In 1942 October, with the approval of President F.D. Roosevelt, 26 Japanese-American Nisei soldiers were transferred from Camp McCoy, Wisconsin to the Mexican Bay for a Secret Military Project. The Nisei participated in the so-called ‘War Dog Project’ to train special dogs for the military aiming to help the battles on the Pacific. The project on Cat Island was implemented on the theory that Japanese descents smell different from Caucasians, therefore dogs can be trained to smell that ‘Japanese scent’. When the project did not meet the expectations, the leaders, William A. Prestre and the U.S. Army, carried out even more brutal training methods to deliver results. The film portrays the American battlefield during WWII., not on foreign but domestic soil.
I came across the infamous War Dog Projects of the U.S. Army while doing research for my debut feature which is in development, about the Japanese internment in America during WWII. I was staggered by the facts, how irresponsibly the government approved such a controversial theory about Japanese-American citizens, and how quickly they put that misconception into practice. I was even more appalled by the aftermath of the failed project. No remorse, no regret, no public apology. Recent shifts in the American political landscape stirred up the multicultural melting pot in our society. The ever-increasing witch-hunt of immigrants started to dominate the political and other public rhetoric. The definitions of national and individual safety became unclear again. Being an immigrant myself, The Shepherds of Cat Island is my direct reflection on the manipulative nature of this persistent political myopia.