Join author Gregg Jones for a discussion around his newest book, Most Honorable Son, which is the first comprehensive biography of Japanese American World War II hero Ben Kuroki.

The JANM Book Club is a series of Public Programs that highlights new publications by Japanese Americans or related to Japanese American history and culture.

About the book

A Nebraska farm boy who enlisted following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ben Kuroki overcame bigotry and prejudice to earn a combat role in the US Army Air Forces. After flying thirty missions in Europe and North Africa, he returned home a decorated hero. In February 1944 he delivered a stirring denunciation of anti-Japanese bigotry before San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club in February that spurred the Roosevelt Administration to reconsider its policy of incarcerating over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry. After flying twenty-eight missions in the Pacific, he returned home in 1945 and launched a nationwide speaking tour challenging Americans to “win the peace” by addressing socioeconomic and racial inequities at home. After earning his journalism degree from the University of Nebraska, he worked at newspapers in Nebraska, Idaho, and Michigan before concluding his career as a news editor in Ventura County, California.

Most Honorable Son includes a foreword by Naomi Ostwald Kawamura, executive director of Densho; an introduction by William T Fujioka, chair of the JANM Board of Trustees; and an afterword by celebrated biographer Jonathan Eig, recipient of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Martin Luther King Jr.

Most Honorable Son is available for purchase at the JANM Store.

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