What impressed me most about this documentary was the segment on the 442 Bn, all Japanese and the part about that Crow Indian guy. The dominant culture always presents itself in the best light and lesser groups get shuffled to the side and not much is said about them. I knew for instance that Americans of direct Japanese descent had fought in the war, but I had never heard of the 442 Bn until this documentary came out. Blacks started getting their due long before Japanese and Native Americans. Times have changed and for the better. I found very moving in particular the part about a Japanese family in an internment camp getting official notification that their son had been killed in action.

But in getting back to Indians, it was our current President who finally got the ball rolling to honor the Dineh (Navajo) code talkers for their significant contribution. The Oct. issue of the VFW Magazine has a nice piece on Native Americans. 25,000 served overseas during WW2. Before Indians were given US Citizenship in 1924, 4,000 had gone overseas to fight in WW1. On 11/15/03, Sheldon Hawk Eagle, Lakota, was KIA. His bloodlines go back to Crazy Horse. His ancestor would have been proud of him. In 2005, DoD released a report that said Indians compose less than 1% of the population but they make up 1.6% of our armed forces. It is duty and honor and their warrior heritage that brings them to recruting stations, not the pay and benefits and coming from the dire poverty of most reservations, that is saying alot, but it also says alot about America in general.

I had 4 uncles in it - 1 KIA and 1 disabled and the 3 who survived never said a word about their extreme sacrifices but that is not unique to Americans or that particular generation. When the dust finally settles in Iraq, the troops will come home and take their place in front of the long line of Veterans standing behind them. They will be honored no more, no less than those behind them and they will suffer in silence for the most part and take to their graves their nightmares of killed enemies, fallen comrades and dead civilians. So be it, we would have it no other way.