Attack on the Provo labor camp and Nisei troops in Italy

Vol. 17, No. 14, October 9, 1943. 8 pages. View this issue

Two stories shared the front page of this eight-page issue. In Provo, Utah, shots fired into a War Food Administration labor camp wounded three Japanese American workers, and more than 40 civic leaders pledged fair play and protection for the 185 residents. Governor Herbert B. Maw condemned the attack, and Larry Tajiri’s editorial called it cowardly racial terrorism. Beside it, Relman Morin and Reynolds Packard reported on Nisei soldiers, mostly from Hawaii, entering combat in Italy.

Other pages cover the Tule Lake segregation, with 1,529 loyal evacuees sent to Minidoka, and a Senate bill to repeal the Chinese exclusion laws. Columns by Bill Hosokawa, Fred Fertig and Dale Oka fill the commentary pages, along with Carey McWilliams answering questions at a Denver JACL meeting about returning to California.

What’s in this issue

Military & Veterans

• Nisei Troops Go Into Action on Italian Front, by Relman Morin, page 1. The first American-born Japanese troops entered combat in the mountains above the Gulf of Salerno on September 25. Associated Press correspondent Relman Morin reported that the unit, recruited mainly from Hawaii, went into battle smiling and eager to prove their loyalty.
• Nisei Soldiers Get Chance in Italy Campaign, by Reynolds Packard, page 1. United Press correspondent Reynolds Packard describes Japanese American troops, mostly from Hawaii, now in action in Italy. The soldiers say they want to prove they are loyal American citizens.
• Nisei Forces in Italy Received Training at Camp McCoy, Shelby, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The War Department described the training history of the Japanese American combat unit, from Camp McCoy to Camp Shelby. The unit’s marksmanship and discipline were praised by its officers.
• Nisei Combat Team Boasts of Barefoot Golf Champion, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Pvt. Ted Murata of the Japanese American Combat Team, a barefoot golf champion from Kauai, has won several tournaments. He gives exhibitions and hopes to play professionally after the war.
• Two Shelby Soldiers Die in Accident, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Members of the Japanese American Combat Team held a memorial service for Corporal Katsumi Miho and Private Shosei Kutaka, killed in an automobile accident. They were the first of the unit’s members killed in the line of duty.
• Lessons from Nisei Swimmer Saves Life of Navy Officer, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Kiyoshi Nakama, rejected by the army for flat feet, taught swimming to Navy Recognition School students at Ohio State. One lieutenant he trained survived the sinking of his ship thanks to those lessons.

National

• Promise Fair Play, Protection for Provo Evacuees Following Attack by Hoodlums on Camp, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Civic leaders in Provo, Utah pledged full protection for 185 Japanese American evacuee workers after youths fired shots into the WFA labor camp. Five youths were held and face state and federal charges.
• Utah’s Governor Condemns Attack on Japanese Americans, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Governor Herbert B. Maw of Utah condemned the Provo attack and criticized petitions seeking to oust Nisei from the state. He argued that discriminating against one group destroys the liberty of all.
• Senate Gets Bill to Repeal Chinese Ban, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Senator Andrews introduced a bill to repeal the Chinese exclusion laws as a companion to pending House legislation. The bill would apply quotas to Chinese immigrants and extend naturalization rights to Chinese residents.
• Name Provinse to Confer on Nisei Problems, by P.C. Staff, page 3. WRA community management chief John H. Provinse was named to confer with presidential aide Jonathan Daniels on problems facing Japanese Americans. The appointment reflects growing federal concern for minority rights.
• Navajo Indian Chief Protests Hiring of Japanese Americans, by P.C. Staff, page 3. J.C. Morgan, former Navajo Tribal Council chairman, protested the hiring of Japanese Americans as instructors in the Indian Service. Dr. George A. Boyce responded that the appointees were the only applicants with the required degrees.
• AFL Asked to Adopt Fair Race Policy, by P.C. Staff, page 7. FEPC Chairman Monsignor Francis J. Haas urged AFL delegates in Boston to grant full union status to Negroes and other minorities. He warned that exclusion breeds revolt among minority workers.
• Sell Evacuee Properties in Canadian City, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Custodian of Japanese Property in Vancouver realized over $125,000 from forced sales of evacuee real estate. The Vancouver Sun described the liquidation as removing the last vestiges of Japanese economic penetration.

Community

• Hawaii’s Japanese Americans Hold First Mass Meeting to Discuss Place in War Effort, by P.C. Staff, page 2. About 150 Japanese American delegates met in Honolulu on September 12 for the first such gathering since Pearl Harbor. The conference discussed their role in the war effort against Japan and authorized a holdover committee.
• Kay Sadanaga Wins Music Scholarship at New York School, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Kay Sadanaga, former resident of Salt Lake City and San Francisco, won a piano scholarship at the Juilliard School of Music. She is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Incarceration & Redress

• Granada Camp Bars Visitors as Precaution, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Granada relocation center was closed to visitors as a safeguard against a polio epidemic in the Arkansas River region. Two cases had been reported at the center.
• Jobs Go Begging in Chicago, Special Conference of Center Leaders Told, by P.C. Staff, page 3. WRA official Elmer L. Shirrell told delegates from relocation centers that Chicago employers had 3,500 job offers unfilled. He urged accelerated individual resettlement and warned of deteriorating work habits in the centers.
• Loyal Evacuees from Tule Lake Arrive at Minidoka Center, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Minidoka received 1,529 loyal evacuees from Tule Lake as part of WRA segregation, while sending 254 disloyal evacuees to Tule Lake. The transfers were part of the plan to consolidate loyal and disloyal evacuees.
• Segregation Program Near Completion, by P.C. Staff, page 8. WRA assistant field director R.B. Cozzens said the Tule Lake segregation of about 20,000 pro-Japanese evacuees would be completed by October 15. He argued resettlement of loyal evacuees would ease West Coast problems.

Commentary

• Nisei and Education: Assimilation Into Functioning Democracy Is Crux of Nisei Education, Occupation Problems, by Elmer R. Smith, page 4. The concluding installment argues that nisei educational and occupational success depends on assimilation into a functioning democracy. It surveys career fields open to young nisei and urges them to prepare to contribute.
• The Young Hoodlums, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. The editorial condemns the Provo shooting as cowardly racial terrorism that also caused home front sabotage by losing crops. It warns that unchecked racism at home endangers the democracy being fought for abroad.
• Misinformation and Ignorance, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial criticizes a Pocatello labor council resolution opposing the hiring of evacuees by Idaho businesses. It argues the resolution rests on half-truths and ignores the labor shortage evacuees are helping fill.
• Mr. Costello’s Star Chamber, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial criticizes Congressman John M. Costello’s Dies subcommittee hearings on West Coast evacuees as a one-sided star chamber. It argues the hearings were used to keep the anti-Japanese issue alive for political gain.
• Vagaries, by P.C. Staff, page 5. This column notes congressional efforts to purge the WRA, a CBS debate on Nisei citizenship, and army approval of Nisei civilian employment. It reports on the political and employment dimensions of the evacuee issue.
• From Overseas, by Sgt. Taro Tsukahara, page 5. A soldier overseas writes that he has received only three issues of the Pacific Citizen and values it as his only link to the nisei world. He praises the paper as comparable to any progressive publication in the country.
• And California, by P.C. Staff, page 5. A Caucasian correspondent writes that race hatred is growing under cover of war and urges education of youth to prevent future injustice. He pledges to work with Japanese Americans for democratic principles.
• No Mutuality of Interest Between Axis Partners, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa argues the Axis alliance was an expedient marriage with no real shared interests, and Japan will fight on after Germany falls. He concludes Japan must be crushed as decisively as Nazi Germany.
• I Believe in the Nisei—Today More Than Ever, by Fred Fertig, page 6. Fertig, a former minister to Japanese Americans, pays tribute to the nisei’s resilience and democratic activism despite evacuation and discrimination. He recounts the courage of resisters and volunteers who made him a better American.
• Questions of Vital Interest to Nisei Answered by McWilliams at JACL Meeting, by Carey McWilliams, page 6. Carey McWilliams answers questions at a Denver JACL meeting about evacuee return to California and organized opposition. He advises caution about early return and recommends supporting fair play committees and Chinese exclusion repeal.
• Just Incidentally, by Dale Oka, page 7. Dale Oka offers a light column about Detroit streetcars, crowded sidewalks, and kindnesses shown by strangers. It captures everyday life of a nisei in wartime Detroit.

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