Sgt. Nick Yemana served in the U.S. army during World War II. He was in the 442nd infantry division "Nisei", which consisted almost entirely of Japanese-American soldiers. (The word "Nisei" refers to American-born children of Japanese immigrants and Nisei itself is Japanese for Second.)
Jack Soo was interned in a camp for Japanese-Americans in Utah during WWII. He got out by enlisting in the US Army, and was assigned to the famous Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT)--the most decorated unit in the US Army--and fought in Italy.
Roots (1977) was a mini-series based on a novel written by Alex Haley which in turn was based on his family history. The original broadcast took place on January 23, 1977, nearly two months before the airing of this episode. What made the mini-series, ground-breaking television was it dramatized the full-spectrum of the black experience, which was rarely done before that time.
A newspaper article which referred to germ warfare experiments conducted by the US Army in New York City subways is a true story. It happened in the early days of June 6-10, 1966 between 7th and 8th Ave Subway lines, Army scientists disseminated a harmless Anthrax strain in the middle of Manhattan using lightbulbs as a delivery device, and breaking it against the train tracks below. In one incident, five minutes after bacteria were released at 23rd Street Station, the bacteria could be detected at every station between 14th Street and 59th, and it took nearly four minutes for a train to be infected. These experiments that used bacteria to simulate biological weapons were conducted on civilians without their knowledge or consent which is in direct violation of the Nuremberg Code, which stipulates that "voluntary, informed consent" is required for research participants (Not even City Officials were notified of the test). The experiments were not brought to light till a Senate Subcommittee on Intelligence hearing was convened in 1975. Based on After Action Reports, test results show that a large portion of the working population in downtown New York City would be exposed to disease if one or more pathogenic agents were disseminated covertly in several subway lines at a period of peak traffic."