Closing the camps and returning home: February 1946

Vol. 22, No. 6, February 9, 1946. 8 pages. View this issue

The winding down of wartime incarceration ran through this 8-page issue. The Tule Lake segregation center’s closing date was extended while renunciant hearings continued, and the War Relocation Authority began closing offices in Salt Lake City and elsewhere. Larry Tajiri marked the WRA’s release of the Topaz and Minidoka camps, and editorials argued that aid to returned evacuees was a federal responsibility. Bill Hosokawa and John Kitasako wrote columns on a conscientious objector’s starvation experiment and the Senate filibuster against the Fair Employment Practices bill.

Nisei veterans appeared throughout: soldiers of the 442nd hosting a Christmas party for Italian orphans, Jim Y. Tazoi’s Distinguished Service Cross, and veterans elected to American Veterans Committee posts. Other pages covered Japanese American fishermen returning to California ports, a Canadian report on British Columbia, Secretary Ickes backing Hawaiian statehood, and sports and community notes.

What’s in this issue

Military & Veterans

• Japanese Americans Return to California Tuna Fishing Industry, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Americans of Japanese ancestry returned to the California tuna fishing industry when a San Diego clipper sailed with an all-Nisei crew. The industry had been suspended at the outbreak of war, and fishermen have since resumed work in San Diego and Monterey.
• Nisei GIs Hold Party for Italy Orphans, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Members of the 3rd Battalion of the 442nd Infantry hosted a Christmas party for orphans in the Pisa area of Italy. Gifts, cake, candy, and a GI Santa Claus were featured at the celebration.
• Memorial Services Held for GI Victim of Tour Accident, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Memorial rites were held in Tyhee, Idaho for Staff Sgt. Wataru Nakashima, a 442nd Combat Team member killed in a Swiss sightseeing accident. The services were sponsored by the Pocatello JACL chapter.
• Wounded Nisei Veteran Active in AVC Chapter, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Spady Koyama, a wounded Nisei veteran denied membership in the Spokane VFW post, was elected vice chairman of the Spokane AVC unit. The AVC has also fought discrimination against minority veterans on the West Coast.
• Japanese American Veteran Elected to Head AVC Unit, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Fred Kondo, a Japanese American World War II veteran, was elected chairman of the new Priest River, Idaho chapter of the American Veterans Committee. The AVC has played a role in opening the Navy and Marines to Nisei.
• Nisei War Hero Receives DSC at School Ceremony, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Jim Y. Tazoi of Garland, Utah received the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism with the 442nd Combat Team at Biffontaine, France. The award was presented at Bear River High School, his alma mater.
• George O’Connor, Nisei GI With Irish Name, Fought on Bataan, Lost Leg in France, by Ann Kurimoto, page 2. George Thomas O’Connor, a Nisei raised by an Irish family, was wounded on Bataan and lost a leg in France with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He recounted being repeatedly steered away from pilot training and combat roles because of his Japanese ancestry.

Incarceration & Redress

• Closing Date of Tule Lake Camp Extended to Assist Relocation, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Justice Department and WRA extended the closing date of the Tule Lake segregation center to allow completion of renunciant reviews. Officials said about 6,100 residents remained at the camp.
• Salt Lake WRA to Close Offices, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Salt Lake district WRA office will close April 15 and the area office May 16 as part of the agency’s liquidation. The closings follow the announced termination of the War Relocation Authority.
• All Segregees Entitled to Get Hearings, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Tule Lake Renunciants Hearings board will hear every renunciant who applies for a hearing to remain in the United States. Acting chairman Joseph Shevlin said those who do not apply will be considered as desiring to go to Japan.
• Jobs, Housing Major Problems Facing Evacuees as WRA Liquidation Program Initiated, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Returned evacuees in the Fresno area still face job and housing problems as the WRA closes its San Joaquin valley offices by May 3. Officials said most major resettlement problems have been solved and responsibility is passing to local communities.
• Federal Hearings for Segregee Group, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Persons interned at Santa Fe and Bismarck after renouncing citizenship will receive special hearings to show cause why they should not be removed to Japan. Attorney Wayne Collins, representing 985 applicants, said the hearings mirror those given Tule Lake renunciants.

Community

• Minidoka Personnel Vote Piano to Blind Nisei Musician, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Minidoka camp personnel voted to give a piano to Ted Shimano, a blind Japanese American pianist who provided music at camp functions. Shimano had previously paid for the piano’s tuning and upkeep out of his small salary.
• Ask State Aid on Aged Alien, Assistance Needs of Returned Japanese Cited by Official, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors asked Governor Warren to support an amendment allowing aged aliens of Japanese ancestry to qualify for state aid. County Manager Wayne Allen said more than 1,000 such persons over 65 cost the county $420,000 annually.
• Milwaukee Resettlement Group to Assist Relocation in Area, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Milwaukee Resettlement Association will take over community responsibilities from the WRA after its Milwaukee office closes February 28. The group will add more Japanese Americans to its board.
• Pueblo Chapter Honors WRA Officials, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Pueblo JACL chapter held a Swedish dinner honoring WRA officials and staff. Speeches were given at the event.
• New York City WRA Is Consolidated With Area Office, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The New York City District WRA office consolidated with the East Coast Area office on February 1. The area office will remain open until May 15 for liquidation.
• Relocation Digest, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Brief community notes from Des Moines, St. Louis, and Portland report on Nisei veterans, employment, and local organizational activities. Items include a new Nisei basketball team and a Girl Reserve president.
• Connecticut Council for Japanese Americans Organized to Aid Relocated Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 7. A newly organized Connecticut council aims to dispel the notion that Japanese Americans are inherently disloyal and to aid individuals resettling in the state. Governor Baldwin and other speakers endorsed the council’s work at a Hartford meeting.
• Seven Leaders in Draft Case Will Be Freed, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Seven Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee leaders were assured release from Fort Leavenworth after Justice Department agreed to dismiss conspiracy charges following conferences with attorney Wirin. The dismissal followed a Supreme Court petition filed on their behalf.
• Suit Filed Over Sale of Farm Exchange, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Two Japanese growers in the Ivanhoe district filed suit challenging the sale of the Ivanhoe Vegetable Farm Exchange during the evacuation period. They allege the officers and directors acted without authority and committed fraud against stockholders.
• TNT Takes Lead in Arizona Basketball League, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The TNT team led by Shoji Teraji took first place in the Arizona Nisei basketball league with an 82-30 win over the Wildcats. In the other game, Mesa defeated the Panthers.
• Florist Group to Build New Wholesale Mart, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Japanese American flower growers incorporated as the California Flower Market announced plans for a $250,000 wholesale market building in San Francisco. Stockholders approved raising $100,000 toward the project.

National

• Canadian Government Report Criticizes British Columbia’s Treatment of Nisei Citizens, by P.C. Staff, page 2. A Canadian government report criticized British Columbia for denying Japanese Canadians the vote and barring them from professions, factors it said slowed their assimilation. It also faulted the province’s education department for failing to educate evacuee children.
• No Immediate Deportation Seen for Alien Japanese Group, by P.C. Staff, page 2. About 30 Japanese aliens received temporary assurance that they would not be deported immediately after the Board of Immigration Appeals postponed oral argument on their motions for rehearing. Attorneys Wirin and Maeno, supported by JACL and ACLU, pressed the hardship cases in Washington.
• Assembly Speaker Says Evacuee Aid Federal Problem, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Assembly Speaker Charles Lyon said California would not seek state legislation for aid to returned evacuees, calling it a federal responsibility. Welfare Director Charles Wolle estimated the aid would cost about $11 million a year.
• Secretary Ickes Cites Nisei Loyalty in Hawaii to Back Argument Favoring Statehood, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Interior Secretary Ickes said Japanese Americans in Hawaii earned glad acclaim for their proven loyalty and that he would recommend Hawaiian statehood. He criticized the Washington Post for raising the race issue against statehood.
• Congressman Backs Hawaii Statehood Bid, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Rep. Bennett of Missouri said Hawaii’s statehood prospects look good, citing the wartime loyalty of its Japanese American population. He noted the population furnished many men for the armed services and earned many citations.
• CIO Charges Employers With Ban on Nisei War Veteran, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The CIO union appealed to an arbitrator on behalf of Karl Yoneda, a Nisei veteran and longshoreman denied waterfront work by employers. Yoneda had been refused registration after the war on grounds he was a permit man before evacuation.

Commentary

• Editorial: Teru Shimada, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Congressional and editorial voices praised Nisei wartime loyalty in arguing for Hawaiian statehood. Secretary Ickes said Japanese Americans in Hawaii earned glad acclaim for their proven loyalty.
• Slave-Labor Conditions at Tule Lake Charged by ACLU, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The ACLU News charged that employees at Tule Lake exploit evacuee residents as virtual slave labor through low wages for domestic and beauty parlor work. It said the practice persisted for years and that some sympathetic Caucasians participated in it.
• Topaz and Minidoka, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. The WRA will relinquish the Topaz and Minidoka camps on February 10, ending the story of two desert centers where thousands were confined. The editorial hopes the land will be put to better use and that the camps will never again imprison a minority.
• Federal Responsibility, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial argues that the relief burden on returned evacuees, especially aged persons, is a federal responsibility because the evacuation was a national decision. It urges Washington to remain responsible until resettlement is complete.
• Canadian Problem, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial notes that over half of Canada’s Japanese population faces deportation and praises the government report criticizing British Columbia. It urges Canada to avoid repeating a white supremacy policy through deportation.
• California Calls a Truce, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial traces anti-Orientalism in California from the 1870s and suggests the state is finally making peace with its Oriental residents. It credits wartime labor shortages and changing political leadership for the shift.
• Washington News-Letter: Southern Democrats Continue Filibuster Against Democracy, by John Kitasako, page 5. The Senate filibuster against the Fair Employment Practices bill entered its eleventh day, with Southern senators such as Bilbo and O’Daniel making racist and red-baiting attacks. The writer argues the FEPC functioned well during the war and is needed to win the peace at home.
• From the Frying Pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa reports on a Nisei conscientious objector in a New York starvation experiment for army rations and quotes his diary about hunger and thirst. Hosokawa also relays a Des Moines Register editorial praising Nisei in occupied Japan.

Arts & Entertainment

• Teru Shimada Has Leading Role in Pearl Buck’s Play, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Teru Shimada, a former Hollywood actor, plays the male lead Yuan in Pearl Buck’s The First Wife on national tour. The production played to a capacity audience in New Orleans.

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