Tears of Honor

James A. Ardaiz

Description

• Advance reader copies
• Targeted endorsements
• Targeted reviews in book trade publications
• Targeted reviews in publications and websites covering historical fiction, military fiction, World War II, and Japanese American and Asian American interest
  Targeted reviews in major newspapers
• Targeted reviews and regional coverage in publications based in California and the San Joaquin Valley
• Targeted television, radio, and podcast interviews
• Regional author tour in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno, and Bakersfield (if conditions permit)
• Social media promotion

Key selling points:

• A powerful book for the West Coast market: Memories of the Japanese American internments are still fresh in California, and this novel of an ordinary California family's experiences will have great appeal in California and the Pacific states.
• A World War II novel for the modern era: As the public is turning away from whitewashed, mythologized American history, readers will welcome a WWII novel that critically questions the myth of "the good war."
• Incredibly well-researched novel for true military history aficionados: The author put years of meticulous historical research into this book, which features highly authentic combat scenes and historical characters' actual dialogue recreated from original sources.

Audience:

• Historical fiction readers
• Military fiction readers
• Readers interested in the Japanese American experience

The Germans began to lay fire down on the hill they were about to ascend. Sammy moved forward, following Yuki and Tug. The sound was overwhelming. Screeching artillery mixed with the pinging sound of ricochets off rocky outcroppings. Sammy saw dirt spray upward as bullets hit the ground in front of him. The ripping sound of machine gun slugs tore the air. He saw the muzzle flash of a machine gun ahead of him. He crawled toward it and reached for a grenade attached to his web gear. He felt the sharp gravel of the hill scraping through his fatigues. He pulled the pin in the grenade, counting before he threw. He didn’t lob it like he had been taught. He threw it like a straight throw from shortstop to first base, hitting the dirt berm in front of the machine gun nest. He watched the grenade bounce up and explode, the brief flash covered by smoke and dirt blowing upward. The gun silenced for a moment and he pushed forward.

For some reason the sharply defined battle sound was gone now. All he heard was a muffled roaring noise. All he could see was the machine gun nest. He stuck his head up to get a better view and felt his head slammed into the ground from behind. He turned his face to the side and saw Yuki moving his lips. It took a moment to separate the sound coming out of Yuki’s mouth from the roar of the battle. “Keep your goddamn head down, Miyaki. Keep moving.”

Sujets

• U.S. Army
• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Military history
• Japanese American
• ComBat
• Young-Oak Kim
• 442nd Infantry Regiment (United States)
• Lost Battalion
• Korean American
• Japanese internment
• European Theater of Operations United States Army
• Asian American
• World War II
• United States Army
• Italy
• My Last Duchess
• Manzanar
• 442e Regimental Combat Team
• European Theater of Operations
• Armée de terre des États-Unis
• HIStory
• Seconde Guerre mondiale
• France

Informations

• Publié par: Linden Publishing
• Date de parution: 16 février 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781610353793
• Langue: English

Extrait

TEARS OF HONOR
James A. Ardaiz

Pace Press Fresno, California
Tears of Honor
Copyright 2021 by James A. Ardaiz. All rights reserved.
Published by Pace Press
An imprint of Linden Publishing
2006 South Mary Street, Fresno, California 93721
[phone] / [phone]
PacePress.com
Pace Press and Colophon are trademarks of Linden Publishing, Inc.
Cover design by Tanja Prokop, www.bookcoverworld.com
Book design by Andrea Reider
ISBN 978-1-61035-900-9
135798642
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.
This is a work of fiction. Except for direct quotes from historical personages, the names, places, characters, and incidents in this book are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ardaiz, James A., author.
Title: Tears of honor / James A. Ardaiz.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020049164 ISBN 9781610359009 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1939-1945--Participation, Japanese American--Fiction. Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945--Fiction. GSAFD: Historical fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3601.R415 T43 2021 DDC 813/.6--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020049164
TO THE READER
A number of years ago I was asked to give a speech about the American judiciary, of which I have been privileged to be a part. My focus was on the failures of the American judiciary, when the values of our laws have been severely tested by unpopular issues. One case I discussed was Korematsu v. United States , 323 U.S. 214 (1944), the United States Supreme Court decision permitting the detention of Japanese Americans during World War II, and particularly the dissent of Associate Justice Robert Jackson expressing his rejection of the Court s actions as unconstitutional. If anyone has an interest in what it means to be a judge, that dissent expresses it. It was the Court s conservatives who expressed outrage at what I consider to be one of the American judicial system s great failures to stand up to a monumental wrong. When confronted with that obligation, it failed.
After giving the speech, I began to read about the Korematsu case s background and the history of Executive Order 9066, by which President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the forced relocations. What caught my attention consistently were the references to the young Japanese men who left the relocation camps to fight in Europe, leaving behind parents and loved ones in concentration camps. Why would they do that?
I set out to find the answer to that question. This book is the result. In addition to several years reading numerous sourcebooks, it took me five years to write this novel. While I consulted many books and documents, my primary sources for the war were interviews with men who participated in the specific events described, such as Colonel Young Oak Kim, Captain Martin Higgins, and Private First Class Al Tortolano. I was privileged to speak to many people who had been inside the relocation camps, as well as people who had seen it happen from the outside. As would be expected, most were quite elderly, but their memories were clear. Listening to them, I knew this was an American story that had never been told from the different perspectives of the many individuals whose actions so deeply affected each other.
I decided to tell this story from three of those perspectives: the people relocated to guarded camps, far from their homes; the government that ordered that relocation; and the men who fought in the 100/442nd Regimental Combat Team-the most decorated, the most wounded, and the fiercest fighting unit of World War II.
It was very difficult to weave the stories together. There is so much history and there are so many individual stories. I tried to create representative characters, and those characters are composites. The Miyaki, Shiraga, and Machado families are fictional. But I didn t create fictitious incidents. I placed my characters within the events of history.
In addition to sticking to the facts, I tried to capture the personality of a time I did not live through. So much changes and yet, so much stays the same. But how people talked and described their experience in those days is very different from today.
As for the actual men and women who helped orchestrate these events, I used their names. Because I chose to do this, I was very careful with their words. It was startling to find out that much of what was said by government officials with respect to the relocation was recorded and transcribed. I had access to those transcriptions through the efforts of historians who spent what, I know, were countless hours cataloging historical moments.
I found it unnecessary to embellish the actual words to provide context and a sense of history. The words came from the men and women to whom they are attributed, including Earl Warren, later Governor of the State of California and, finally, Chief Justice of the United States.
The words attributed to President Roosevelt and to the functionaries, aides, and generals surrounding him are, with minor nonsubstantive exceptions for context, their words. In order to assure the reader that these are actual quotes, the quotes are preceded by an asterisk (*). To me, this device was the least disruptive method to signal actual quotes. It s my belief that the actual words allow readers to make their own judgments.
To the extent statements are attributed to actual historical characters, but not preceded by an asterisk, the statements are consistent with the context and historical documentation of what occurred. I did edit the asterisked quotes to make them read more smoothly, but I made every effort to ensure that nothing was taken out of context, or presented in a misleading light.
I make no judgments about the members of our government who orchestrated the relocations. Their words are portrayed accurately, as are their actions. Some were well-meaning, and some were not. What surprised me was who some of the people were who demanded and supported the relocations, and how cynical their motivations were.
Many people given the responsibility of governance did wrong even though they believed it was right, and many people did right and were treated as if they did wrong. It s easy to say what you might have done when you can look back at history. I don t think it s quite so easy when you are confronted with history-making events.
All government documents referred to or quoted are actual documents. They were gleaned from the National Archives, academic compilations, and resources at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University. While there are numerous selected references to documents and transcribed statements related to the relocations, the most comprehensive is the nine-volume work of Roger Daniels, American Concentration Camps . This compilation of documents includes many transcribed statements from historical figures involved in the relocation, and was a primary source to ensure accurate quotations. Mr. Daniels meticulous attention to the relocation s history is invaluable, as are his other detailed academic works about the relocation. There are also many other documents obtained by historians and utilized in subsequent research material. I have included the many primary reference materials in the Source Materials list at the end of this book.
I was also allowed access to the archives of the Go for Broke Foundation, which graciously permitted me to review documentation and recorded interviews with members of the 100/442nd Regimental Combat Team preserving their experiences, although almost all of them have passed on. Those interviews included people who were detained in the camps created for the relocations, and I was privileged to speak to many of them, although for the sake of their privacy I refrain from listing their names here.
It seems common that men and women who have lived through the ravages of war as soldiers do not like to talk about it. I had the privilege of being allowed inside that circle of warriors who fought and bled for this country, while their parents worried and grieved behind walls of wire. I also had the privilege of individual detainees providing me with private recollections, which I wove into this book as part of the composite story.
Many of the events described in Tears of Honor seem unreal. They actually happened. The combat descriptions were taken from National Archives battle reports, interviews, and other well-documented resources. The bayonet banzai charge described in this book actually occurred. It was, to the best understanding of historians, the only banzai charge ever made by Americans.
The description of the Lost Texas Battalion s experiences was gathered through personal interviews with the surviving commanding officer, Marty Higgins, and with Al Tortolano, a surviving member of the Alamo Regiment, and from confirmation by independent source documents. The location of the honors ceremony was altered to provide literary continuity.
Last, but not least, a major character in this book, Colonel Young Oak Kim, was a real person. His account was gathered during six months of interviews. The events in which he is portrayed as a participant were described by him and confirmed by independent source documents, including daily battle reports.
The author has been privileged to know many brave men. Young Oak Kim s exploits are the stuff of legend. They really happened. He was the bravest of them all. The author was honored to attend his funeral. I watched officers from three countries stand and salute, and I watched the long line of men from the 100/442nd give him one last measure of r