Veterans Day Film Screening: Honor & Sacrifice: The Roy Matsumoto Story

The depth of sacrifice for and devotion to the United States on the part of Japanese-Americans in WWII is the focus of a documentary about an American hero – just in time for Veterans’ Day.

Honor & Sacrifice: The Roy Matsumoto Story, which will be shown at 12pm on November 10 in the 3^rd Floor State Reception Room of the Legislative Building in Olympia, tells the complex story of a Japanese immigrant family ripped apart by WWII. The Matsumoto family included five sons; two who fought for the Americans and three who fought for the Japanese. The eldest, Hiroshi (Roy), became a hero, fighting against the Japanese with Merrill’s Marauders, An American guerilla unit in Burma.

Matsumoto was born near Los Angeles, educated in Japan, and used his Japanese language skills and military training to save his surrounded, starving battalion deep in the Burmese jungle – all while his parents and sisters were living in the family’s ancestral home in Hiroshima. Roy’s story is told by his daughter Karen as she discovers her father’s work in military intelligence, kept secret for 50 years.

Karen Matsumoto and filmmakers Lucy Ostrander and Don Sellers will provide a special presentation at the screening, which is sponsored by Legacy Washington and the Washington State Historical Society.

For more information or to RSVP: info@sos.wa.gov or 360-902-4171. The doors open at 11:30am. Seating is limited. Light refreshments will be served and copies of the film will be available for purchase.