Little Soldier Boy completed

This is the Little Soldier Boy. He's very shy and quiet, with no dialog in the entire story (even the dog has lines)

This character is based off a real life person who helped my Grandma during this time. In the real story, my Grandfather was able to get my Grandmother out of the camps for a day or so, so that they could get married in Chicago. After they got married, Grandpa had to return Yuri back to the camps. Both of them waited at the train station, when a sheriff came by, "What are you Japs doin here?"

My Grandfather presented the paper work concerning Yuri's temporary leave from the camps. "...Well, it's a good thing you had this, or I would've thrown you two in jail." the sheriff said and walked away. Grandma was very upset and afraid. After getting married, she had to return to the racist world and horrible camps. Soldiers started to march by her. One by one, they kept on moving, until..."Thump!" Onto the seat next to my Grandmother, there was a cardboard box. Inside were rations, cans of soda, and magazines. My Grandmother was so happy, but when she looked up, all she saw were the marching soldiers. So in a loud voice, she shouted, "Thank you!" hoping the little soldier boy would hear.



In my thesis, I changed the story just a little bit. Instead of my grandfather, I had Yuri's father sitting next to her. It would've been too late to introduce another character. Plus, I needed to patch up the broken relationship between Yuri and her father, before the "train" arrives. The Little Soldier Boy sees Yuri upset on the bench, hesitates, and then walks over to quickly give her the box, before running off. To cut on time, I won't show what's in the box. I'll make Yuri's expression joyful to show whatever the contents are in the box, it has to be a good thing. His helmet is obviously too big on him. As stated before, Yuri didn't know who gave her the box. I wanted to keep that spirit and design this character perfectly to show cuteness, shyness, and mysteriousness. I want the soldier to hesitate a little, before making his way to drop off the box. I want to show that because this is such a racist time, the soldier boy might be scolded or made fun of for helping someone of Japanese decent. But for the most part, I wanted to show that whatever is in the box, it must've meant a lot to himself. By giving away his possession just to help out a Japanese girl, shows that kindness can be found among men of this time.