Atrocity reports and the 1944 fight over where Japanese Americans could live

Vol. 18, No. 5, February 5, 1944. 8 pages. View this issue

News of the treatment of American and Filipino prisoners at Bataan and Corregidor shaped this eight-page issue. The Butte community council of the Gila River relocation center denounced it, and General Delos C. Emmons warned against reprisals on Japanese Americans in the United States. Other stories showed the reaction: Colorado and California groups opposing Japanese American settlement, a California Legislature call to move the Tule Lake center to the army or FBI, and Dillon S. Myer defending loyal nisei. Editorials questioned military necessity and condemned Hearst newspapers.

Elsewhere are reports on the 100th Infantry Battalion, including 59 Purple Hearts for wounds in Italy, and on draft notices reaching the camps. Columns by Bill Hosokawa and Saburo Kido look at life after leaving camp and at the draft, and a piece from Marie Harlowe Pulley urges nisei to face life outside. A story from Little Tokyo tells of an arsonist’s confession.

What’s in this issue

Community

• Butte Council Denounces Treatment of Prisoners, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Butte community council of the Gila River relocation center denounced the treatment of American and Filipino prisoners captured at Bataan and Corregidor as inhuman. The council expressed pride in the approximately 300 Gila River men fighting the Axis and asked for greater opportunities to defeat those responsible.
• Granada Evacuees Take Jobs on New Jersey Farms, by P.C. Staff, page 2. A group of evacuees from the Granada relocation center arrived in Bridgeton, N.J., to take jobs at the Deerfield Packing Corp. They were housed in federal dormitories at Seabrook Farms.
• Jerome Community Leaders Denounce Brutality to Prisoners, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Frank Arakawa, chairman of the Jerome community council, denounced Japanese brutality toward American prisoners in the Philippines. He said the perpetrators would pay for their actions.
• Arizona JACL Delegation Visits Governor Osborn to Discuss Situation, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Four JACL representatives met with Arizona Governor Osborn to denounce Japanese atrocities against American prisoners at Bataan and Corregidor. The delegation pledged that Americans of Japanese ancestry would increase their participation in the war effort.
• Wisconsin Nisei Girl Teaches at University, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Toshi Toki, a Wisconsin-born Japanese American, became an instructor in physical geography at the University of Wisconsin. She is believed to be the only geography instructor of Japanese parentage in the United States.
• Korean American Wife Gets Los Angeles Divorce, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Mrs. Ida Shon Yoshiyama obtained a divorce in Los Angeles on grounds of extreme cruelty from her husband, who was at the Granada relocation center. The report noted she is of Korean ancestry.
• Aloha USO Buys Radio Phonograph With Donations, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Contributions from the JACL and the Hawaii Emergency Service Committee funded a radio-phonograph for the Aloha USO in Hattiesburg, Miss. The instrument is intended for Japanese American servicemen visiting the center.
• Director Tells Policy of Aloha USO Center, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Melvin Harter, director of the Aloha USO in Hattiesburg, said the center primarily serves Japanese American combat team members but welcomes soldiers of all backgrounds. He noted local churches and citizens helped with housing and forums.
• Evacuee Girl Opens Beauty Salon in Uptown New York, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Tokiko Ann Tanaka, formerly of Granada, has operated her own beauty parlor in New York City since October. Most of her customers are Caucasian, and business has been good.
• Oregon Nisei Is Member of Famed 100th Infantry Unit, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The Hood River News reported that Warrant Officer Hideo Kajikawa, a Hood River native, serves with the 100th Infantry Battalion. In a letter he expressed pride in the unit’s favorable publicity and its determination to win the war.
• Salt Lake JACL to Buy Jeeps for Camp Shelby, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The Salt Lake City JACL announced a War Bond drive to raise funds for sixteen jeeps for Japanese American soldiers at Camp Shelby. The campaign aimed to raise $25,000 in bonds and stamps.
• Boise Valley JACL Members Attend School in Chicago, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Mas Hayashi and Kaye Uriu, members of the Boise Valley JACL chapter, are attending school in Chicago. Uriu is studying at Vogue Magazine’s school of dress art and design.
• Nisei Wife of Seattle Chinese Returns Home After Two Years, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Mrs. Woo, a Seattle Nisei married to a Chinese American, returned to Seattle with her two daughters after nearly two years in relocation centers. She praised the WRA’s administration of the program.
• Evacuees Assist Farm Harvests in Intermountain Area, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Ottis Peterson of the WRA reported that 7,523 evacuees worked seasonal agricultural jobs in Pacific intermountain states during 1943. Idaho led with 3,926 evacuee workers.
• Nisei Chosen for YWCA Board in Spokane, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Mrs. Paul Suzuki was chosen for the Spokane YWCA Board of Directors, the first person of Japanese ancestry so honored. She and her husband relocated from the Minidoka center.

Incarceration & Redress

• Colorado Group Passes Resolution, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Uncompahgre Valley Water Users association in Montrose, Colo., passed a resolution opposing the sale of farm land to persons of Japanese ancestry. The resolution was reported from Delta, Colo.
• California Legislature Asks Tule Transfer to FBI, Army, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Both houses of the California Legislature unanimously adopted a resolution demanding that jurisdiction over the Tule Lake center be transferred to the army or the FBI. The resolution was introduced by the state senate’s fact-finding committee.
• Gen. Emmons Warns Against Reprisals Against Japanese Ancestry Persons, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Lieut. Gen. Delos C. Emmons warned against retaliation against persons of Japanese ancestry in the United States for Japanese atrocities against prisoners of war. He said exact and unremitting justice would be meted out in the proper time and place.
• Railroad Offers Settlement to Evacuees in Accident Suit, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Colorado and Southern railroad offered a $1,500 judgment to Toshiye and Yatsuko Oda after Yatsuko was thrown from a train platform in 1942. The settlement was accepted, and no offer had been made to the other defendants.
• Withdraw Army, Tank Unit from Tule Lake Camp, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Headquarters of the ninth service command announced that a company of military personnel, including tank units, would be withdrawn from the Tule Lake segregation center. Gen. McCoach said the move reduced personnel to the camp’s normal complement.
• Dies Committee Issues Report on Yellow Peril, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Dies committee reported that a Japanese plot against the United States was continuing in and out of relocation centers. It asked for a halt to the WRA program releasing persons from the camps.
• Myer Upholds Rights of Loyal Nisei Group, by P.C. Staff, page 2. WRA Director Dillon S. Myer told a Pasadena audience that Japanese Americans should not be punished for the atrocities of Tojo’s government. He noted that seventy-five percent of American citizens of Japanese ancestry had never seen Japan.
• LA Attorney Will Head Inquiry Into Evacuee Situation, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Attorney Richard Turner was selected to chair a committee inquiring into problems southern California faced with the return of evacuees. The group was sponsored by State Senator Jack Tenney and Dr. John R. Lechner.
• Colorado Nisei Group Gives to Blood Bank, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Thirty-five Japanese Americans in Denver registered at the American Red Cross blood donor center to respond to reports of Japanese brutality. Dr. Howard Suenaga led the group, saying more volunteers would follow.
• Army Allows Hata to Go to Midwest, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Gen. Emmons warned that restrictions remain against the return of persons of Japanese ancestry to the evacuated area. The army released evacuee Masanobu Hata, who had been arrested after entering the evacuated area, and allowed him to relocate.
• Colorado County Officials Oppose Evacuee Resettlement, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Delegates to the Colorado State Association of County Commissioners were expected to support a resolution opposing resettlement of evacuees of Japanese ancestry in Colorado. The resolution was reportedly drafted by the Brighton Chamber of Commerce.
• Anti-Evacuee Group Leader Demands Myer’s Resignation, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Dr. John Carruthers of the Pacific Coast Japanese Problem League demanded that Dillon S. Myer resign as WRA national director. He spoke at a meeting of the American Foundation for the Expulsion of Japanese.
• New York Judge Sets Precedent to Protect Alien’s Legal Rights, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Justice Harold J. Crawford of Queens Municipal Court obtained special oaths from jurors to protect the rights of a Japanese alien plaintiff. The judge acted after the plaintiff’s attorney feared an unfair hearing following reports of Bataan atrocities.
• Colorado Group Wants Special State Session, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Colorado legislators asked Governor Vivian to call a special session to place a constitutional amendment restricting land ownership by Japanese nationals on the ballot. The proposed amendment would require enemy aliens to surrender property unless they applied for citizenship.
• Chief Wants Tule Under FBI Control, by P.C. Staff, page 3. William P. Haughton, state commander of the American Legion, advocated FBI or military control of the Tule Lake segregation center. He spoke before 600 delegates at the Legion’s California department meeting.
• Liberal Coast Congressmen Present Proposal for Post-War Treatment of Nisei Americans, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Seven liberal west coast congressmen wrote to President Roosevelt condemning inflammatory statements against Japanese Americans. They proposed voluntary resettlement of loyal citizens to other parts of the country and transfer of Tule Lake to the Justice Department.
• Strange Gaps in DeWitt Report on Evacuation, Says Editorial, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Detroit Free Press editorial questioned General DeWitt’s justification for the evacuation, asking why enforced migration of whole communities was needed instead of targeted investigation. It concluded racial distrust was the only feasible explanation.
• Gannon Group Will Continue Investigation, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Assemblyman Chester Gannon defended his committee’s investigations and vowed to prevent the return of evacuees to the west coast. He criticized several civil liberties groups as interested in bringing Japanese back to California.
• Registration of Aliens Held at Rohwer, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Aliens at the Rohwer center were required to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to update their addresses. Those relocating had to report address changes within five days of arrival.
• Atrocities Justify Stand on Evacuees, Says McCargar, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Fred McCargar of the Salinas Chamber of Commerce declared that news of Bataan atrocities justified opposing the return of evacuees to the west coast. He was a leader in the campaign to keep evacuees out.
• Legion Leader Would Deport U.S. Japanese, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Warren H. Atherton, national commander of the American Legion, favored deporting all Japanese nationals in the United States. He argued they could never be assimilated and that returning evacuees to California would be dangerous.
• Coast Mayors Oppose Return of Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Los Angeles Mayor Bowron reported that west coast mayors protested reported federal plans to return evacuees to the Pacific coast. Gen. Emmons replied that no change in exclusion policy was contemplated.
• Arsonist Set Fires in L.A. Little Tokyo, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Clarence Everett Steepleton, a hotel night clerk, confessed to setting fires in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo in 1941 and 1942. He boasted of having set more than 200 fires during his career.

Military & Veterans

• Japanese Canadians Refuse Japan Foodstuffs in Protest Against Fascism, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Japanese Canadian population of Toronto unanimously declined to distribute Japanese foodstuffs sent via the Gripsholm, calling the gift a shoyu insult. They asked the Canadian government to recognize them as full citizens and to align with the United Nations.
• Fifty-Nine Members of Nisei Unit Awarded Purple Heart for Wounds in Italy Campaign, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The War Relocation Authority reported that 59 members of the 100th Infantry Battalion were awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in Italy, 58 of them nisei from Hawaii. The Purple Heart is the oldest US military decoration.
• Japanese American Parachutist Wants to See Combat Action, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Pvt. Junie Kawamura, said to be the only Japanese American paratrooper in the US Army, said in Chicago that he wanted to get into action as soon as possible. He was formerly a resident of the Minidoka relocation center.
• Nisei Soldiers Officers Have High Praise for Troops, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Lawrence J. Collins, former WRA adviser, wrote from an Army hospital in Africa praising the loyalty and ability of nisei members of the 100th Infantry Battalion. Officers from the unit who were hospitalized with him lauded their performance in action.
• German Soldier in Italy Fears Japanese Americans, by Selden Menefee, page 2. Selden Menefee, reporting on a British correspondent’s article, described German soldiers in Italy fearing Japanese American soldiers. He quoted a Japanese American soldier insisting that the nisei regard themselves as Americans.
• Girl Inducted Into Air-WACs, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Mrs. Tamako Irene Izumi became one of the first Japanese American women inducted into the Air-WACs. Her husband, Sgt. Heihachiro Izumi, has served in the army for nearly three years.
• Japanese American War Hero Ben Kuroki Removed from Radio Program, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The War Department rescinded permission for Tech. Sgt. Ben Kuroki to appear on the Ginny Simms program after NBC questioned the appearance. Kuroki, a decorated turret gunner, was also honored in a Time Magazine article.
• Life Magazine Publishes Picture of War-Blinded Nisei, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Life magazine published a picture of Pvt. Yoshinao Omiya of the 100th Battalion, blinded when a booby trap exploded during a river crossing in Italy. He was evacuated to Kennedy General Hospital in Memphis.
• Many in Centers Get Draft Notices, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Induction notices have reached many people in the relocation centers following the reinstitution of selective service for Nisei. The article discusses confusion among Issei and the procedures for those passing physicals.
• First Nisei Paratrooper Visits Parents at Minidoka Camp, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Pvt. Junichi Kawamura, the only Japanese American paratrooper, visited his parents at the Minidoka relocation center on furlough. He described the rigorous paratrooper training he underwent.

In-Depth

• Hawaii’s Japanese Americans Major Factor in Rebuilding Territory’s Military Defenses, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Remington Stone told the Los Angeles Lawyers Guild that Americans of Japanese ancestry were chiefly responsible for rebuilding Hawaiian defenses after Pearl Harbor. He reported that FBI and military intelligence found no sabotage by Japanese Americans in Hawaii.

Commentary

• Official Publication Editorial: Military Necessity, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial argues that the justification of military necessity for the west coast evacuation no longer holds, since the coast is secure and Hawaiian rumors of sabotage were disproven. It warns against appeasing racial prejudice and hopes military authorities will not bow to expediency.
• Not Race or Color, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial quotes Max Lerner’s warning that anger at Japanese atrocities should not become racism against Americans of Japanese ancestry. Lerner argues the enemy is fascist racism rather than race or color.
• Draft Board and Nisei, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial argues that nisei registered with distant draft boards should be transferred to boards in their new home communities. It says this would be more practical for both the nisei and local boards.
• Race Hysteria by Hearst, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial condemns Hearst newspapers for exploiting Japanese atrocities to incite hatred against Japanese Americans. It notes a fabricated story about returning evacuees and compares the Hearst tactics to Nazi propaganda.
• A Long Step, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial welcomes the War Department’s policy of accepting nisei for military service as a step toward restoring their civil rights. It argues that American democracy depends on granting loyal nisei full rights.
• The Ostrich Nisei, by Marie Harlowe Pulley, page 5. Pulley criticizes Nisei who hide their identity or cling to camp security, comparing them to ostriches. She urges them to face life on the outside and assimilate into American society.
• Readjustment Problems Face Evacuees, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa observes that some newly relocated evacuees appear conspicuously camp-like in dress and manner, which attracts unwanted attention. He urges evacuees to adopt more typical appearance to succeed in relocation.
• Nisei Combat Team Members From Northwest Hold Reunion, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Members of the Japanese American combat team from Washington state held a reunion in Hattiesburg, Miss. The gathering brought together nisei soldiers from the Northwest.
• Keeping Budget Will Help to Cut Down Expenses, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The article offers practical budgeting advice for working women, including suggested percentages for savings, rent, food, and clothing. It recommends listing and tracking every expense to avoid running short.
• Many Dislike Segregation Idea, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The editorial reports that many nisei dislike being placed in segregated units and would prefer to join integrated units. It argues that integrated service would foster mutual understanding and benefit postwar Japanese American standing.
• For the Record, by Saburo Kido, page 6. Kido comments on the expected draft of nisei and their desire to join the combat team. He suggests the War Department allow choice of units and relax restrictions so draftees can settle their affairs on the Pacific Coast.
• Nisei Soldiers Have Incentive, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The editorial argues that nisei soldiers have strong motivation to prove their loyalty through combat. It says their conduct will shape postwar treatment of Japanese Americans.

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