Thursday, March 27, 2025
It was a beautiful, warm evening in downtown St. Paul tonight as we walked to the History Theater to see Secret Warriors. It is just so pleasant to walk outside without giving any consideration to the weather.
Secret Warriors was about Japanese American soldiers who served as translators and interpreters during World War II, often while their families had been rounded up and sent to internment camps. The Minnesota connection was that they were trained at the base in Shakopee. As Japanese speakers, they worked at bases that were intercepting enemy transmissions or closer to the front lines interrogating prisoners. As soldiers, they were fighting and dying, just like everyone else. Their jobs were considered special intelligence, so everything was a secret. They received no special treatment and were not even allowed to talk about what they did after the war ended.
They had endured racism throughout their lives as Japanese Americans and made no secret of that as the way of their lives. The attack on Pearl Harbor did nothing to help. The racism and skepticism by their fellow soldiers was fierce. In the play, while on a transport ship, being guarded from the other soldiers for their safety, one guy suggests it would be best to just throw them overboard.
It was very cool how the set shifted and broke apart and rotated to bring us many locations. They used still pictures and WWII era footage to create mood and foster understanding.
Tonight was one of the two preview nights. The show runs through April 19 if you are interested in going.
We read an excellent book last year in our book group called, “Facing the Mountain” by Daniel James Brown, the author of “The Boys in the Boat.” It’s about a regiment of Japanese American soldiers who fought in the European theater in WWII. That White House guy had the description of this regiment that was on the Army’s website taken down at the beginning of the month.