from Japan—to give personal depth to the bigger picture...A fascinating piece of history with threads of courage and poignancy, brought to life by an accomplished storyteller.”
—Kirkus
“In Bridge to the Sun, his clearly written tale of patriotism and resilience based on archival research and interviews, Bruce Henderson sketches the life stories of Japanese Americans who waged a war against racial prejudice at home and fascism abroad. Among the 31,000 Nisei (U.S.-born children of Japanese immigrants) who actively participated in World War II, Henderson emphasizes the often forgotten 3,000 who fought in the Pacific Theatre.”
—Library Journal
"Henderson weaves a saga of intrigue and emotion to bring this important story to light. A gripping history of Japanese Americans fighting in World War II."
—Military Families Magazine
"The long-overlooked role of Japanese Americans who fought against their anesctral land during the Second World War receives its due in this authoritive history."
—The New Yorker
"The stories of these Japanese American soldiers have long been lost in the mists of time. But no longer, thanks to this important work by Bruce Henderson, a New York Times bestselling author."
—Washington Independent Review of Books
"Henderson illuminates the little-known history of the Nisei recruited to fight for the U.S. military as soldiers and interpreters...He vividly captures the irony that while these heroes played a crucial role in the victory in the Pacific theater, their relatives faced hatred and incarceration in the U.S."
—The National Review
“Riveting! Bruce Henderson is a gifted storyteller. In Bridge to the Sun, he juxtaposes ethnic ancestry with patriotic loyalties to show how Japanese American soldiers fought discrimination and prejudice to help win World War II in the Pacific. Having made a PBS documentary about the Military Intelligence Service, I appreciate how meticulously Henderson researched this complicated and intricate story, skillfully weaving together the battles these young men fought on and off the field, and ultimately triumphing despite the poignant, human cost of war. A dramatic saga not to be missed for the parallels it draws today.”
—gayle k. yamada, director/writer, Uncommon Courage: Patriotism and Civil Liberties
“A revelatory American story about the Japanese American soldiers who served in the Military Intelligence Service in the Pacific during World War II. Their very cultural background which made so many Americans suspicious and led to the incarceration of 110,000 ethnic Japanese—most of them U.S. citizens—became an invaluable American military asset. Henderson’s focus on six MIS Nisei allows him to tell their narratives in vivid, well-researched detail and his skills as a narrator make this book both engaging and informative. Amid our present anti-immigrant xenophobia, this book provides a necessary lesson: Immigrants and diversity are our strength and are central to our history.”
—David Mura, author of Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei, and co-producer/writer of the PBS documentary, Armed With Language
“Bridge to the Sun tells a big story through six men who brought the skills of military intelligence learned at Camp Savage and Fort Snelling to the Pacific theater -- including that of Grant Hirabayashi, who fought with Merrill's Marauders in Burma, while at home his cousin Gordon fought the race-based curfew and mass removal all the way to the Supreme Court. Meticulously researched and expertly told, Bridge to the Sun is a significant addition to the epic narrative of Japanese American history.”
—Frank Abe, co-author of We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration
“Bridge to the Sun tells the unforgettable true story of Japanese American troops who defended our nation while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II—even as their families were being imprisoned in American internment camps back home. This book honors their courage and sacrifices, and it highlights the lesser-known service of the Japanese Americans who helped save countless American lives as part of the Army’s Military Intelligence Service while fighting on two fronts: against the Japanese overseas and against racial prejudice here at home.”
—Senator Tammy Duckworth
“Bruce Henderson has given us another vivid and deeply researched story, this time about courageous Japanese American soldiers who used their linguistic skills to help defeat Imperial Japan in WWII, and build a better world. With Japanese faces but American hearts, the Nisei proved their loyalty again and again on distant battlefields. All Americans owe them a great debt.”
—James C. McNaughton, author of Nisei Linguists
“Bruce Henderson, brilliant at unearthing little-known, yet important, stories, does it again with Bridge to the Sun, this time shining a light on Japanese Americans who nobly served their nation in a war with their ancestral homeland, Japan. In focusing on a handful of Nisei soldiers, Henderson personalizes the war and triumphs in making their struggles more evident. Readers will be moved by the courageous tales of these individuals who fought with such skill for the land of their birth, America.”
—John Wukovits, author of Tin Can Titans
“Bruce Henderson’s Bridge to the Sun poignantly reveals the powerful stories of Japanese American soldiers who volunteered to serve with the U.S. Military Intelligence Service in the Pacific Theater during WWII while many of their families were incarcerated in America’s concentration camps. A must read for anyone wanting to understand the depth and sacrifices these soldiers made to prove their loyalty to the United States.”
—Lucy Ostrander, coproducer, Proof of Loyalty and Honor & Sacrifice
“The Japanese American story, as was written in the 1988 federal law HR 442, declares we were and are loyal citizens of this country, deserving of an apology and redress for the unjust actions of our government during WW II. Yet what Bruce Henderson reveals in Bridge to the Sun is the story of those who were loyal to our common humanity—that of Nisei soldiers recruited into the secret Military Intelligence Service to serve America in the Pacific theater. Famed for crucial assistance through tough campaigns in Burma, the South Pacific, and Okinawa, these men demonstrated skills not only as interpreters and interrogators, but as compassionate bridges between the American and Japanese societies that raised them, instrumental in saving both American and Japanese lives. This remarkable work chronicles a history that has long been classified and unknown—not even to the descendants of these exceptional men. I wept to read it, each word a monument to unageing heroism, each sentence a hymn to an everlasting dignity that, even in a time of war, countered racial hate with human sympathy. Me ke aloha…”
—Garrett Hongo, author of The Perfect Sound
