All language subtitles for Cold.Case.S05E11.Family.8108.WEB-DL.AMZN.en

[The Andrew Sisters singing
"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"]

Hey, we're running
out of sun, dingbat.

- Come on. Let's play.
- Let me finish.

Oh, hi, Skip.

Oh, that's a
good one, son.

You even got
the robin's nest.

Thanks, Ma.
Where's Dad?

Working late, I suppose.

[male announcer on radio]
'And now, a new update.'

'Yesterday, Japan continued
its attacks along Mount Samat.'

'The US Philippine Division
suffered heavy losses..'

[car honking]

- Oh, my God.
- Golly.

[car honking]

♪ The company jumps
when he plays reveille ♪

♪ He's the boogie woogie
bugle boy of Company B ♪

♪ A-toot a-toot
a-toot-diddlyada-toot.. ♪

Sorry I'm late, sweetheart.

How can we afford a new car?

[Ray]
'The bank just cleared us
a loan for two new stores.'

It's called franchising.

I thought they said "no".

I went to the old backup plan.

The backup plan
being "Don't give up?"

- Never fails.
- Is this a Packard?

Yep, gonna drive you
to art classes in style.

Hey, what do we have here?

Some fatheads at school.

Blame me for Pearl Harbor.

But we're as
American as those boys.

You sock 'em back?

- I thought fighting was bad.
- 'It is.'

But standin' up for yourself
is another thing, son.

Don't forget
that, alright?

Game of touch, Mr. T?

- Absolutely, Skip.
- Here you go.

Come on, huddle up,
Billy. You, too, honey.

- Let's go.
- Skip, you're going down.

Come on.
You stay away there, Skip.

Alright, let's
do this. Ready?

Ready?
Team!

342!

342!

Oh, never seen such
a swell-looking center.

What are ya doing
after the game, hotcakes?

Wouldn't you like to know.

- Dad, come on!
- Alright, hike!

♪ He's the boogie woogie
bugle boy ♪

♪ Of Company B ♪

Dad?

'"All Japanese persons,
both alien'

"and non-alien,
will be evacuated

"by noon
on April 7, 1942."

What do they mean,
"alien and non-alien"?

They mean us.

[eerie music]

[melancholic music]

Court that bad?

Coffee there makes
this stuff gourmet.

The last day of boss'
suspension.

Jeffries said he put in
his retirement papers.

Any word on
who'll be coming in?

Well, not Jeffries.

Some clown from West.

Been reassigned six times.

Don't know what I'd do if I
didn't come here every day.

Some things I'd miss.

Some things I wouldn't,
like court.

All pains in the ass,
those ADAs.

Yeah, real pains.

Oil and water,
cops and lawyers.

Usually, that is.

More like 24/7.

[Barbara]
'Excuse me.'

Are you detectives?

Yeah.

My father, Raymond Takahashi,
was killed

'in 1945.'

They never caught who did it.

60-plus years ago, long time.

I just found a $20,000 check
from the government

issued to my mother in 1990.

Tax refund?

Restitution.

[Barbara]
'My family was'

at the Manzanar
Relocation Center.

Manzanar, what's that?

A camp in California

where they held
Japanese-Americans

'during World War II.'

An internment camp.

I was born there.

Never knew it.
My mother was..

too ashamed to tell me.

So what's that got to do
with your father's murder?

Well, my father was
killed a few months

after we got out,
moved to Philly.

Maybe the police were looking

in the wrong place
for his murderer?

Maybe.

[Barbara]
'I found this old picture..'

'...of my parents
and my big brother, Billy.'

Well, he died in the war.

'The way she smiled at them..'

she never looks
at me like that.

I'd love one chance to meet

the woman in that picture.

We'll take a look.

Can't promise
we'll find anything.

I understand.

Thank you.

So the guy survives
being locked up

in an internment camp.

Only to be killed
in the City of Brotherly Love.

[theme music]

[music continues]

[music continues]

Ray Takahashi.

'Body found a few blocks
from the old'

Municipal Stadium.

[Will]
'Night of the Army/Navy
football game.'

He was beaten,
pushed down a flight

of stairs,
broke his neck.

Theory was some drunk
bigot roughed him up.

Took things too far.

All of two interviews

worked real hard on this one.

'Cause, "A Jap's a Jap," right?

Well, Ray's family
lived in California

till FDR banned all

Japanese-Americans
from the West Coast in 1942.

[Will]
'Over 100,000'

were forced into camps
without due process.

Most were born and raised here.

And none were ever arrested
for espionage.

Ray's son, Billy, gave up his
life for the American dream.

Died overseas in 1944.

Found an empty envelope
on Ray's body.

Addressed to him
in Manzanar.

Return address just
says "APO-513."

Army Post Office, how we used
to get our mail home.

The letter could be
from his kid, Billy.

[Rush]
'Not likely; it was mailed'

November 27, 1944.

Billy died October 30.

[Will]
An envelope, no letter.

Contents could be a motive.

So what's our
letter writer hidin'?

Something that happened
at Manzanar?

Let's track down all the records
we can get from there

and have Latents take a look.

[Valens]
'Good luck getting a print off'

a 60-year-old envelope.

Boss was military, too.

Might have some input.

You'd have better luck
with the print.

Thank you.

Quiet getting to you?

I'm not much
of a cook, frankly.

Right.

You here for the chili?

No, for a job.

A Japanese-American camp
internee killed in '45.

Night of the Army/Navy game.

My father went to that game.

Proud Army man.

Well, it must've
broke his heart.

- You going Navy.
- 'Uh.'

He got over it...eventually.

Found this on our
victim's body.

APO's the only clue
to who sent it.

Well, have
Latents take a look.

I'm sure Jeffries
already told you that.

[Rush]
'Our victim's son, Billy'

died in the war.
Was an Army guy

442nd.

An all
Japanese-American unit.

Most decorated battalion
for its size.

I could use your eyes
on this one, boss.

I put my papers in already, Lil.
You know that.

So what're we supposed to do
without you kickin' our asses?

Huh?

You'll survive.

Enjoy your chili.

Why did you bring this
stranger here, Barbara?

You know I don't
wanna talk about it.

It's been 62 years, mom.

'Isn't it time you did?'

You recognize this,
Mrs. Takahashi?

- No.
- Your husband had it.

When he was killed.

He know anyone in the Army
who might've sent it?

No.

That's quite the picture.

'You draw that?'

My son did. Billy.

That's him with his best friend,
Skip, from home.

Heard about your son's
unit, the 442nd.

Not many have.

Real heroic guys.

The war was supposed
to make us equal.

It didn't.

Because you were in the camps?

It's okay to talk
about it, mom--

What difference does it make?

Solving your husband's murder.

'Maybe Manzanar had
something to do with it.'

Why? We were just a number.

No names. 8108.

Like criminals.

He make any enemies there?

From the moment we arrived.

[Vera Lynn singing
"White Cliffs of Dover"]

[male #1]
'Let's go! Bring it out!
Let's go!'

- Come on, right now!
- Yes, sir.

Move it
out, quickly! Quickly!

Come on, right here!
Right here! In a line!

Right here! Let's go!

'Get your things.'

'Come on, right here, let's go.'

'Come on, move it.'

♪ The white cliffs of Dover

♪ Tomorrow
just you wait and see ♪

How long are we
going to be here for?

Not too long.

It's for our
own protection.

But why are the guns
pointed at us?

Billy, we just sit tight,
be good citizens and

we'll be out of here
lickety-split, understand?

Your name, sir?

Takahashi.

Okay, you will be
in Block 18, room 7

with the Watanabe family.

We have to share?

At least we'll be together.

Mattresses.

Down the way, you can
fill them with straw.

Uh, so how is the school here?

Bet you folks didn't know you've
got a young Rembrandt visiting.

Oh, are you an artist?

- I guess.
- Me too.

I teach a pen and ink class.

It's gonna be fun.

I made this

so that you don't forget
you're Americans.

I just wanted to give you
some sort of welcome.

Well, your smile
is welcome enough.

I've seen nothing
but frowns all day.

Sun's still shinning.

Don't understand.

He messing with
you, Mary Anne?

No, Larry. It's okay.

Don't know why they let you
people in this country.

- I was born here.
- Uh-huh?

Bet you got cousins
in the old country

fighting for the emperor?

Scholz. That German?

Your cousins fighting
for Hitler?

You watch it, mister.

Pick it up.

I said pick it up, Jap.

The funny thing
about wars, kid..

...they always find
a way to end.

Hope we meet outside
this fence one day.

Count on that.

Yeah.

And this guard had it out
for your husband?

He trolled the camp,
gun at the ready

looking for trouble.

He and Ray ever have
another run-in?

Not that I know of.

[Vera]
'I found our guard.'

Larry Scholz.
Shipped out of Manzanar in '43.

Stationed in Italy
till the end of the war.

A rock-solid alibi
if I ever heard one.

Not quite. Got a medal at
the 1945 Army/Navy Game

'here in Philly.'

It's the same night
Ray was killed.

[Valens]
'Maybe they met up again'

and Larry decided the world
needed one less Jap.

'Cause keeping them
in prison wasn't enough.

We were at war.

They'd have done the same to us
if we were in Japan.

Feel the same
if it was your family?

So where's Larry Scholz's
current place of residence?

Uh...VA Hospital
at Virginia.

Whoa. That's a five-hour drive.

Shame I got
all this paperwork.

Shame I'm still on hold.

Have fun,
sweet-talking

tollbooth attendants.

Yeah.

[Vera]
'Larry Scholz?'

[Miller]
'Philly PD.'

Here about Ray Takahashi.

Taga what?

Hashi. Takahashi.

He was at the Manzanar
internment camp in 1942

under your watch.

[Vera]
'Murdered in '45.'

Witness thinks
you had a beef with him.

Beef? You kidding me?

I was just doing my job.

We were at war.

Imprisoning
our own citizens.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Sayin' you wouldn't
think twice about

sittin' on a plane
next to an Arab after 9/11?

Come on.

Did you send this to Ray
while overseas?

Never seen that before
in my life.

Look close.

I'll look all you want.

I didn't send that letter
to some enemy of the state.

Hated the guy, didn't you?

Kept tabs on him at camp, sure.

Part of my duties.

How long did
you watch Ray for?

Till I realized his old ball
and chain was keeping him

too busy
to make any trouble.

[Glenn Miller singing
"This Is No Laughing Matter"]

You drawing me
another pretty blue jay?

Sure, Ma.

Hey, Roosevelt
lifted the ban

against Japanese-American
enlistment.

Does that mean
we can leave?

Oh, no. But it means
you can enlist, son.

Enlist?

Prove we're as American
as the rest.

[Ray]
'You're gonna make
a great soldier.'

I know you got it in ya.

- This what I'd be fighting for?
- Billy..

What would I say
on the first day, Dad?

Private 8108,
reporting to duty?

This is just temporary.

We act right,
prove ourselves

they'll see
we don't belong here.

I'm not going.

What the hell's
the matter with him?

We've been
acting "right"

for a year already
in this place.

The whole country's
making sacrifices.

We have to play our part.

We're living in a shack,
standing in line

for food like beggars.

We have lost everything
we worked for.

Open your eyes,
Ray, for once!

Wait, wait, wait!

Wait, wait...Come on!

You love them, Evelyn!
You love those plates.

I'm pregnant.

What?

You are?

That's fantastic.

I can't raise a baby
in a place like this.

Not as a prisoner.

♪ Break my heart ♪

Didn't have it in me
to harass him after that.

Real sweet
of you, Larry.

Where were you the night
of the Army/Navy game?

Getting my medal.
Ask Truman.

Ceremony didn't last all night.

Talk to my commanding officer.

He's right down the hall.

In the president's suite.

[Rush]
'Larry Scholz's lieutenant'

confirmed his alibi.

A real door prize,
that guy.

Forgot your file, Lil.

John.

Good to see you.

Just droppin' it off.

Any thoughts
on who sent the envelope?

I talked to my
military contacts about it.

The Army Post Office number
came from a French hospital.

- 'No Army examiner's stamp.'
- Meaning?

Meaning it didn't go
through inspection.

It came from an officer.

Hmm. Thanks.

Gotta go. Good luck.

Just dropping
something off.

Right.

Manzanar logs.

One visitor the three years
Ray was there.

Skip Robertson.

Billy's friend.

Makes sense
he would visit.

Turns out Skip was
also Billy's lieutenant.

Injured in the same battle
that killed Billy in France.

Could be our letter writer.

So what's he hidin'?

Appreciate you driving
out from Jersey, Skip.

Oh, please, call me Eugene.

Hmm.

Recognize this handwriting?

'Yeah...it's mine.'

Where'd you get it?

Ray Takahashi had it

when someone pushed him
down a flight of stairs

the night of the Army/Navy
game in '45.

Ray Takahashi was murdered?

You that someone, Skip?
Give him a push?

Probably were in town
for the game. Right?

I was with my Army buddies
all night

and I can give you names.

Do that.

Listen, Billy was
my best friend.

The Takahashis were
like family to me.

Look, after Billy died,
I was sent to the South Pacific.

- And we lost touch.
- What was in the envelope?

It was the last letter
Billy wrote before he died.

I found it on his things
and sent it to his family.

- What'd it say?
- I don't know.

Listen, Billy was
a brave soldier.

They all were, the 442nd.

Billy didn't seem like your
average gung-ho soldier.

He didn't want to enlist,
and it broke Ray's heart.

And that's the reason
Ray asked me to come visit.

["Praise the Lord and Pass
the Ammunition"]

I just can't wait
to get overseas.

Let those Nazis have it.

Your parents
must be so proud.

Your dad says
you're not joining up.

No matter what we do,
we'll always be Japs to them.

Hey, you won't fight
for this country

you make them right
about us, Billy.

What do you know
about fighting?

What?

Why didn't you sock
that guard, Dad?

I thought you were supposed
to stand up for yourself.

[Ray]
'You are, but..'

...things aren't
so simple now

not in this world.

They treat us
like dirt here.

How can you ask me
to fight when you won't?

[Shinji]
'Ray.'

You been telling boys
on the block to enlist?

You stay out of this, Shinji.

No, you stay out.

This country treats our
children like caged animals--

Lower your voice.

The guards will hear you,
send you away.

Guards.

You know what this is?

Toilet paper.
Guess what we are.

He do this?

Don't ask me
that, guard.

I'll ask what I want, Tojo.

Did this man desecrate
the American flag?

Yes.

You worthless traitor!

'You'll have our boys'
blood on your hands!'

'This isn't over, Ray!'

This isn't over!

'Our kids, think about it!
Our kids!'

♪ Pass the ammunition
and we'll all ♪

♪ Be free ♪

I never forget the look
on his face..

...like Billy abandoned him.

Do you know if Shinji and Ray
clashed again after that?

Now, Shinji was sent off
to Tule Lake that day

for desecrating the flag,
and I saw him leave myself.

[Vera]
'Looking into the 1945 murder
of Ray Takahashi.'

Name ring a bell?

We lived in that
rat hole they called

a detention center.
So what?

Heard Manzanar was no picnic;
Tule Lake was even worse.

[Valens]
'Long interrogations,
cold weather'

stockades,
you put up with a lot.

All because Ray Takahashi
pinned you for a flag burner.

[Valens]
'Then Ray ends up dead
in the same city'

you set up residence in.

Coincidence?

A lot of us came here
after the war

because of the Quakers.

They helped us
get back on our feet.

My wife and I stuck.

[Valens]
A guy like that

"traitor", sends me
away from my family

I'd be pretty pissed off.

So maybe you get
out of Tule Lake

sore to find your buddy Ray.

I was still behind barbed wire
when Ray died.

Didn't get out
of Tule Lake till '46

'cause I answered "no" twice

to the government
loyalty questionnaire.

Loyalty questionnaire?

Asked if we'd be willing
to fight in the war

renounce the Japanese emperor.

Oh, and you refused to?

Didn't know
the damn emperor's name.

I was born here.

Just like you.

As far as the government
was concerned..

..."I was just a Jap".

'And so was Ray.'

But he still couldn't see it.

♪ Why do you whisper
green grass ♪

♪ Why tell the trees
what ain't so ♪

♪ Whispering grass

♪ The trees don't have
to know.. ♪♪

Hey, Ray.

You done for the day?

Ah, almost.

[Ray]
'I've been reading up
on your hometown, Philadelphia.'

Understand the Quakers
have quite a presence there.

We do.

Maybe when this
business is over..

...you could help introduce
me to some folks.

Of course.

I could help you
find an apartment.

I appreciate it.

Uh, wait, I have
something for you.

Carrots.

For your victory garden.

You and Billy can plant them.

Thanks, but I'm
on my own today.

Oh, busy with classes?

Busy blaming me
for the whole war.

It's that age.

He..

He doesn't want to enlist.

Doesn't believe in dying
for this country.

Does it make me
a bad American

if part of me believes
that now, too?

No. Not in this place.

I always thought
I'd be judged on my character..

...not my skin.

- I was wrong.
- Ray.

You have to know

I never saw you
as the enemy.

It's not fair that you
have to start over.

I've been starting over
my whole life.

Easy as pie.

Thanks.

For what?

You make me forget about
where we really are.

You make me forget, too.

♪ Why tell them
all the old things ♪

♪ They're buried
under the snow.. ♪♪

So, Ray and the Quaker
were doing the dirty?

The man preached loyalty
on his soapbox

but he wasn't loyal.

At least not to his wife.

Thanks for your time.

So Mary Anne helped
Ray move to Philly.

Continued the affair?

Or not, if Evelyn found out.

Dumped mistress,
betrayed wife.

Nothing worse than
a woman scorned.

How about two?

[Mary]
'Ray Takahashi?'

Haven't heard that name
in 60 years.

We're investigating his murder.

Heard you two were pretty close.

Acquaintances at best.

That all, Mary Anne?

What are you implying?

That you killed him.

'When he wouldn't
leave his wife for you.'

You think I killed my husband?

That I wanted to
raise a child on my own?

That era? Easier to be
a widow than a divorcee.

Yes.

Easy.

First Ray has an affair
with a white woman.

Next he's hauling
you and the baby

around the country
to her hometown.

Talk about a slap
in the face.

I'd be angry.

I was barely 25.

Young, foolish.

So you turned to Ray
for some desert lovin'.

Men like Ray were rare.

Special.

What we were doing to them
was wrong.

You fell in love.

No.

We had that one kiss,
that's all.

He said his wife was the only
woman he could ever love.

[Miller]
'Rejection like that?'

Gotta hurt.

Of course I was angry.

Ray told her I was
the only woman he could love.

And you believed him?

Ray was a gentleman.

We never spoke of it again.

His wife find out about it?

I didn't realize
my one, small indiscretion

would destroy his family.

Takahashi.

Billy! Billy!

- What are you doing?
- Joining up.

You were just going to leave
without saying good-bye?

Not even to your mother?

I said good-bye to her.

What about me?

You?

You talk about being American

about liberty and truth

but you're
the biggest liar here.

What are you
talking about?

You and that schoolteacher.

- Everyone knows.
- You don't understand.

What?

Things aren't so simple now?

Is that your excuse
for mom, too?

You wanna be
a soldier, fine

but do it for
the right reasons.

- This isn't about me.
- Sure it is.

It's about taking
a bullet for a country

that's turned you
into a coward

that's called me a Jap
since I can remember.

You don't know what it's like.

Don't I?

I've been called
every name in the book

treated like dirt and had
to smile in the face of it.

'But I never let
that destroy me'

'make me run away.'

Like you are now, son.

Don't go, not like this.

Too late.

Billy!

Billy!

You do not walk away
from me, damn it!

I want..

I want you to..

I want..

I want you
to come home safe, son.

Home?

I don't have a home.

Not anymore.

We got the news about Billy
a few months later.

They never got a chance
to make peace.

[Mary]
'But I made sure
that Ray took me up'

on the offer of the job
and the apartment.

That was the least
I could do.

Because you were the reason
Billy enlisted?

You got your apartment because
of Mary Anne's...generosity?

If leaving that hell meant
taking advantage of a crush

some silly woman had
on my husband, then so be it.

Any mother would have done
the same.

For Barbara?

And for my son.

I wanted him to come home
to a real home.

Not one behind bars.

But he never got that chance.

And we'll leave
on a big train.

And you'll get
to feel cool air

instead of this dusty,
cold wind.

[Ray]
'Train will be here soon.'

I stopped by
the woodworking hut.

I've been..

I've been making
these for you.

'To replace what we had.'

Plus the next time you get
mad at me, they won't break.

I guess it's time
for the backup plan.

Don't give up?

Don't give up..

...on us.

You're my whole life.

You're the only thing
that kept me going here.

We'll use them
in Philadelphia.

In our new home

when Billy returns.

The four of us.

The four of us.

I like the sound of that.

It's time to go.

[Evelyn]
'Ray, what is it?'

[melancholic music]

Ray?

'Ray?'

[sobbing]

[Evelyn]
That's how they told us
our son was dead.

In a telegram.

I'm sorry.

It breaks my heart that Ray and
Billy died angry at each other.

It broke Ray's, too.

We weren't the only family
that got a telegram that day.

Shinji's family got one.

Shinji Nakamura?

The neighbor who
went to Tule Lake?

His son was in the Army?

One of the first to enlist.

Ray talked him into it.

Finally got Shinji's
Tule Lake records.

- Alibi check out?
- Nope.

Shinji wasn't released in 1946
like he said.

Got out on November 23, 1945.

Few days before Ray was killed.

Even better, he used
the train ticket

the government bought him
to head to Philly

but his wife was in California.

And you don't travel 3,000 miles
just to say hello.

[Vera]
'"You'll have
blood on your hands'

convincing our boys to fight.
This isn't over."

Wasn't just any blood Ray had on
his hands. It was your son's.

My son would've done anything
to prove he was American.

He got his wish.

That doesn't change
the fact that you were

in Philadelphia
when Ray was murdered.

See, we make good
on our threats, too.

'Checked the records
at Tule Lake.'

Twenty five bucks
and a ticket to Philly.

I came here to see Ray

but I didn't kill him.

Then why lie?

Frankly, not a lot of faith

in the American justice system.

Point taken. Doesn't
answer the question.

I came here to give
him Billy's letter.

'They were long gone when
the letter came to Manzanar.'

Didn't realize
you two were bosom buddies.

We weren't.

But Ray paid the same price

I did to this country..

...a son.

He deserved to have that letter.

And I had a question to ask him.

What question?

"How to go on?"

'But it was clear'

he no longer had
any answers for me.

♪ I'm making believe

♪ That you're in my arms

♪ Though I know
you're so far away.. ♪♪

Ray?

What are you
doing here?

[Shinji]
'This letter came
to Manzanar after you left.'

My wife wanted
to make sure you got it.

I don't want anything
from that place.

It's from Billy.

Billy's gone.

[Shinji]
'They're saying they can't
send my boy's body home'

for at least another year.

Do you know what I'd do
for a letter?

[Shinji]
Anything from him?

[Ray]
'They already tore it down.'

The camp.

Like it never existed.

My son died for a country

that tosses out its sins
like the kitchen garbage.

I'm surprised they even
remember our boys' names.

They were heroes.

And this country

should give our boys
the medals they deserve.

♪ Making believe it's you

Can they bring him back
to me, Shinji?

Can they do that?

♪ And here in the gloom
of my lonely room ♪

Shinji, wait.

Shinji!

He said he was going
to get Billy his medal.

He changed his mind
just like that?

After he read Billy's letter.

That's why he was
outside the stadium.

Army/Navy game.

They were giving out the..

...Distinguished Combat Medals
that night.

Billy deserved a medal.

Your son did, too.

Threw himself
on a grenade

to save a white
battalion.

What a brave kid.

And Dad's last wish was
to see him honored for it.

Isn't this is who
we speak for?

People like Billy, Ray?

Sure you can walk away
from them, boss?

If Ray wanted his son
to get that medal

he'd need a nomination
from his commanding officer.

Billy's friend Skip.

He was at the Army-Navy
game that night.

France. Italy.

The South Pacific.

Two Bronze Stars
and a Purple Heart.

You were quite
the soldier, Skip.

Call me Eugene now.

I served in Vietnam myself.

Then you had it worse
than we did.

'War is war, right?'

I had a buddy in 'Nam,
Manny Isoy.

Filipino guy.

Here we were fighting off
the Viet-cong

and I'm stuck with a guy
who looked just like the enemy.

What are the odds, huh?

A soldier's a soldier.

Manny proved himself to be.

He died saving another guy
in our unit.

A hero.

[Stillman]
'Once we were on patrol we'

got caught in an ambush.

He got tore up pretty bad.

When the smoke cleared

I saw this gook
running towards me.

I came this close
to killing him.

But it was Manny.

Why are you telling me this?

Billy was your best friend.

Yes, he was.

A first-rate guy.

So what happened?

'When he died, you were shipped
to the South Pacific.'

You saw kamikazes
ruin your ships

'POW camps ruin
your friends.'

I get it, Eugene.
Believe me--

There's nothing to get.

They want you to
come back to this world

and be the same
as when you left.

But you're not.

Ray Takahashi appealed to Skip

the boy he knew
in California

but Skip was gone.

Fighting for your life
every day.

You-You know
they're out there.

And those faces... hating you.

Faces that looked
like Billy and like Ray?

That's why they put them
in these camps!

They didn't deserve medals.

They were the enemy.

♪ When the lights go on again

[laughter and squealing]

♪ All over the world

[woman laughing]

♪ And the boys are home again

[Ray]
'Skip!'

♪ All over the world

Go on. I'll just catch up
with you guys later.

♪ That may fall
from the skies above ♪

- I need to talk to you.
- Can't.

Shipping back out tomorrow.

It's about Billy.

He deserves the Distinguished
Combat Medal--

Those medals are
for American heroes.

That's what he was,
and you know it.

Billy sacrificed himself
to save others.

That's what you
people do, isn't it?

Kamikazes.

Suicide missions.

- Skip--
- Kill yourselves.

And you take good,
innocent people with you.

A Jap's a Jap.

What happened
to you over there?

Why send this letter if you
didn't care about us anymore?

Read this.

Read this and tell me
it's a lie.

Stop.

- Tell me those boys weren't--
- Stop!

That Billy doesn't
deserve that medal.

Go home, Jap.

I am home.

My boy was more

of an American
than you'll ever be.

[dramatic music]

[Billy]
"Dear Dad..

"...it's the night
before we go into battle

"and I can't sleep.

"Even in my dreams

"I hear the artillery

"and I'm so afraid.

"When I need to be brave

"I think of you, Dad

"and your strength in a world
that's no longer simple.

"Sometimes I dream
I'm home again

"drawing pictures of you,
Mom and little Barbara.

"None of us behind bars.

"Because in my dreams,
we're free.

"I know now
that's why I'm here.

"It's not about
who I'm fighting against

"but who I'm fighting for.

"You, Dad.

"And what your dreams
of America could be.

"Should be.

"I see all of us
on this battlefield

"white, black

"brown, yellow.

"And that's the America I know.

"Maybe one day
I'll see you there, Dad.

Love, your son, Billy."

[instrumental music]

[theme music]

[music continues]

[music continues]