Only What We Could Carry

On this day in 1941, Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor, ultimately killing 2, 390 Americans and wounding 1,178. Shortly after, the United States entered WWII and thousands of Japanese Americans were relocated to internment camps throughout the country. Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese Internment Experience (edited by Lawson Fusao Inada) is a fascinating compilation of narratives, poetry, diary entries, letters, news accounts, and declarations that illustrates what life was like for these American citizens during their imprisonment. It shames me to say that I wasn't even aware that this had taken place until about 5 years ago. This was not something I was taught in school, or even in college, and while I read these narratives, I had to remind myself that I wasn't reading fiction. This happened, in my country-the land of the free, not so very long ago. Although all of the stories are touching, one that particularly affected me was the story of an all-Japanese American battalion that was one of the first to liberate the prisoners of Dachau, and many years later, a Japanese American soldier was reunited with one of the men he rescued from Dachau. A truly touching, frightening, eye-opening look at a part of history that we don't often hear about.