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View Winners → Citizen Tanouye – Film showing at Glendale Library August 14
Arcadia Weekly Jul 31, 2014
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Glendale Library, Arts, & Culture present
Citizen Tanouye
A film by Robert Horsting and Craig Yahata
Citizen Tanouye follows the life-changing journey of eight Torrance High School students who set
out to uncover the story of Ted Tanouye, a Japanese American Torrance High School alumnus,
World War II hero, and Medal of Honor recipient. As the ethnically diverse group dig in to discover
Tanouyc ‘ s story they uncover the civil rights abuses suffered by Japanese Americans such as
Tanouye’s family during the war years. The students plowed through archival materials , searched
online, and conducted insightful interviews with war veterans to get to the bottom of what Tanouye
and his family experienced.
Tech/Sergeant Ted Tanouye died at the age of 24 as a result of wounds received from a mine blast
during combat. He was a member of the renowned 442nd Regimental Combat Team, comprised
mostly of Japanese American soldiers. Tanouye’ s valiant act ions earned him the accolades of his
fellow soldiers and many posthumously awarded medals, including the Medal of Honor. Tanouye’s
family was incarcerated at internment camps with other Japanese-Americans, including confinements
at both Jerome War Relocation Center and Rohwer Relocation Center, even as he served and
eventually died an American war hero. The students bring Tanouyes story into sharp focus as the
relevance of his experiences to their own lives becomes all too apparent.
Documentary filmmaker and Glendale resident Robert Horsting produced and co-directed the film
with Craig Yahata. His work on the film germinated from his voluntary participation in the Hanashi
Oral History Program of the Go For Broke National Education Center, designed to preserve the legacy
of Japanese American soldiers in the US Army during WWII. He was moved by how openly the
veterans shared their life experiences and what they had done to prove their loyalty. Original music
for the film was composed by Stephen James Taylor.
The documentary film Citizen Tanouye will be screened on August 14,2014 at 7:00 pm at the Glendale Central Library, 222 E. Harvard, Glendale. The presentation is free and open to the public.
Further information: www.citizentanouye.com
