The Japanese American Story…Part 1c

Part 1c Japanese Americans in Utah and the United States (c )

[This is part c (end) of a talk given to high school students at Juab High School in Nephi, Utah, on February 20, 2002. It is a chapter from the book listed below.]

Although they had heard that the camps might be a possibility, most of the ethnic Japanese on the West Coast never expected the forced evacuation and incarceration in the camps to become a reality, especially for those who were American citizens. When the evacuation took place, people were rounded up and taken to assembly centers which housed them temporarily until the camps were ready for occupancy.

These were usually horse stalls at racetracks and fairgrounds where the smell remained of the animals formerly housed there. The people were given a metal cot and a mattress cover which they filled with straw for their bed.

They were told that they were being locked away for their own protection because the Japanese Americans were suspected of being spies and people were hostile toward them. It was an invalid excuse for this horrible treatment of innocent people.

Ten camps were set up in desolate regions of the country in unpopulated areas which were generally accessible by train. The government built rows and rows of army type barracks to house the incarcerated persons.

Utah had a camp called Topaz near Topaz Mountain and the town of Delta, just down the road a bit south from where your school is located. The American concentration camps became like small cities of around eight to ten thousand people each, with one large camp of around eighteen thousand. The Japanese immigrants along with the Japanese Americans were basically stripped of their freedoms and locked up.

There were mess halls and community latrines with little or no privacy. Living conditions were far from ideal and were, in fact, extremely difficult and crowded. Most of the people had been living in comfortable homes. They tried to make the best they could of a bad situation. Whole families lived in one or two rooms.

After the war began, some Japanese American young men immediately tried to enlist in the United States Army. They wanted to show their patriotism, but they found that they had been reclassified as enemy aliens and were rejected. In 1943, the United States Army announced its plans to create a segregated unit which would be made up of Japanese Americans. The government leaders expected volunteers to rush from the camps to demonstrate their loyalty to the United States by enlisting to fight for what the government now admitted was their country after having considered them to be noncitizens or enemy aliens at the start of the war. Most of them lived in the camps by then. Some did sign up voluntarily, and others were drafted.

The War Department and the War Relocation Authority issued a questionnaire which was purportedly to be used for obtaining travel permission which became known as the “loyalty questionnaire.” It was required to be answered by all those incarcerated who were over the age of seventeen. The people in the camps would be determined to be loyal or disloyal to the United States based on their answers.

Two questions caused confusion and controversy. Question 27 asked: “Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?” Most, including women and the elderly, answered yes that they would be willing to serve if necessary. Question 28 asked: “Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and foreswear any form of allegiance to the Japanese Emperor or any other foreign government, power, or organization?”

They were being asked to foreswear allegiance to Japan although most were American citizens and had no allegiance whatsoever to the Japanese Emperor. It was problematic for the immigrants from Japan who were prevented by law from becoming naturalized citizens of the United States although it had been their home for many years. They were worried that they could become people with no country if they were to lose their citizenship in Japan because of their answer and then later be removed from the United States.

They felt they had to answer yes to keep their families together. It is said that some camp authorities told people that they would receive a $10,000 fine and a prison term of twenty years if they refused to answer the questions. It was confusing and difficult, but most citizens and immigrants alike answered yes to both questions in order to prove their loyalty and to avoid further problems.

There was a group in the camps called the Resisters of Conscience. They answered yes to the two questions but qualified it that they would serve only if their families were released from imprisonment. The questionnaire did not allow conditional answers or written comments so those responses were disregarded and considered as a no.

This act of protest got the Resisters arrested with many being sent to the Tule Lake camp which became designated as being the place for the troublemakers. Others were sent to federal prisons. These were young men loyal to the United States but who were not willing to serve while they and their families were incarcerated. It was a brave stand to take in the face of hardship.

Frank Emi, a leader of one of the groups which resisted being drafted while incarcerated, was even married and a father who was exempt from the draft. He was protesting and fighting for the rights to freedom for all those who were incarcerated.

After the war ended, the Resisters received a full pardon for their stand from President Harry S. Truman. Some did later serve in the military in other wars and years which followed.

Another group of men were called the No No Boys because they answered no to Questions 27 and 28. They felt that the country was treating them so badly that it did not deserve their loyalty. They were labeled as disloyal, and some were sent to Japan or to prison.

The young men from the camps who volunteered or were drafted into the US Army, became part of the segregated unit of Japanese Americans who made up the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The mainland group was joined by the 100th Battalion which was comprised of Japanese American soldiers from Hawaii. Other Japanese American young men who lived inland from the West Coast in relative freedom also joined the army or were drafted. The 442nd/100th fought in the European theater and became the most highly decorated unit in the history of the United States Army for its size and length of service.

Other Japanese Americans served in the military intelligence service (MIS) for the US Army and were mostly sent to the Pacific theater to serve as translators to intercept Japanese messages. Their work was kept secret for many years. My oldest brother was one of those. He was serving in Japan with the occupation when he died in the crash of a US military airplane after the end of the war. I was a young boy at the time, but I remember my family’s anguish upon hearing of his death.

The Japanese Americans who were living in Utah and other inland areas at the time of the war faced discrimination and prejudice, but they were able to continue to live in their homes. Their lives were not disrupted to the extent that was experienced by those living on the West Coast

Some of the Japanese Americans who now live in Utah settled here after being incarcerated in the camps at Topaz or at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. The people were given few options as they left the camps after the war ended. They were asked where they wanted to go and were given $25 and were provided with a train ride or bus fare. Some could not afford to go back to the West Coast although that would have been their preference. They had no place to go and little money, so they stayed in the closest place available which was for some, Salt Lake City or Ogden, Utah.

Many of those who were forcibly removed from their homes suffered greatly throughout their entire lifetimes from the effects of the incarceration. Years after the war, the JACL, along with some other groups, individuals, and members of Congress, worked to redress the wrongs committed by the government against Japanese Americans during World War II.

Although EO 9066 which was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, was rescinded in 1976 by President Gerald R. Ford, the efforts to gain redress had been largely unsuccessful. In 1978, at a National JACL Convention in Salt Lake City, members passed a resolution to earnestly seek redress with monetary compensation for the forced removal of Japanese Americans from their homes.

A main purpose of continuing this effort was to educate the public and have the government admit that the Constitution was not upheld at that time. The JACL leaders and others wanted to ensure that the same thing never happens to anyone else in this country.

After more than a decade of hard work by the JACL, other Japanese American organizations, four Japanese American members who were serving in Congress, numerous individuals, and with support from other civil rights groups, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. That resulted in a letter of apology from the President of the United States and reparations for the evacuees who were still living. These included all those who were forced to leave their homes on the West Coast after the start of World War II.

Congress apologized for these wrongs of the past. It took a great deal of work to get the bill passed. The majority of Democrats in the Congress voted for the bill, and the majority of Republicans voted against it with some members not voting. Although initially not in favor of the bill asking for monetary compensation, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 into law and said:

What is most important in this bill has less to do with property than with honor. For here we admit a wrong. Here we offer our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law.

The first redress checks of $20,000 were presented at a ceremony on October 9, 1990, to nine elderly people of Japanese heritage. The formal apology letter signed by President George Bush stated:

In enacting a law calling for restitution and offering a sincere apology, your fellow Americans have…renewed their commitment to the ideals of freedom, equality, and justice.

A total of 82,219 people received redress which was accomplished from 1991 to 1993.

As history has shown, EO 9066 proved to be a terrible mistake in which the constitutional rights of citizens were not upheld. American citizens were deprived of their freedoms and were denied equal protection under the law. The incarceration of innocent Japanese Americans who had done no wrong was later deemed to be the result of racism, war hysteria, and a lack of competent political leadership at that time.

As you can see, Utah has played an important and significant role for Japanese Americans and the JACL.

Last year our nation had the unfortunate experience of 9–11 when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC along with other horrific acts of violence. Of course, we do not condone any of these appalling acts of terrorism against our country, but we must be vigilant in defending the Constitution.

We should be careful not to vilify and condemn innocent Americans and immigrants simply because of their ethnicity or physical appearance as was done during World War II against Japanese Americans. Although all people of Japanese heritage were looked upon as the enemy and suspected of being spies, it was later determined that there were no acts of espionage ever committed by Japanese Americans during World War II.

Immediately after 9–11, the JACL issued a press release admonishing people to not make the same mistake that was done to Japanese Americans during World War II. American Muslims and others who may have similar physical characteristics to the terrorists of 9–11 were being persecuted after 9–11. This should not happen to innocent people simply because of their ethnic background or appearance.

Secretary Norman Mineta is a Japanese American who was a young boy when he was incarcerated at Heart Mountain, Wyoming, with his family and thousands of other Japanese Americans during World War II. He is the US Secretary of Transportation. Secretary Mineta was on television right after 9–11 asking people to remember World War II and to avoid punishing and persecuting innocent people simply for how they look.

Thank you for letting me share this information with you. Keep learning and be good citizens. We are blessed to live in this great country.

[This is taken from the book: The Japanese American Story as Told Through a Collection of Speeches and Articles. A free ebook is available by going to the end of the “about” section on the website. www.thejapaneseamericanstory.com.]