Most Honorable Son: A Forgotten Hero’s Fight Against Fascism and Hate During World War II
$17.70
by Gregg Jones
The first comprehensive biography of unjustly forgotten war hero Ben Kuroki, a Japanese American farm boy from Nebraska who flew 58 combat missions, fighting the Axis Powers during World War II and battled racism, injustice, and prejudice on the home front. WINNER OF THE NEBRASKA BOOK AWARD 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 three combat theaters: Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific, including the climactic B-29 firebombing campaign against Japan that culminated with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He flew some of the war’s boldest and bloodiest air missions and lived to tell about it. In between his tours in Europe and the Pacific, he challenged FDR’s shameful incarceration of more than one hundred thousand people of Japanese ancestry in America, and he would be credited by some with setting in motion the debate that reversed a grave national dishonor. In the euphoric wake of America’s victory, the decorated war hero used his national platform to carry out what he called his “59th mission,” urging his fellow Americans to do more to eliminate bigotry and racism at home. Told in full for the first time, and long overdue, 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. Praise for Most Honorable Son: A Forgotten Hero’s Fight Against Fascism and Hate During World War II “In Most Honorable Son , journalist-turned-historian Gregg Jones introduces readers to one of the most courageous airmen of World War II. A Japanese American gunner, Ben Kuroki not only flew a staggering fifty-eight combat missions over three continents in World War II, but also battled the racism and resentment so common on the home front at that time. In Jones’s talented hands, readers will accompany Ben from the Nebraska farm fields to the heavens over North Africa, Europe, and Japan with pit stops in a Spanish prison and the internment camps in Wyoming and Idaho. This is an amazing story—and amazingly well told. Superbly researched, fast-paced, and heartfelt, this is narrative history at its finest.” —James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Black Snow and Rampage “ Most Honorable Son is a WWII roller coaster of patriotism, perseverance, duty, dedication, and the bravery of bomber gunner Ben Kuroki—made more powerful by the hatred he endured at home as a Japanese American, despite completing fifty-eight missions against Germany and Japan. He never wavered, becoming a nationally known postwar opponent of prejudice and bigotry. An inspirational read that showcases the Greatest Generation’s greatest legacy.” —Scott McGaugh, New York Times bestselling author of Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin: The Glider Pilots of World War II “Ben Kuroki was championed as the first Nisei war hero of World War II, and this boy from Nebraska has long deserved a full-length biography. Gregg Jones has come through with a meticulously researched and compelling story that vividly captures the man behind the myth.” —Frank Abe, filmmaker, Conscience and the Constitution “There were very few Japanese Americans who served in the US Army Air Forces during World War II. But there was one who made the headlines back then. Gregg Jones meticulously recounts Ben Kuroki’s amazing, death-defying journey through World War II. But this is not just about the first Japanese American war hero—it’s about the other B-24 and B-29 fliers over Europe and the Pacific from the first raids against the Germans in France to firebombings of the major cities of Japan and the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Along this journey we get a very different perspective of the Japanese American experience during the war from Kuroki, finding himself lauded by many though despised by some he thought were his own people.” —Bill Kubota, documentary filmmaker, Most Honorable Son , PBS, 2007 “This story has it all: soaring drama, tragedy, and an unforgettable hero who struggles against foreign enemies and domestic prejudice. Most Honorable Son— prodigiously researched and expertly crafted—is an unforgettable work of history.” — Jonathan Eig, National Book Award long-list finalist and
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 three combat theaters: Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific, including the climactic B-29 firebombing campaign against Japan that culminated with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He flew some of the war’s boldest and bloodiest air missions and lived to tell about it. In between his tours in Europe and the Pacific, he challenged FDR’s shameful incarceration of more than one hundred thousand people of Japanese ancestry in America, and he would be credited by some with setting in motion the debate that reversed a grave national dishonor. In the euphoric wake of America’s victory, the decorated war hero used his national platform to carry out what he called his “59th mission,” urging his fellow Americans to do more to eliminate bigotry and racism at home. Told in full for the first time, and long overdue, 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. Praise for Most Honorable Son: A Forgotten Hero’s Fight Against Fascism and Hate During World War II “In Most Honorable Son , journalist-turned-historian Gregg Jones introduces readers to one of the most courageous airmen of World War II. A Japanese American gunner, Ben Kuroki not only flew a staggering fifty-eight combat missions over three continents in World War II, but also battled the racism and resentment so common on the home front at that time. In Jones’s talented hands, readers will accompany Ben from the Nebraska farm fields to the heavens over North Africa, Europe, and Japan with pit stops in a Spanish prison and the internment camps in Wyoming and Idaho. This is an amazing story—and amazingly well told. Superbly researched, fast-paced, and heartfelt, this is narrative history at its finest.” —James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Black Snow and Rampage “ Most Honorable Son is a WWII roller coaster of patriotism, perseverance, duty, dedication, and the bravery of bomber gunner Ben Kuroki—made more powerful by the hatred he endured at home as a Japanese American, despite completing fifty-eight missions against Germany and Japan. He never wavered, becoming a nationally known postwar opponent of prejudice and bigotry. An inspirational read that showcases the Greatest Generation’s greatest legacy.” —Scott McGaugh, New York Times bestselling author of Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin: The Glider Pilots of World War II “Ben Kuroki was championed as the first Nisei war hero of World War II, and this boy from Nebraska has long deserved a full-length biography. Gregg Jones has come through with a meticulously researched and compelling story that vividly captures the man behind the myth.” —Frank Abe, filmmaker, Conscience and the Constitution “There were very few Japanese Americans who served in the US Army Air Forces during World War II. But there was one who made the headlines back then. Gregg Jones meticulously recounts Ben Kuroki’s amazing, death-defying journey through World War II. But this is not just about the first Japanese American war hero—it’s about the other B-24 and B-29 fliers over Europe and the Pacific from the first raids against the Germans in France to firebombings of the major cities of Japan and the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Along this journey we get a very different perspective of the Japanese American experience during the war from Kuroki, finding himself lauded by many though despised by some he thought were his own people.” —Bill Kubota, documentary filmmaker, Most Honorable Son , PBS, 2007 “This story has it all: soaring drama, tragedy, and an unforgettable hero who struggles against foreign enemies and domestic prejudice. Most Honorable Son— prodigiously researched and expertly crafted—is an unforgettable work of history.” — Jonathan Eig, National Book Award long-list finalist and