The Storm on Our Shores

About this book

"From a bestselling author, the heartbreaking, redemptive story of two World War II soldiers whose fateful encounter in the Forgotten War of Alaska has fascinated Americans for decades. In researching his bestselling book The Big Year, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mark Obmascik rediscovered a long-lost document from World War II: the diary of a Japanese surgeon, recovered from his body by the soldier who killed him. In the Cradle of Storms reveals the layered and moving story of two men bound together by a nineteen-page diary--and how its words eventually captivated American troops and changed our war-torn society. Written as one desperate man's final testament, Paul Nobuo Tatsuguchi's journal revealed the medic's studies in America and his love for the US. It sent shock waves through American troops of the 1940s, shattering racist preconceptions and opening eyes to the common humanity of soldiers on both sides of the battle lines. Years later, it sent Laura Tatsuguchi Davis, the dead medic's daughter, on an intense search for the truth behind her father's life and legacy. And it drove Dick Laird--the sergeant who found the diary--to undertake a forty-year quest on two continents to find Laura, whose kindness and forgiveness offered redemption for his own tortured soul. With journalistic acumen, sensitivity, and unmatched narrative skills, Obmascik tells the unforgettable true story of a horrific battle on a barren Alaskan island, two families struggling for peace, and the unlikely road to forgiveness"--