The Registry

For the Japanese Americans who served in World War II, public acknowledgment of the vital roles they played has been long delayed. The Registry, a CAAM-funded film, chronicles the efforts of aging veterans to document the crucial work they performed as translators in the Pacific theater and the focal point that military service played in their identities. The Registry will be one of the last times that those who served in WWII will be able to connect with each other, as well as one of the last times we will directly hear the voices of those who served. From within the internment camps, young Nisei men were asked to volunteer for their country, a country which so doubted their patriotism that it incarcerated their families for the duration of World War II. How these young men chose to serve their country is a tale of how individuals construct a cohesive personal narrative in the face of the political hurdles of their time. This documentary is necessary viewing, at a moment when Americans are facing a new collective crisis in national identity. Anti-immigrant sentiment and government actions, such as President Trump’s orders that banned travel to the U.S. from Muslim-majority countries, echo events in America more than half a century ago. (CAAMFest)