John Garcia

John Garcia is a large, native Hawaiian man who happens to be working at Pearl Harbor when it is attacked. He is asked by the military to assist in removing the bodies of dead and alive soldiers from the waters and helps to pull men from the ships. He joins the military and has difficulty determining his race, since Hawaiian's generally care little about such matters. Once there, he finds he is treated differently than other soldiers who are white. His is the first story in the book, and as such, his words introduce the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He tells of the attack from the standpoint of a Hawaiian and one who is not Caucasian. Rather than a military view of the bombing, Garcia gives a civilian view. He is proud to be American but is often looked down on in the military as a non-Caucasian...