WW2 Letters

1. who you are and how you decided
Boy in Japanese internment camp who enlisted to be a soldier. I've always been interested in the Japanese in the camps, since they were American citizens imprisoned for no reason other than that they were Japanese. I remember a play I saw once about children in the camps.

2. research! including specific links and the major topics, people, and info in your letter.
Dear Miss Breed, Japanese American National Museum, Wikipedia Letters of a Nation
In April/May 1941 over 100000 Americans of Japanese descent were imprisoned in internment/relocation camp programs because the government was suspicious of their loyalty to the nation and worried that they might be spies. Many were separated from family and friends. While they were there, some pro-Japanese groups popped up, and when a law was passed that made it possible to renounce American citizenship, they took the opportunity and the government suspicions were found true for those cases--though these Japanese Americans were speculated to do so because they felt betrayed by their country. At some point, (around Feb 1, 1943) some Japanese men were asked if they wanted to volunteer to serve the armed forces and 20000 Japanese men and several women were enlisted. They formed the 442nd Infantry Regiment that would soon become famous.

3. an overview of the tone and ideas of your letter.
I want to be a young Japanese American male who hears about the government recruiting people from the relocation/internment camps. I think I'll write about the conditions of the camp, the questionnaire the Japanese Americans had to take to enlist or the opportunity that was given to enlist, the pro-Japanese groups, and going off to war (as part of the 100th Battalion 442nd Infantry, possibly).

4. more???
Possibly want to write to a sister or an old friend (who wasn't Japanese).

Other sources I can use:
http://www.dearmissbreed.com/
http://www.dearmissbreed.com/EvacuationDay.asp
http://www.dearmissbreed.com/NextRelevant.asp
http://www.janm.org/exhibits/breed/title.htm
http://www.janm.org/collections/clara-breed-collection/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Regimental_Combat_Team
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States) 
http://www.listeningforachange.org/pdfs/japanese_american_resources.pdf
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/internment1.html
http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/jarda/
http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/jarda/historical-context.html
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/japanese_internment/index.html
http://www.goforbroke.org/history/history_historical_veterans_442nd.asp

Japanese Internment Camps by Bryan J. Grapes  (page 23-26)

An Interesting Part of History

The most intesting thing I've heard about in the last few days was the fact that the US helped rebuild Germany and Japan after WWII. I've never really thought about it, but Japan is really high tech and modern and it has a lot of traditions but at the same time everything seems so futuristic. All of the best games that are coming out are from Japan and a lot of other awesome things too--fashion, automobiles, books and stories and art, architechtural structures, computers, programs, innovations... all sorts of things. It never occurred to me that once upon a time, two atomic bombs had been dropped on this organized, efficient, and well-maintained country. Maybe this was from the help of the US. How did they build Japan into one of the most technologically advanced and booming economic/socialistic country?

I don't know all that much about modern Germany, but I hear it's a beautiful place. I wonder how the US fixed it up after defeating Hitler and practically destroying the whole place? I know they have some cars, and some really smart people too... and I hear they have good relations with the US and Japan now. I don't know the specifics of the relations after the war and in the current year, though.

Look at all that beautiful scenery and architechture (from Germany)... how is it so pristine now, when it was probably demolished during the war?

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany

History

1. What are the most interesting aspects of World Wars 1 and 2?

WWI: That it started over something that seemed really small [assassination of the archduke of Austria] and how Germany tried to drag on the war despite that it seemed like they were obviously losing.

WWII: That one man was able to bring up a nation to start a war [Hitler and the Nazis] and that almost everywehre else lots of other countries were already having wars.


2. What do you hope to learn about these wars?

WWI: I already learned about it but a refresher course would be nice.

WWII: I don't know too much about it, so I want to learn about how the war started/proceeded, and about the other wars going on at the time [like in China and Japan].

3. How/Why are these wars important today? How do they impact and/or inform our world today? hint: think about alliances, democracies around the world, cultures, international institutions, nuclear (and other) technologies, etc.

I think WWII spawned the United Nations, which is an important political party/union/group of people [I'm not sure which one?], and it set off eras in history like the Roaring 20s [which popularized materialism] which soon set off the Stock Market Crash, which affects our economy today.

I don't know much else other than that though.