Pulitzer Prize finalist Gregg Jones will discuss his new biography, Most Honorable Son : A Forgotten Hero’s Fight Against Facism and Hate During World War II, releasing July 23, 2024. The first comprehensive biography of World War II hero Ben Kuroki, Most Honorable Son recounts the incredible story of a Nebraska farm boy who became the only known Japanese American to fly combat missions in Asia during World War II, then devoted his life to fighting racial prejudice at home.
Event Schedule
1:00 – 2:00 pm: Book talk with Gregg Jones on his new biography, Most Honorable Son
2:00 – 3:00 pm: Book signing and docent-facilitated tours of the California Museum’s exhibit about the Japanese American incarceration and Nisei military service during WWII, Uprooted: An American Story
Tickets
Reduced $5 admission (plus Eventbrite fee) provides entry to the book talk plus all current exhibits. Free admission for California Museum members.
About Ben Kuroki
As a gunner on Army Air Forces bombers, Ben Kuroki flew 58 missions spanning three combat theaters: Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific, including the climactic B-29 firebombing campaign against Japan that culminated with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In between his tours in Europe and the Pacific, he challenged FDR’s shameful incarceration of more than 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry in America, and he would be credited by some with setting in motion the debate that reversed a grave national dishonor. In the euphoric wake of America’s victory, the decorated war hero used his national platform to carry out what he called his “fifty-ninth mission,” urging his fellow Americans to do more to eliminate bigotry and racism at home.
About the Author
A long-time investigative journalist, Pulitzer Prize finalist Gregg Jones covered civil wars and insurgencies in Asia and Latin America, the fall of Asia’s two longest-ruling 20th-century dictators, and the early months of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. He has been a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution: he has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, and the U.K. editions of The Guardian and The Observer. His three previous books received critical acclaim. Jones is the nephew of a B-24 radio operator who fought and died alongside Ben Kuroki in the 93rd Bomb Group in 1943, making him uniquely qualified to write this inspiring story.
