This Light Between Us: A Novel of World War II

On April 13, 1943, the day that Alex and the other nisei enlistees reach Camp Shelby military training camp, General John L. DeWitt speaks before Congress and claims that there is no way to trust the Japanese, even if they enlist in the army. Alex and his cohort exit the train and board army trucks that take them to Camp Shelby. The barracks are reminiscent of Manzanar, but there are no barbed wire or machine gun turrets. The nisei are given ill-fitting uniforms and personal equipment. After a meal, a sergeant makes them get their duffel bags, saying that the last 10 to retrieve them will be on latrine duty.

The next few days are a haze of “marches, drills, exercises, exhaustion, snatches of sleep” (245). They are assaulted by mosquitoes and chiggers, and a recruit named Teddy Ikoma constantly lags behind the others. On the fourth day, the recruits are given a math test. On the fifth day, Colonel Charles W. Pence addresses the newly formed Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Colonel Pence addresses them in the exact same manner as he would a white regiment, and for the first time, Alex feels like a soldier. He thinks, “Frank should be here.