This is a guest post by Bernice Ramirez. Bernice is working with the education team at the Library of Congress as part of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) Internship Program.
Like many immigrants to the United States, the earliest arrivals from Asia were motivated by a desire to fulfill their version of the American Dream. Often, these immigrants were met with a difficult reality in their new home. Asian Americans were not always embraced by locals and other immigrants, but they worked hard to earn their place in the history of the United States.
The sacrifices that Japanese Americans made during wartime stand as great examples of the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans. Two personal histories collected by the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress can help students examine the individual decisions that made these contributions possible.
American men from a wide range of backgrounds were drafted to fight in major wars, including World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War. Norman Saburo Ikari, an American of Japanese descent, was drafted to the Army shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In this firsthand narrative of the Pearl Harbor attack that changed his life, Ikari describes how, while completing basic training, he learned that his mother and siblings had been separated and sent to different Japanese internment camps. Despite this news, Ikari asked to be transferred to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an infantry unit composed mostly of Americans of Japanese descent charged with very dangerous work. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team would go on to become among the most decorated infantry regiments in the United States Army; 21 of its members were awarded the Medal of Honor.
Asian American women were also forced to make difficult decisions. Early in her memoir, Road Runner, Carolyn Hisako Tanaka describes the traumatic e