PHOENIX — The year is 1943. World War II continues to rage as the Allies and the Axis powers stray further apart.
George Abe (pronounced AH-bay), along with the rest of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, is stationed in the Carolinas waiting for deployment. One evening, Abe and several members of his unit arrive at a restaurant for dinner, all wearing their uniforms and looking for a place to sit down and eat. They couldn’t have been more surprised when they were denied service because they were Japanese Americans.
“Wasn’t he furious,” Abe’s daughter, La Verne Abe Harris, said over 80 years later. “He said that he looked at them and realized that he was putting his life on the line for these people who wouldn’t serve him dinner. He wasn’t mad at them; he was sad for them. He said they were raised by their parents to be ignorant, and that really stuck with me.”…