Honor & Sacrifice: Remembering a Japanese–American Hero

Documentary & Discussion with Filmmaker Lucy Ostrander

Tuesday, 17 Feb 2015 at 7:00 pm – Great Hall, Memorial Union

Honor and Sacrifice tells the story of Roy Matsumoto, one of many Japanese Americans who enlisted in the U.S. military while detained in internment camps during World War II. Matsumoto became a decorated war hero. He was instrumental in saving his battalion, which was starving and surrounded by Japanese fighters deep in the Burmese jungle. He was eventually sent to postwar Japan, where he found members of his family still alive in Hiroshima despite the nuclear bomb attack that had devastated the city. Filmmakers Lucy Ostrander and Don Sellers use archival footage and family photographs to illustrate this immigrant family's experience and the many internal conflicts and ironies Japanese-American enlistees experienced during and in the aftermath of the Second World War. Day of Remembrance Event

A panel discussion with filmmaker Lucy Ostrander will immediately follow the 28-minute film. She will be joined by Jane Dusselier, director of the Asian American Studies Program, and Neil Nakadate, Professor Emeritus of English; and Grace Amemiya, Ames resident and former internee.

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Honor and Sacrifice won the 2014 Erik Barnouw Award from the Organization of American Historians for outstanding programming in documentary film concerned with American history. The film was also awareded the 2014 History in Progress Award from the American Association for State and Local History.

Honor & 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.

The filmmaking team of Lucy Ostrander and Don Sellers together has over 30 years of documentary film experience. Lucy and Don started their filmmaking careers after completing Masters degrees from the documentary film program at Stanford University. Lucy’s portfolio of films as a producer and director has garnered numerous awards including a Student Academy Award, the Nissan Focus Award, CINE Golden Eagle, and an Artist Trust Fellowship. Don’s study of biology at Cornell had led him to Stanford to focus on making scientific films. His early work includes cinematography and editing for the PBS series Frontline, as well shooting for many other nationally broadcast television documentary series.

Cosponsored By:

• Anthropology
• Asian American Studies Program
• College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
• Geological and Atmospheric Sciences
• History
• International Studies Program
• Psychology
• Sociology
• University Library
• Veterans Center
• World Languages & Cultures
• Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government)