When bombs rained down on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japanese American college students were among the many young men enrolled in ROTC and immediately called upon to defend the Hawaiian islands against invasion. In a few weeks, however, the military government questioned their loyalty and disarmed them. In No Sword to Bury, Franklin Odo places the largely untold story of the wartime experience of these young men in the context of the community created by their immigrant families and its relationship to the larger, white-dominated society. At the heart of the book are vivid oral histories that recall their service on the home front in the Varsity Victory Volunteers, a non-military group dedicated to public works, as well as in the segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Illuminating a critical moment in ethnic identity formation among this first generation of Americans of Japanese descent (the nisei), Odo shows how the war-time service and the post-war success of these men contributed to the simplistic view of Japanese Americans as a model minority in Hawai'i.

The story of another "Band of Brothers"

About the Author
Franklin S. Odo is Director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program and editor of The Columbia Documentary History of the Asian American Experience.

Reviews
"Franklin Odo has captured with much warmth and poignancy, the emotions of men who, though abandoned by their country, loved this country and proved it by repeatedly standing in harm's way to defend it."-Senator Daniel K. Inouye (D, HI) "No Sword to Bury is a fascinating study of an often overlooked part of the story of Americans of Japanese ancestry in the World War II era. The Japanese American population of Hawai'i navigated its way through one of the most dangerous and transformational periods in U.S. history. Franklin Odo's use of personal stories of the men and women who made that journey reveals the choices that were made, the strategies that were used, and the lessons we all can draw from them."-The Hon. Norman Y. Mineta "One of the strengths of No Sword to Bury is Odo's care in presenting a more layered, nuanced study of Japanese Americans and their role in Hawaiian history. What emerges is a portrait of a lively, diverse group of men who had mixed motives and feelings of what they did during the course of their lives."-International Examiner "No Sword to Bury is a masterful contribution based on years of painstaking research. In fact, there is nothing quite like it written about the Japanese American experience. Franklin Odo presents a detailed history of the Varsity Victory Volunteers in the larger context of Hawai'i before and during World War II. He does an excellent job of marshalling data from the extant literature, rare archival sources, and most importantly, a plethora of original oral history interviews. The voices and biographies of key VVV members and the public figures in Hawai'i who supported their endeavors lie at the core of Odo's work. Captivating and informative, No Sword to Bury demonstrates the multicultural dynamics that have been so central in the formation of our 50th state."-Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Riverside "[A] significant addition ot the literature in western U.S. history...a fine book, [it] promises to be an important work for years to come."-History: Reviews of New Books "By drawing on oral records and archival materials, Odo provides a rich and detailed social history of the VVV members. He not only situates them in the racial dynamics of prewar and wartime Hawai'i, but also successfully allows them to tell their individual stories."-Choice "The story is well told and carefully documented."-SAGE Race Relations Abstract "...a deep and detailed look at an articulate and important group." The book was described as being "a good addition to the literature on Asian America, on WW II's transformation of American life, and on Hawai'I..."-Biography: An Interdisciplinary Journal



Book Information
ISBN 9781592132706
Author Franklin Odo
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Temple University Press,U.S.
Publisher Temple University Press,U.S.
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 25mm