Honor and Sacrifice

A Japanese-American War Hero's Family During WWII

Honor and Sacrifice tells the complex story of a Japanese immigrant family ripped apart by WWII. The Matsumoto family included five sons; two who fought for the Americans and three who fought for the Japanese. The eldest, Hiroshi (Roy), became a hero, fighting against the Japanese with Merrill's Marauders, an American guerrilla unit in Burma. He was born near Los Angeles, educated in Japan, and became a hero when he used his Japanese language skills and military training to save his surrounded, starving battalion deep in the Burmese jungle. At the same time his parents and sisters were living in their family's ancestral home, Hiroshima. The story is told by Roy's daughter Karen as she discovers her father's work in military intelligence, kept secret for 50 years.

Winner of the 2014 Erik Barnouw Award from the Organization of American Historians

Winner of the 2014 History In Progress Award from the American Association for State and Local History

"Filmmakers Lucy Ostrander and Don Sellers' powerful documentary tells the story of Roy Matsumoto, one of many Japanese Americans who enlisted in the U.S. military while detained in Japanese Internment during World War II....Decorated for heroism, Matsumoto was eventually sent to postwar Japan, where he found relatives still alive in Hiroshima despite the nuclear bomb attack that had devastated the city. Interweaving archival footage and family photographs to illustrate this compelling story, along with an interview of the elderly Matsumoto, Honor & Sacrifice underscores the many internal conflicts and ironies experienced by Japanese-American enlistees, from having to prove their loyalty while confined within the U.S. to fighting an enemy that often (as in Matsumoto's case) literally included one's brothers from the old country. Highly recommended." -T. Keogh 3.5 Stars - Video Librarian

"A riveting story compellingly told, Honor & Sacrifice uncovers a tragedy of war--the breakup of families and the tests of conflicting loyalties. Japanese Americans serve in the U.S. military to defend freedom while their families are interned, brothers fight in opposing armies, and the atomic bomb levels an American soldier's family home. There is no glory in wars." -Gary Okihiro, Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

"Superb!! Roy Matsumoto, a Kibei Japanese American, is caught in a Kafka-esque situation between Japan and America but rises to the height of exceptional achievement as a member of Merrill's Marauders during World War II. His remarkable story crisscrosses allied and enemy nations and military forces where his war-time actions led to the safety of a battalion of American soldiers. Beautifully presented, Honor and Sacrifice contains unique photographs of pre-World War II Japanese American home life, pre-and post-war Hiroshima, and the wretched travails of war-time combat in Burma." -Tetsuden Kashima, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of Washington

Stourwater Pictures offers a 35-page curriculum on this film for educators on their website which is free and downloadable at http://honordoc.com/teach.html.