Early Firsthand Account of Japanese-American Military Service, Wear It Proudly Published Wartime Letters Written by a Japanese-American Medic in WWII, First Edition, 1947

William Shinji Tsuchida

First Edition

[Japanese American] [WWII] Tsuchida, William Shinji. Wear It Proudly. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1947. First edition. Original blue cloth binding with gilt spine lettering, in publisher’s red dust jacket with image of a handwritten letter on cover.

Wear It Proudly is a collection of wartime letters written by William Shinji Tsuchida, a Japanese American medic in the U.S. Army’s 71st Infantry Division. Compiled and published by the University of California Press at the urging of Tsuchida’s brother and UC faculty, the letters offer an unfiltered and emotionally resonant narrative of loyalty, displacement, and combat through the eyes of a Nisei soldier. Tsuchida’s reflections, penned during frontline service in France and the Austrian Alps, capture the painful paradox felt by Japanese-American soldiers fighting for a country that was unjustly imprisoning against it's own Japanese-American citizens. With disarming candor and gentle wit, Tsuchida navigates the absurdities of military life, homesickness, and the burden of dual identity. The title references an episode in which his unit, recognizing his valor, awarded him the Combat Infantryman Badge despite regulations excluding medics from receiving it: “They told me to wear it proudly,” he writes. Tsuchida’s observations transcend the battlefield; they articulate the complex inner life of an American soldier whose ethnic background made him both a comrade-in-arms and a subject of suspicion. The book serves as a rare document of the lived experience of Japanese American soldiers during the war and contributes significantly to our understanding of racial integration and loyalty in mid-century America. The foreword by David R. Brower, a fellow WWII veteran, contextualizes Tsuchida’s service and humility, stating, “Let no man who values his prejudices bring them with him as he reads Tsuchida’s mail.” Dust jacket with moderate chipping to edges and spine ends, and surface scuffing; binding tight and boards clean; interior text crisp. Overall very good condition. Wear It Proudly is among the earliest published firsthand accounts by a Japanese American GI, offering an invaluable, humanizing perspective on wartime service, racial identity, and civic belonging.

Item #22795

Price: $450.00