The Vanport flood and Nisei honored at Arlington

Vol. 26, No. 23, June 5, 1948. 8 pages. View this issue

The flood that destroyed Vanport City, Oregon, led the news. Shig Sakamoto reported that 300 Issei and Nisei were among the more than 18,500 people left homeless, and that two Issei, Mrs. Izumi Oyama and Sadao Mizuno, were still missing. JACL President Hito Okada asked chapters to help, and food was sent to Portland. Tosuke Yamasaki wrote about the burial of two 442nd veterans, Pfc. Fumitake Nagato and Pfc. Saburo Tanamachi, at Arlington National Cemetery, where Gen. Devers and others paid tribute.

The Judd naturalization bill ran through the issue, from a favorable House committee report to local endorsements. Larry Tajiri looked back on six years of the paper in Salt Lake City, and Bill Hosokawa described his family’s backyard garden. Hisaye Yamamoto reported on a protest at a Los Angeles swimming pool that barred non-Caucasians.

What’s in this issue

National

• Two Issei Still Missing in Vanport Flood Disaster, by By SHIG SAKAMOTO, page 1. The Vanport City flood destroyed homes of 300 Japanese Americans and left two Issei, Mrs. Izumi Oyama and Sadao Mizuno, missing. Local JACL and community groups mounted an immediate relief effort for the displaced.
• Nisei Instructor to Teach Japanese to Army Personnel, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Miss Marianne S. Kusaka, a Nisei former Far East Command interpreter, will teach Japanese to personnel at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation. The course was started because most soldiers were expected to serve in occupation duty.
• Justice Department May Set Trial of Tokyo Rose in Eastern City, Says Clark, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Attorney General Tom Clark indicated the treason trial of Iva Toguri D’Aquino may be held in New York or Washington due to West Coast anti-Japanese sentiment. He said the trial would occur wherever the plane carrying her first landed.
• Judd Bill Given Favorable Report by House Committee, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The House Immigration subcommittee favorably reported the Judd bill to remove racial restrictions from naturalization and immigration law. Sponsor Rep. Walter Judd introduced a clean replacement bill, H.R. 6809, which keeps the original intent.
• California AFL Official Says Connection With Anti-Japanese Committee Severed in 1942, by P.C. Staff, page 3. California AFL president Jack Shelley said the state federation cut ties with the Joint Immigration Committee in 1942 when it rejected anti-Japanese resolutions. The committee had long backed restrictive measures against persons of Japanese descent.
• Howser Says 70 California Escheat Suits Dropped, 40 Other Land Cases Abandoned, by P.C. Staff, page 3. California Attorney General Fred Howser said 70 escheat suits against Japanese-ancestry landholders were dismissed after the Supreme Court’s Oyama decision. Forty more suits will be abandoned, clearing the way for Nisei to establish property title.
• Senate’s Refusal to Act on Hawaiian Statehood Bid, by By LAWRENCE NAKATSUKA, page 5. The Senate voted 51 to 20 not to discharge the Hawaii statehood bill from committee, a setback the writer attributes largely to racial concerns. Senator Ecton’s remarks on Hawaii’s Asian population drew criticism.

Military & Veterans

• Nisei GIs Eulogized as Two Japanese Americans Buried in Arlington Cemetery Rites, by By TOSUKE YAMASAKI, page 1. Pfc. Fumitake Nagato and Pfc. Saburo Tanamachi, 442nd veterans, were buried at Arlington National Cemetery with high military and civilian honors. Speakers including Gen. Devers paid tribute to Nisei wartime sacrifice.
• French Mayor Thanks JACL For Packages, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Mayor Louis Gillon of Bruyeres, France thanked JACL chapters for CARE packages sent in appreciation of the memorial to the 442nd. The gifts followed a JACL plaque dedicated in the village the previous October.
• Utah Amvets Support Issei Citizen Rights, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The Utah State Amvets convention resolutions committee unanimously endorsed a resolution urging Congress to extend naturalization rights to Issei. A companion resolution urged the American Bowling Congress to drop its racial ban.
• Hawaii Veterans Send Leis, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Hawaii war veterans sent a huge orchid lei by Pan American flight to be placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day. The flowers honored Hawaii’s dead, especially the 442nd and 100th Battalion Nisei.

JACL

• Pres. Okada Asks JACL Aid for Flood Victims, by P.C. Staff, page 1. JACL National President Hito Okada asked chapters and members to aid Japanese American victims of the Vanport disaster. Donations were directed to the Portland chapter.
• Midwest Council Calls Meeting in St. Louis, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Midwest district JACL council will meet in St. Louis on June 12 and 13 to plan the national convention in Salt Lake City. Dr. T. T. Yatabe will speak at the banquet.
• National JACL Wreath Laid at Tomb of Unknown Soldier, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The National JACL joined President Truman and national patriotic groups in placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day. It was the first JACL participation in the Memorial Day ceremonies.

Community

• Nisei Student Wins Art Award, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Ellen A. Ochi, a former San Francisco resident, won a $1000 Mary C. Page art scholarship in Cleveland. She is studying painting there.
• Salt Lake CCU Endorses Bill on Citizenship, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Salt Lake City Council for Civic Unity endorsed HR 5004, the Judd naturalization bill, after hearing JACL legislative director Masao Satow. The council also approved the evacuation claims and deportation stay bills.
• Nisei Couple Wed in Oklahoma Plan Mission to Japan, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Kiyo Ogawa and Aigi Kamikawa married at Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma, and plan to become the first Nisei missionaries to Japan. Both spent time in relocation centers during the war.
• Nisei Student Wins Honor Award at Univ. of Wisconsin, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Toru Iura, a mechanical engineering graduate, received the Theodore Herfurth award for initiative and efficiency at the University of Wisconsin. He was an active campus leader and held a high scholastic average.
• Food Sent to Aid Vanport Flood Victims, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Modern Food Products Company and Marusho Shoyu sent food shipments to Portland for Vanport flood victims. JACL ADC regional director Kiji Tanabe asked Portland JACL whether money or merchandise was most needed.
• Three Persons Die Instantly in Car Crash, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Mrs. Shizue Uchimura and her two sons were killed when a Southern Pacific train struck their car near Edenvale, California. The car had come onto the tracks from an orchard with obstructed visibility.
• Nisei Student Wins Honors, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Eugene K. Uyeki, an Oberlin College student and former Hunt relocation center graduate, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He also won a fellowship to continue political science studies at the University of Chicago.
• Important Field for the JACL, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The Washington JACL chapter hosted four Nisei professionals to discuss their careers. The writer argues local chapters can provide valuable vocational guidance to Nisei.
• Fire Hose Used by Swimming Pool to Stress Ban Against Nisei, Other Non-Caucasians, by By HISAYE YAMAMOTO, page 6. CORE members of mixed race were sprayed with a fire hose at Bimini Hot Springs in Los Angeles during a nonviolent protest against its racial exclusion policy. The group continued to press for an end to discrimination.
• Two Nisei Dance Stars Join New Party Political Campaign, by By DYKE MIYAGAWA, page 7. Dancers Sono Osato and Yuriko Amemiya signed pledge cards joining the New York Nisei for Wallace Committee. The group supports Henry Wallace’s third party peace campaign.
• Five Japanese Flown to U.S. as Kawakita Case Witnesses, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Five Japanese witnesses were scheduled to fly from Tokyo to Los Angeles to testify in the treason trial of Tomoya Kawakita. Kawakita is accused of mistreating American prisoners of war at a Japanese nickel mine.

Incarceration & Redress

• VFW Commander Cites Burning of Nisei GI’s Home, by P.C. Staff, page 2. At memorial rites for Staff Sgt. Masami Sakamoto in Loomis, Calif., Col. Charles Mabbutt noted the family home was burned in 1945 during wartime vandalism against Japanese Americans. He apologized to the Sakamoto parents.

Obituaries

• Kay Hirao Dies Suddenly in San Leandro, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Kay Hirao, a prominent East Bay JACL leader, died of a heart attack at work on May 29. He had helped form the East Bay chapter after returning from Salt Lake City and is survived by his wife and three children.

In-Depth

• Navy’s First Nisei Nurse, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Ensign Yoshiko Tanigawa, released from the Tule Lake center in 1943, became the only Navy nurse of Japanese descent. She is stationed at Long Beach Navy Hospital.
• Vacation With a Purpose: Summer School for Office Workers Planned in Ohio, by By INA SUGIHARA, page 5. Sugihara describes the Summer School for Office Workers, a two-week program at Ohio State University combining labor economics and community action. She recounts her positive experience at the previous year’s session.

Commentary

• The Anti-Discrimination Committee, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editors praise JACL ADC legislative director Mike Masaoka and his aides for their work toward remedial legislation. They note Congress may adjourn before acting on pending bills, with the evacuation claims bill the least controversial.
• The California AFL and the Racists, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial welcomes the California AFL’s repudiation of the Joint Immigration Committee as a sign of changing attitudes. It argues the committee, once powerful, is now out of step with the times.
• Washington Newsletter: Time Running Out on Evacuee Claims Bill, by TOSUKE YAMASAKI, page 4. The Mundt-Nixon bill delayed Senate Judiciary consideration of the JACL’s evacuation claims and alien deportation bills. With Congress adjourning June 19, the JACL bills may be lost in the legislative logjam.
• Six Years in Salt Lake City, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Tajiri reviews the Pacific Citizen’s history from its San Francisco origins through its move to Salt Lake City in 1942. He recounts the masthead incident, the Dies Committee threat, and the paper’s current circulation.
• Notes on Share-Cropping, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa describes his family’s new backyard vegetable garden in Aurora, Colorado, and a hailstorm that battered the crops. He notes weeds threaten to overwhelm the plot.
• Monterey City Council Backs Judd Naturalization Bill, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The Monterey city council and Junior Chamber of Commerce endorsed the Judd naturalization bill, H.R. 5004, and forwarded resolutions to Washington. Local sardine canneries also backed the measure.

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