Follow the men who fought America's first battle in World War II--their will, their resolve, the odds against them, their surrender, the Death March, their imprisonment, and the few who escaped to continue the fight.After the destruction of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. Army on Bataan was forced to surrender to the Japanese and70,000 American and Filipino soldiers became Prisoners of War. Over the next three years, almost two-thirds of them would die in Japanese custody. However, a few hundred Americans refused to surrender, evaded the Japanese Army, and slipped into the jungle to hide and await the return of General MacArthur. Some joined Filipino guerrilla bands hoping to help the war effort during the months they would wait. But months turned into years, and there was no sign of General MacArthur or his army. At home in the United States their families waited for them, not knowing if their men were dead or alive. Bataan Diary is the remarkable true chronicle of the American prisoners, evaders and guerrillas, trapped in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation.

THIS STUDY is an assessment of one major aspect of the adjustment of Japanese Americans to the series of events comprising their removal from the communities of the Pacific Coast early in World War II, their sequestration in temporary centers under governmental control, and their eventual release. It is in a sense an “impact” study in that attention is directed toward the effects administrative policies had on family groups and the resources these groups commanded to adapt to and ameliorate the conditions imposed upon them. The preoccupation of the present study is easily justified. The importance of the family, in Japan as well as in the organization of the Japanese communities in the United States, makes this aspect of the social organization of the minority group a major concern for a rounded understanding of the evacuation. The relevance of the family as the unit of study is also indicated by the administrative policy which explicitly directed that family units be maintained in the processing of the population through the evacuation and relocation programs.

Now in paperback, a bestselling memoir of a family on the home front during World War II World War II was coming to a close in Europe and Richard Haney was only four years old when the telegram arrived at his family's home in Janesville, Wisconsin. That moment, when Haney learned of his father's death in the final months of fighting, changed his and his mother's lives forever. In this powerful book, Haney explores the impact of war on an American family. He skillfully weaves together those memories with his parents' wartime letters and his mother's recollections to create a unique blend of history and memoir. Through his father's letters he reveals the war's effect on a man who fought in the Battle of the Bulge with the 17th Airborne but wanted nothing more than to return home. Haney illuminates life on the home front in small-town America as well, describing how profoundly the war changed such communities. With When Is Daddy Coming Home?, Richard Haney makes an exceptional contribution to the literature on the Greatest Generation—one that is both devastatingly personal and representative of what families all over America endured during that testing time.

On May 19, 1942, a U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico stalked its prey fifty miles from New Orleans. Captained by twenty nine-year-old Iron Cross and King's Cross recipient Erich Wurdemann, the submarine set its sights on the freighter Heredia with sixty-two souls on board. Most aboard were merchant seamen, but there were also a handful of civilians, including the Downs family: Ray and Ina, and their two children, eight-year-old Sonny and eleven-year-old Lucille. Fast asleep in their berths, the Downs family had no idea that two torpedoes were heading their way. When the ship exploded, chaos ensued—and each family member had to find their own path to survival. Including original, unpublished material from Commander Wurdemann’s war diary, the story provides balance and perspective by chronicling the daring mission of the U-boat—and its commander’s decision-making—in the Gulf of Mexico. An inspiring historical narrative, So Close to Home tells the story of the Downs family as they struggle against sharks, hypothermia, drowning, and dehydration in their effort to survive the aftermath of this deadly attack off the American coast.

Meticulously researched and beautifully written, the true story of a Japanese American family that found itself on opposite sides during World War II—an epic tale of family, separation, divided loyalties, love, reconciliation, loss, and redemption—and a riveting chronicle of U.S.–Japan relations and the Japanese experience in America After their father’s death, Harry, Frank, and Pierce Fukuhara—all born and raised in the Pacific Northwest—moved to Hiroshima, their mother’s ancestral home. Eager to go back to America, Harry returned in the late 1930s. Then came Pearl Harbor. Harry was sent to an internment camp until a call came for Japanese translators and he dutifully volunteered to serve his country. Back in Hiroshima, his brothers Frank and Pierce became soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army. As the war raged on, Harry, one of the finest bilingual interpreters in the United States Army, island-hopped across the Pacific, moving ever closer to the enemy—and to his younger brothers. But before the Fukuharas would have to face each other in battle, the U.S. detonated the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, gravely injuring tens of thousands of civilians, including members of their family. Alternating between the American and Japanese perspectives, Midnight in Broad Daylight captures the uncertainty and intensity of those charged with the fighting as well as the deteriorating home front of Hiroshima—as never told before in English—and provides a fresh look at the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Intimate and evocative, it is an indelible portrait of a resilient family, a scathing examination of racism and xenophobia, an homage to the tremendous Japanese American contribution to the American war effort, and an invaluable addition to the historical record of this extraordinary time.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1973.

An American Family in World War II is the moving story of Cpt. Ralph Minker and his family during this tumultuous time in American history. Captain Minker, a pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps 447th Bomb Group, 409th Squadron, flew 37 combat missions. This book contains correspondence with his parents and sisters that describe his life during WWII. This book addresses issues of the home front with commentary from the editors.