Mr. James Parkinson and "The Inheritance of War"

Today is the first day of the first annual Hill Country Film Festival (HCFF). Over the course of two days and three evenings, five feature films along with a selection of short films will be shown at the Stagecoach Theater right here in Fredericksburg. You may be wondering what this has to do with the National Museum of the Pacific War. Besides being a great event for the community of Fredericksburg, the museum is very fortunate to be hosting a special speaker as part of the film festival.

Mr. James Parkinson, an esteemed lawyer from California, produced and narrated “Inheritance of War,” a feature film that will be aired at the HCFF on Saturday at 3:00. Mr. Parkinson took on the case of WWII veterans who were taken prisoner by the Japanese, survived the Bataan Death March and were used as slave labor by Japanese corporations. I won’t give away the outcome of the case for reparations from the Japanese, but the details are sure to leave you searching for more answers. The former POWs involved in the case would not accept being called heroes. Rather they wanted to tell their stories both for the sake of those who didn’t make it through the horrors as well as to educate future generations and ensure that something like this never happens again.

In the Grand Ballroom of the Admiral Nimitz Museum on Main Street, at 6:30 on Friday evening, Mr. Parkinson will be speaking about his experiences with the POWs, his book on the subject, Soldier Slaves, and the film. His book will be available at the event that evening as well as ahead of time in both the Nimitz Bookstore and the Bush Gallery Museum Store. Mr. Parkinson will be available to sign them after the presentation. This event is free to the public. We would like to thank Chad Mathews, HCFF Director, for helping to arrange this presentation. We wish the HCFF all the best of luck and success this weekend!