Japanese American WWII soldiers faced Nazis at war and racism at home in US

Fred Shiosaki, the American-born son of Japanese immigrants, was determined to join the military almost immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. 

When he turned 18 the following summer, Shiosaki took a bus to Spokane, Wash., to sign up with the Selective Service. But when he told the young officer behind the desk he wanted to enlist, Shiosaki was met with a blank-face stare.  “You can’t sign up,” the officer told him. “You’re an enemy alien.”