Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program Blog

Ben Kuroki joined the U.S. Army Air Corps shortly after the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Sergeant Kuroki was one of the few Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) admitted to the Corps. He earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses and was acclaimed as the first Nisei war hero after flying 30 missions in Europe as a tailgunner and top turret gunner aboard a B-24 plane.

The government sent him on a tour to Heart Mountain and two other prison camps in an effort to promote U.S. military recruitment. Not surprisingly, the U.S. government faced increasing draft resistance among Nisei men who were incarcerated for no other reason than their ethnic Japanese heritage.

Kuroki asked for duty in the Pacific and, after initial rejection, became the only Nisei to serve in active combat with the Air Corps in the Pacific theater, flying 28 more missions over Japan as a tailgunner on a B-29 plane.

After the war, he became the first Japanese American editor of a general newspaper in Nebraska. He later edited newspapers in Michigan and Southern California. Kuroki recently donated his personal scrapbooks, along with his personal letters and wartime artifacts, to the Smithsonian.

In this photo, Kuroki is pictured holding his airplane’s turret, which was demolished over the German city of Munster during his 30th mission in Europe. Fortunately, he had briefly leaned back seconds before into the plane before the flak hit and was lucky to not be seriously injured.

Gift of Ben Kuroki. Photo credit: 93rd Bombardment Group.