Bridge to the Sun

The Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II

By: Bruce Henderson, Gerald Yamada

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

One of the last, great untold stories of World War II—kept hidden for decades—even after most of the World War II records were declassified in 1972, many of the files remained untouched in various archives—a gripping true tale of courage and adventure from Bruce Henderson, master storyteller, historian, and New York Times best-selling author of Sons and Soldiers—the saga of the Japanese American U.S. Army soldiers who fought in the Pacific theater, in Burma, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, with their families back home in America, under U.S. Executive Order 9066, held behind barbed wire in government internment camps.

After Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military was desperate to find Americans who spoke Japanese to serve in the Pacific war. They soon turned to the Nisei—first-generation U.S. citizens whose parents were immigrants from Japan. Eager to prove their loyalty to America, several thousand Nisei—many of them volunteering from the internment camps where they were being held behind barbed wire—were selected by the Army for top-secret training, then were rushed to the Pacific theater. Highly valued as expert translators and interrogators, these Japanese American soldiers operated in elite intelligence teams alongside Army infantrymen and Marines on the front lines of the Pacific war, from Iwo Jima to Burma, from the Solomons to Okinawa.

Henderson reveals, in riveting detail, the harrowing untold story of the Nisei and their major contributions in the war of the Pacific, through six Japanese American soldiers. After the war, these soldiers became translators and interrogators for war crime trials, and later helped to rebuild Japan as a modern democracy and a pivotal U.S. ally.

©2022 Bruce Henderson, Gerald Yamada (P)2022 Random House Audio

Japanese-Americans in Pacific War

I have been waiting for this book. Everyone knows about the 442nd and 100th army battalions in WWII European battles. The J-A soldiers in the Pacific War were like a secret. What a book!! I love it! Thank you Bruce Campbell and Gerald Yamada for writing their stories.
Because of them, my dad joined the MIS during the Korean War.

personal accounts

courage in the face of adversity. highly recommend. I also enjoyed hearing what they had done after the war.

Everything

This is even better than the Richie Boys, Couldn’t put it down. A great History lesson and a lesson into the Human Spirit.

Fabulous.

The book was emotional and very well done. Congratulations and thanks to everyone involved. A wonderful historical work.

A Truer Understanding

The story of courageous human beings, so well written, and beautifully narrated. A book that is not just for “history buffs,”