Pearl Harbor Warriors Book

Hatred becomes friendship between these former enemies

Pearl Harbor Warriors has won two national awards, the International Reading Association Nonfiction Award and the Benjamin Franklin Award for Intermediate Nonfiction. Further, Pearl Harbor Warriors has been named to the Mark Twain List by the Missouri Association of School

The Bugler, the Pilot, the Friendship

Pearl Harbor Warriors is the unique story of intense hatred turning to warm friendship between two former enemies, a Marine bugler (Sgt. Richard Fiske) and a Japanese pilot (Lt. Zenji Abe). The story is told through a series of letters between author Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson, her granddaughter, Jennifer, and warm personal letters from Fiske and Abe to Jennifer.

In 1941, Marine Sgt. Richard Fiske was the bugler on board the USS West Virginia. He was preparing to sound “colors” on December 7th when his ship was attacked by Japanese airplanes as the bombing of Pearl Harbor began. Fiske was on the bridge when one of the attackers roared past him, so close he could clearly see the pilot’s face. This image haunted him for many years in recurring nightmares which eventually made him sick. When he finally told his story, his healing process began.

Dick told his story for years while volunteering at the USS Arizona Memorial. He made friends with many Japanese veterans, including some who actually bombed his ship. One of the pilots, Zenji Abe, became a special friend. Until his death in May 2004, Dick returned to the USS Arizona Memorial once a month, gently placed two roses at the memorial wall, and sounded taps in honor of those who died there. Those fortunate enough to witness this simple ceremony will never forget it.

Pearl Harbor Warriors is full color, a hardcover book featuring a foreword by Daniel Martinez, historian at the National Park Service’s USS Arizona Memorial.

After Dorinda finished writing the original edition of Pearl Harbor Child (the first civilian account of the attack written by a woman through the eyes of a child), she was contacted by other eyewitness survivors who wanted to share their stories. So, in the next editions, she began to add previously untold accounts of that incredible event. Some were civilians, and some were military, like U.S. Marine bugler, Sgt. Richard Fiske.

Dorinda knew the Fiske/Abe story was so powerful, it deserved a book of its own.

Pearl Harbor Warriors is the result.