brian cassidy bookselle

40.
[WWII]:
[Japanese-Americana]
OHASHI, Richard (Photographer)
[Photograph Album and Related Items
Belonging to a Japanese-American WWII Solider]
various (Italy, etc.), (ca. 1944-46)
Oblong 8vo. album. Full calf over boards. Title and ornate decoration
stamped in gilt to front with matching border to rear. 91 B&W photos
(83 snapshot, eight medium enlargements) with four commercial postcards
recto and verso mounted to 26 card leaves. 61 additional prints
loose (54 black-and-white; seven color); 152 photographs total, various
sizes. Also: several service medals/ribbons and a few pieces of
ephemera. Album boards moderately bowed, section of fading to front,
starting to leather at front hinge. Mild wear to contents (more so to
ephemera). Very good overall.
An important assembly of photographs compiled by Japanese-American
soldier Richard B. Ohashi (1925-2015) of Cheyenne, Wyoming, chronicling
his European theatre WWII service in the 442nd Infantry Regiment,
3rd Battalion, Company K (likely the 4th Platoon), of the United
States Army. The 442nd was a legendary unit composed nearly entirely
of Japanese-American soldiers, one of only three such combat units
in which Nisei were permitted to serve during the period of WWII internment.
Enlistment records show Ohashi entered the service in August of
1944. Though contents here are seldom dated, most appear to be from
1945 and early 1946. At least 6 of the wartime prints feature prominent
signage and the majority of images of soldiers appear to be
from a single camp. Though no location more specific than Italy can
be gleaned (the album is boldly stamped “ITALIA”), one notable sign
advertises an American Red Cross “Go For Broke” Club (the iconic,
official slogan of the 442nd). Another points the way to the presumed
camp of the “Fourth Platoon” with the names of 8 Japanese-American
soldiers clearly visible. 108 of the 152 images are of Ohashi's fellow
Japanese-American servicemen, unit support staff, or of the European
theater, primarily Italy. Singular in the group are his portraits of
fellow soldiers, with many of the prints signed or inscribed by their
subjects. These are moving works of amateur portraiture, capturing
the pride, bravery, and character of Ohashi's fellow Nisei soldiers.
Indeed, taken as a whole, the images throughout the archive are uncommonly
well-composed and accomplished.
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