Uninvited Valor--The Forsaken Soldiers of WWII

In the wake of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, 22-year-old Joe Horiuchi is faced with a decision: volunteer for America’s war against the Axis Powers, or reject the country that is locking his fellow Japanese-Americans in internment camps. Where does Joe's loyalty lie? And what is he willing to do for the country that regards him and his people as suspect?

Like the global conflict, Joe’s personal war is fought on many fronts. Overcoming his sense of betrayal by his own government, he enlists and joins the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, where he confronts a self-serving senior officer, faces an accusation of murder, lives with the paralyzing terror of waging war, and longs for the girl he left behind.

Will Joe heed his unit’s motto, “Go For Broke”? Or will he settle for giving less?

Debut author John Kiyonaga draws on his own father’s experience serving with the 442nd RCT, a unit consisting entirely of Japanese-American enlisted soldiers and considered the military’s most decorated unit. Expertly weaving fiction with history, Uninvited Valor is the story of men called into brotherhood—and greatness—by circumstances beyond their control, and their decision to go for broke, risking everything for the country that has forsaken them.

This discussion guide was shared and sponsored in partnership with DartFrog Books.