The World War II plight of Japanese Americans is common knowledge to War History Network readers.  “Most Honorable Son” is a different take on the oft told story. 

This is the tale of Ben Kuroki, a Nebraska farm boy born in 1917 to Japanese-American immigrants.  His life changed dramatically on December 7, 1941, but in different ways than some.  The Kuroki family has endured racial discrimination common to Japanese-Americans, but from a different perspective.  They were precluded from citizenship and land ownership but were not relocated as that applied to West Coast areas.  Ben and his siblings had been raised to identify as Americans.  Ben had taken the Army physical 18 days before news came of the attack at Pearl Harbor.  Being unwilling to wait on the Army, he first visited a Marine Corps Recruiter, where he was told to wait for clarification on how to handle Japanese-American recruits, then enlisted in the Army Air Force.  On the road to his induction in Texas he was subjected to racially motivated harassment. 

Assigned to the 93^rd Bomb Group, Ben was transferred to England, where he was trained as a gunner, and on to North Africa in December 1942.   In days before GPS, crews were responsible for navigation.  A 100-mile error in February 1943 brought Ben and his crewmates down in the Atlas Mountains of Spanish Morocco, leading to their three-month confinement at Hotel Termas de Pallares, a popular spa and casino in Zaragoza in neutral Spain.

Their sorties attacked numerous targets in the Mediterranean area.  Transferred to England in October 1943, Ben suffered wounds in a raid over Germany.  The most detailed account is the horrific August 1943 raid on the Ploesti oil refineries that stretches over four chapters.   The importance of targets and challenges to the crews seize and hold readers’ attention.

Ben’s status as a Japanese-American hero drew attention that only grew after an interview by Walter Cronkite.  He was granted furlough and called home to a speaking tour.  After braving anti-aircraft fire over North Africa and Europe, he “felt it wasn’t safe to walk the streets of his own country.”  His successful speech before the prestigious Commonwealth Club of San Francisco won Ben powerful friends and celebrity status, but his visit to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center brought a different challenge as he confronted a draft-resistance movement.  In contrast to Ben’s patriotic zeal to serve, others argued against service in the armed forces of a country that denied Japanese-Americans basic rights.  After conclusion of the speaking tour, Ben got the assignment for which he had enlisted, Pacific, from which he participated in bombing runs on Japan from Tinian.

After 58 missions and countless near misses, Ben’s war ended in a most unlikely, but foreseeable fashion.  An exchange between a Native American airman and Ben ended with a bayonet buried in Ben’s scalp shortly before the atomic bomb forced Japan’s surrender.

The return of peace and his honorable discharge brought Ben his 59^th Mission, a crusade against prejudice and race hatred, which he continued as he obtained a college degree from the University of Nebraska and a career in journalism.

Author Gregg Jones has crafted a well written account that appeals to a variety of interests.  The text is amply supplemented by photos, footnotes, a bibliography and index.  Readers seeking insights into the air war will relish the accounts of combat.  Those interested in the who fight to eradicate prejudice in our own country will find a hero.  If you are just searching for a good story, look no further.  Whatever your tastes, pick up and read.