Burma Rifles [Mass Market Paperback]

Frank Bonham (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: New York: Berkley Books # F1132 1st Printing; . edition (1965)
• ASIN: B001NRFS7E
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 3.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,255,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Some of the harsh and unpleasant realities of World War Two in novel form, October 28, 2007

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Burma Rifles (Paperback)

Jerry Harada was a young man of Japanese descent whose family lived in California in the early 1940's. His parents had emigrated from Japan to the United States, were hard-working and although they spoke little English, were determined that their children would grow up American. Jerry was also very intelligent, doing well in school and a ham radio operator.
Like all of their ethnic kin on the west coast of the United States, the Harada family's world changed dramatically on December 7, 1941. While they were previously accepted, they immediately became pariahs and were swiftly rounded up and put into camps. In Jerry's case, some of the local lowlife first had to make things very difficult for them and confiscated their property.
After a short time in the camp, Jerry was given the opportunity to join the United States armed forces. As the American forces more heavily engaged the Japanese, they realized that they had so few translators that when they captured critical documents, there was no one to translate them. Therefore, the young Nisei men were given the opportunity to volunteer their way out of the camps and into combat. As patriotic and loyal Americans, the Nisei joined the armed forces determined to show everyone that they were true patriots, and were willing to risk everything in order to prove it.
This novel follows the career of Jerry, from his days of being treated as a suspected spy through his training in the cold outback of Minnesota to slogging through the hot and steamy jungles of Burma. He fought bravely, being severely wounded and returning to duty. His story is one of patriotism, resourcefulness and courage, demonstrating to everyone that he was willing to do whatever it took to help win the war.
This is an excellent novel about prejudice and popular zeal initially getting the upper hand over logic and intelligence, but how intelligence emerged victorious. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there was a collective hysteria in the United States about the Japanese. All Nisei were automatically considered traitors and their being placed in what were concentration camps is one of the darkest blots on the history of the United States in the twentieth century. Most lost everything, yet even after that, those eligible to fight did so and served with some of the greatest distinction ever earned. While this story is fictional, it is factual in the sense that the fiction describes actual events.