The Last Fox: A Novel of the 100th/442nd RCT

Rating:
Summary: A Dramatic Novel of Many Dimensions
Review: ***** A dramatic novel of many dimensions
Reviewer: William Ratliff from Stanford University, Stanford, CA USA
The first and most obvious achievement of this outstanding book is its novelistic dramatization of battles fought by the all-Nisei 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II. Many young Japanese-Americans volunteered for the U.S. military after they and their family members (75% American citizens, mostly second-generation Nisei) were suddenly dragged off to concentration camps in the wake of Pearl Harbor. These young men became the most awesome, feared (by Germans), sought-after (by American military commanders) and decorated group of American soldiers fighting in Europe. Kono gives grueling, gripping, hill-by-hill, bunker-by-bunker descriptions of Nisei military campaigns against the Germans in Italy and France. In the process, he graphically shows how wars are "ceaseless waves of madness that [fill] the earth with graves." But Kono's chief character, Sgt. Fred Murano, the leader and last of four "foxes" that wreacked havoc on the "Jerries," and all of his other comrades, are much more than players in this intense war drama. They also carry and convey the anger, anguish, outrage, frustration, courage and patriotism of these young Nisei Americans of the mid-twentieth century and the complex, often tragic, traumas they faced in Europe and their families confronted in the United States. Reminiscing with a few surviving comrades at the end of the book, more than fifty years after the end of the war, Fred says, "We made the supreme sacrifice, laid our lives on the line. Not to go on the record that we are loyal Americans, which we always were...we know that ...but to win our own freedom as any other freedom-loving American." Like King Arthur, who asked that younger generations be taught and pass on the glorious story of Camelot, Fred believes the Nisei role in the war should be passed on down the generations and fully recognized by the world at large. With this book, Kono has made a major contribution to fulfilling Murano's dream of telling that story, a critical but still little-known chapter in modern U.S. and world history. Even more than this, in recounting the Nisei experience, the author has thrown sympathetic light on the ongoing problems, not always as traumatic as those of the Japanese-Americans in the 1940s, that any minority encounters trying to "fit in" without being absorbed, in the United States and in other countries around the world. Though this book's most obvious subject is war, it is also a testimony to freedom from war in the world, social equality and justice in America and other societies, and peace, if not always tranquility, in the individual soul.

Rating:
Summary: A Dramatic Novel of Many Dimensions
Review: ***** A dramatic novel of many dimensions
Reviewer: William Ratliff from Stanford University, Stanford, CA USA
The first and most obvious achievement of this outstanding book is its novelistic dramatization of battles fought by the all-Nisei 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II. Many young Japanese-Americans volunteered for the U.S. military after they and their family members (75% American citizens, mostly second-generation Nisei) were suddenly dragged off to concentration camps in the wake of Pearl Harbor. These young men became the most awesome, feared (by Germans), sought-after (by American military commanders) and decorated group of American soldiers fighting in Europe. Kono gives grueling, gripping, hill-by-hill, bunker-by-bunker descriptions of Nisei military campaigns against the Germans in Italy and France. In the process, he graphically shows how wars are "ceaseless waves of madness that [fill] the earth with graves." But Kono's chief character, Sgt. Fred Murano, the leader and last of four "foxes" that wreacked havoc on the "Jerries," and all of his other comrades, are much more than players in this intense war drama. They also carry and convey the anger, anguish, outrage, frustration, courage and patriotism of these young Nisei Americans of the mid-twentieth century and the complex, often tragic, traumas they faced in Europe and their families confronted in the United States. Reminiscing with a few surviving comrades at the end of the book, more than fifty years after the end of the war, Fred says, "We made the supreme sacrifice, laid our lives on the line. Not to go on the record that we are loyal Americans, which we always were...we know that ...but to win our own freedom as any other freedom-loving American." Like King Arthur, who asked that younger generations be taught and pass on the glorious story of Camelot, Fred believes the Nisei role in the war should be passed on down the generations and fully recognized by the world at large. With this book, Kono has made a major contribution to fulfilling Murano's dream of telling that story, a critical but still little-known chapter in modern U.S. and world history. Even more than this, in recounting the Nisei experience, the author has thrown sympathetic light on the ongoing problems, not always as traumatic as those of the Japanese-Americans in the 1940s, that any minority encounters trying to "fit in" without being absorbed, in the United States and in other countries around the world. Though this book's most obvious subject is war, it is also a testimony to freedom from war in the world, social equality and justice in America and other societies, and peace, if not always tranquility, in the individual soul.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive account of the 442nd in combat
Review: Bob Kono's military/fiction "The Last Fox" was very good. It covered the action of the 100th/442nd RCT very well. I found the description of the battlefield very realistic and heart rending. When people ask about the travails of the 442nd RCT, they can now refer to "The Last Fox."
For every ten men in uniform only one faces the enemy and is in a position of being shot face to face or actually killing someone. The other nine men are important rear echelon, engineers, artillery, service supply, and training echelons but they rarely directly face the enemy. It is the rifleman in the rifle company who dig the enemy out of their machine gun nests on a person to person basis. The military campaign is well described from Anzio, Cassino, Rome to Pisa (Hill 140), France (Bruyeres, Biffontaine) and the breach of the Gothic line on the Apennines (Mt. Folgorito). Rarely does a rifleman or a medic like myself attached to a rifle platoon get the overall picture. The author has given it in all its glory and goriness. His comments and thoughts evinced from mail from internment camps and the main character, Fred's philosophy and counterpoint arguments with Sam, were well done. The bar room brawl was edgy but that is the way it was and the reconciliation in the hospital was very good.
I liked the way the author covered Hill 140, our first 442nd RCT major battle in the early stages of the march above Rome to Pisa and to the RR embankment in Biffontaine, France. I can still remember that night in Biffontaine. It was very dark and I thought I felt a German soldier poke me and say "Hans" and then he melted back into the blacknes of the night before the attack.
It must be noted that for a rifle platoon soldier particularly in a 442nd RCT rifle company that after a year in combat, you were either dead or wounded.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive account of the 442nd in combat
Review: Bob Kono's military/fiction "The Last Fox" was very good. It covered the action of the 100th/442nd RCT very well. I found the description of the battlefield very realistic and heart rending. When people ask about the travails of the 442nd RCT, they can now refer to "The Last Fox."
For every ten men in uniform only one faces the enemy and is in a position of being shot face to face or actually killing someone. The other nine men are important rear echelon, engineers, artillery, service supply, and training echelons but they rarely directly face the enemy. It is the rifleman in the rifle company who dig the enemy out of their machine gun nests on a person to person basis. The military campaign is well described from Anzio, Cassino, Rome to Pisa (Hill 140), France (Bruyeres, Biffontaine) and the breach of the Gothic line on the Apennines (Mt. Folgorito). Rarely does a rifleman or a medic like myself attached to a rifle platoon get the overall picture. The author has given it in all its glory and goriness. His comments and thoughts evinced from mail from internment camps and the main character, Fred's philosophy and counterpoint arguments with Sam, were well done. The bar room brawl was edgy but that is the way it was and the reconciliation in the hospital was very good.
I liked the way the author covered Hill 140, our first 442nd RCT major battle in the early stages of the march above Rome to Pisa and to the RR embankment in Biffontaine, France. I can still remember that night in Biffontaine. It was very dark and I thought I felt a German soldier poke me and say "Hans" and then he melted back into the blacknes of the night before the attack.
It must be noted that for a rifle platoon soldier particularly in a 442nd RCT rifle company that after a year in combat, you were either dead or wounded.

Rating:
Summary: The Last Fox Brings Japanese/American Unit in WWII to Life
Review: Robert Kono's book about the famous unit of Japanese Americans who fought against the Nazis in Europe during WWII is an amazing account of the battles this unit fought, both against racism and against German bullets and bombs. This work has some of the most vivid, incredible battle scenes I've read. The way soldiers could 'name' bombs and bullets by the types of sounds and explosions they create (along with vivid details of the havoc these weapons created on the battlefield) make this book a must-read for anyone interested in WWII battles.

The scenes where these men go in to rescue the Lost Battalian (an American unit trapped behind German lines) is a record of courage and valor above and beyond the call of duty.

A few more regiments of Japanese American soldiers in Europe and the US Army might have reached Berlin ahead of the Russians. These were tough, tough soldiers.

Rating:
Summary: The Last Fox Brings Japanese/American Unit in WWII to Life
Review: Robert Kono's book about the famous unit of Japanese Americans who fought against the Nazis in Europe during WWII is an amazing account of the battles this unit fought, both against racism and against German bullets and bombs. This work has some of the most vivid, incredible battle scenes I've read. The way soldiers could 'name' bombs and bullets by the types of sounds and explosions they create (along with vivid details of the havoc these weapons created on the battlefield) make this book a must-read for anyone interested in WWII battles.

The scenes where these men go in to rescue the Lost Battalian (an American unit trapped behind German lines) is a record of courage and valor above and beyond the call of duty.

A few more regiments of Japanese American soldiers in Europe and the US Army might have reached Berlin ahead of the Russians. These were tough, tough soldiers.

Rating:
Summary: The Last Fox
Review: The Last Fox by Robert Kono is a most interesting and illuminating novel. The story line follows the men of the 442nd and the 100th Regimental Combat Teams through their campaigns in Italy and France in World War II. These men fought with Medal of Honor courage while their loved ones and relatives were in United States interment camps. Kono captures the real feelings of combat and the personal valor of these fine soldiers,with great style and vivid metaphors. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: The Last Fox
Review: The Last Fox by Robert Kono is a most interesting and illuminating novel. The story line follows the men of the 442nd and the 100th Regimental Combat Teams through their campaigns in Italy and France in World War II. These men fought with Medal of Honor courage while their loved ones and relatives were in United States interment camps. Kono captures the real feelings of combat and the personal valor of these fine soldiers,with great style and vivid metaphors. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: This is the book we have been waiting for. We have read about the exploits of the Nisei soldiers and have heard the campaign stories. I don't read war novels but this one promised to give me the inner drama of the soldier.
This novel does that and much more. The hero faces the enemy in combat, internment of his family in his own country, racism after victory, and after living a life overcoming adversity, a terminal illness. His values sustain him and they are the book's gift to its readers.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: This is the book we have been waiting for. We have read about the exploits of the Nisei soldiers and have heard the campaign stories. I don't read war novels but this one promised to give me the inner drama of the soldier.
This novel does that and much more. The hero faces the enemy in combat, internment of his family in his own country, racism after victory, and after living a life overcoming adversity, a terminal illness. His values sustain him and they are the book's gift to its readers.