The Storm on Our Shores

Author: Mark Obmascik
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Atria Books, 2019
Pages: 256
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Mark Obamscik rediscovered a long-lost document from World War II: the diary of a Japanese surgeon, recovered from his body by the soldier who killed him. The Storm on Our Shores reveals the layered and moving story of two men bound together by a nineteen-page diary-and how it's words eventually captivated American troops and changed our war-torn society.

Written as one desperate man's final testament, Paul Nubuo Tatsuguchi's journal revealed the medic's studies in American and his love for the US. It sent shock waves through American troops of the 1940s, shattering racist preconceptions and opening eyes to the common humanity of soldiers on both sides of the battle lines. Year later, it was sent to Laura Tatsuguchi Davis, the dead medic's daughter, on an intense search for the truth behind her father's life and legacy. And it drove Dick Laird-the sergeant who found the diary-to undertake a forty-year quest on two continents to find Laura, whose kindness and forgiveness offered redemption for his own tortured soul.

Review: My dad bought this book because his father, my grandfather, served in the Aleutian Islands during World War II (but after the time these events took place). I don't know if my grandfather talked much about his service in Alaska when my dad was a kid, but by the time I was growing up, we knew my grandmother worked at a Boeing factory in Seattle while my grandfather served in Alaska. Details of their lives during this time weren't discussed.

Truth be told, Alaska isn't what I learned about in WWII history in school and I was always kind of bummed by grandfather didn't serve in what had seemed like more "exciting," or noteworthy, places. What a fascinating battle to learn about - this was incredible. Attu was a brutal, miserable place.