Author, Lauren R. Harris, and illustrator, Felicia Hoshino, of the South Dakota Historical Society Press’ newly released book “A Place For Harvest: The Story of Kenny Higashi,” spoke at Pierre TF Riggs High School April 22, 2022. A surprise at the event was meeting Kenny’s great-grandson who attends Riggs, Jayden Wiebe.
The book focuses on the community of Spearfish and the experience of Kenny Higashi ahead of and during World War II. He worked on his family’s vegetable farm in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He found himself in the unit because after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Army gave him the choice of he or his brother enlisting, or their family being sent to an internment camp.
“In the United States, thousands of Japanese American families across the country were forced out of their homes and into internment camps, but we don’t often think of this happening to South Dakotans,” says Press Director Dedra McDonald Birzer. “In their interviews, Kenny told author Lauren Harris about how his community came together in support of his family and how his childhood in the Black Hills prepared him for surviving overseas.”
Kenny joined the 100th Infantry Battalion, becoming a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. It was made up of Nisei, descendants of Japanese American immigrants. The unit’s motto is “Go for Broke” for their doggedness in battle, and today Kenny and his unit are remembered for their brave actions during World War II. In 2019, Kenny was awarded France’s highest medal of distinction, the French Legion of Honor, for his actions decades prior during the war.
Few children’s stories detail experiences like Kenny’s, and by basing her account on his memories, Harris created a true story of community, hope, and determination. Illustrator Felicia Hoshino transports readers as they follow a young man from the heart of the United States to European battlefields.
Felicia Hoshino is the prize-winning illustrator of multiple children’s books. Her family was incarcerated at the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho and the Poston Internment Camp in Arizona, and, like Kenny, her uncle served in the 442nd.
“A Place for Harvest: The Story of Kenny Higashi” can be ordered at sdhspress.com.
Comments