National Archives
"The 442nd -- Duty, Honor, and Loyalty" is
available for $19.95 at Times Supermarkets.

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442nd on film

A Hawaii producer's documentary
on nisei soldiers to air
on television

By Burl Burlingame
Star-Bulletin

It's one of the great heroic legends -- almost the status of classic mythology -- of modern America, the story of the nisei soldiers of the 442nd Regiment and the 100th Battalion during World War II, and has been well documented in books such as "I Can Never Forget," films such as "Hey, Pineapple!" and memorials and museum exhibits such as the one in the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii. But a standard-issue documentary film has, so far, been missing in action.

Tomorrow night, however, KGMB will air "The 442nd -- Duty, Honor and Loyalty." This is a 51-minute edited version of the 71-minute commercial video now available only at Times supermarkets, and is a reassembled and translated version of a television documentary originally produced by Bungei Shunju of Japan.

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The 442nd --Duty, Honor and Loyalty
9 p.m. tomorrow KGMB/CBS
Also on sale at Times supermarkets $19.95

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Hawaii producer John Dobovan was swept away by the original film when he first saw it, particularly by training and combat footage of the soldiers reproduced from the National Archives. Much of it had never been shown before. He acquired the rights and began reworking the video for American audiences.

"It's turned into a real Magilla -- far more work than I thought it would be," said Dobovan. "I've spent months reading everything I could about the nisei soldiers."

The Japanese production, for example, had a not-so-subtle political agenda, painting the nisei warriors as victims, rather than as individuals who refused to be victimized. Some of this is still apparent in the English edition, such as referring to the hotly debated concentration-camp loyalty oaths as "unbearable psychological torture."

Curiously, the Japanese film crews worked primarily with 100th vets instead of 442nd vets, not realizing there were subtle rivalries between the two organizations. Dobovan has alluded to these in his voice-over narration, such as the difference between "buddha-head" and "kotonk" nisei, a distinction probably unknown outside of Hawaii and the mainland Japanese-American community. But it needs to be made.

National Archives

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The film clearly lays out the history of the unit, going from Point A to Point Z with few detours or shadings. This makes it valuable as a learning tool.

The film conscientiously avoids using stock -- and inaccurate -- footage. What's there is real, and the images aren't misleading.

This leads to moments of real power, such as when Gen. John Dahlquist arrives at a small ceremony to decorate nisei for the rescue of the "Lost Battalion," and he complains that he wanted the whole regiment there. Where's the rest of the unit? he snarls.

It's then explained to the general that these brave men are all that's left. The rest are dead or wounded.

"The 442nd -- Duty, Honor and Loyalty" is $19.95 at Times Supermarkets for the next month, and afterwards will go into general release.

Dobovan has also approached national cable-TV outlets such as the History Channel to see if there's any interest.