An injunction suit to let Japanese Americans return to California

Vol. 19, No. 1, July 8, 1944. 8 pages. View this issue

A court challenge to the military exclusion orders led the news. Three American citizens of Japanese ancestry filed an injunction suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, arguing that military authorities had no power to enforce exclusion without recourse to the courts. Larry Tajiri’s editorial, “The Right to Return,” welcomed the suit, and Saburo Kido wrote about it in his column. The same page carried the Fifth Army’s announcement that the 100th Infantry Battalion, fighting in Italy, had been incorporated into the 442nd Combat Team. Bill Hosokawa and Hito Okada also had columns.

Elsewhere, the paper reported Eleven Granada convictions and an appeal for 63 Heart Mountain men sentenced for draft evasion. Another story covered the new law allowing renunciation of citizenship, with Tule Lake in mind. Tule Lake also appeared in stories about the death of Yaozo Hitomi and a court-martial. Readers will find news from Canada, letters from soldiers, and Dr. Robert Sproul’s warning against hysteria.

What’s in this issue

Incarceration & Redress

• Injunction Suit Challenges Military Orders Excluding Japanese Americans, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Three American citizens of Japanese ancestry filed an injunction suit in Los Angeles Superior Court challenging the constitutionality of military exclusion orders. The suit names Maj. Gen. Charles H. Bonesteel and seeks to allow the plaintiffs to return to California.
• Sales of Evacuees’ Properties in Canada Net Two Millions, page 1. Sales of property and fishing vessels owned by Japanese Canadians evacuated from British Columbia have exceeded $2,000,000 as of June 19. The funds came from fishing vessel sales and real and personal property sales conducted by the Custodian of Japanese Property.
• Eleven Granada Nisei Convicted in Draft Cases, page 1. Eleven Japanese Americans from the Granada relocation center were sentenced to prison terms of 10 to 18 months for draft evasion. The defendants had based their defense on the claim that their citizenship rights were abrogated by evacuation.
• Test Case Figure Files Intent to Wed, page 2. Gordon Hirabayashi, who had served time for a test case on the wartime curfew, obtained a marriage license to Esther Schmoe. He was arrested on July 3 on a new federal selective service charge and released on bond.
• Dr. Sproul Warns Against Hysteria on Nisei Question at Coast Fair Play Meeting, page 3. University of California president Dr. Robert Sproul warned against hysteria toward Japanese Americans at a Los Angeles Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play meeting. He argued that evacuation is not proof of disloyalty and that the chain of American principles is weakest in Los Angeles.
• Appeal Filed for Wyoming Draft Evaders, page 3. Notices of appeal were filed in behalf of 63 Heart Mountain evacuees sentenced to three years for failing to report for pre-induction physicals. Thirty men were sent to Leavenworth and 38 to McNeil Island.

Military & Veterans

• Famed 100th Infantry Unit Joins Nisei Combat Team, page 1. A Fifth Army communique announced that the 100th Infantry Battalion, which has fought brilliantly in Italy, has been incorporated into the 442nd Combat Team. This was the first official disclosure that the 442nd was in the Mediterranean area.
• Pvt. Michiyo Mukai Named Editor of WAC Newspaper, page 1. Pvt. Michiyo Mukai of the Women’s Army Corps was named associate editor of the Wright WAC newspaper at Wright Field, Ohio. She previously served as make-up editor.
• Union Leader First Nisei to Join VFW Group, page 1. Sgt. Karl G. Yoneda became the first Japanese American soldier of World War II accepted into the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He holds membership in a San Francisco VFW post composed of waterfront union members.
• Fifth Army’s Announcement Is First Official Word of 442nd’s Arrival in Italy, page 1. The Fifth Army communique hailed the 100th Infantry Battalion for fighting brilliantly in Italy and reported its incorporation into the 442nd Combat Team. The 100th had earned numerous decorations and about 80 percent of its commissioned officers were of Japanese ancestry.
• Two Japanese Americans Killed Recently on Italy Front, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The War Department announced the deaths of two Japanese American soldiers and the wounding of eight others in the Mediterranean area, presumably members of the 100th Infantry Battalion. The notice listed the next of kin for each casualty.
• Disabled Nisei War Veterans Visit Birthplace of Liberty, page 2. Wounded 100th Infantry Battalion veterans Sgt. Harold Gyotoko and Pfc. Yoshinao Omiya visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia. They pleaded for better civilian understanding of the approximately 9,000 Japanese Americans fighting for the United States.
• 100th Infantry Veteran Visits Topaz Center, page 2. Sgt. Shig Hokama, a 100th Infantry veteran recuperating from a second wound, visited the Topaz relocation center. He wears the Purple Heart and an oak leaf cluster for his service.
• Letter from England, page 6. Dr. Norman Kobayashi writes from England about his field hospital posting and the village where his unit is billeted. He previously served as head doctor at Rohwer and Santa Anita hospitals.
• Pfc. Higa Talks to Issei Parents, page 6. A recent meeting in Salt Lake City heard Pfc. Thomas Higa, a wounded 100th Infantry veteran, speak in Japanese about soldiers’ lives. The column calls for a lecture tour so Issei parents can hear first-hand accounts.

National

• Issei Leader at Tule Lake Center Slain, page 1. The WRA announced that Yaozo Hitomi, general manager of community cooperative enterprises at Tule Lake, was stabbed to death. District Attorney Charles Lederer began an investigation into the killing.
• Evacuee Relocation Program Moving Forward, Says Myer, by D. S. Myer, page 1. WRA Director D. S. Myer reported that evacuee resettlement has become well established with 88 WRA field offices assisting relocation. He stated that evacuees are now resettling in all 48 states with jobs and housing increasingly available.
• President Roosevelt Signs Bill to Permit Denationalization of Citizens at Tule Lake Camp, page 2. President Roosevelt signed legislation amending the Nationality Act to allow renunciation of citizenship during wartime. Attorney General Biddle said it would apply to between 300 and 1,000 persons at Tule Lake who sought expatriation.
• Urge Canada’s Senate to Revise Elections Act, page 2. Protests arose across Canada against a provision of the Dominion Elections Act that would disfranchise Japanese Canadian citizens for the war’s duration. Newspapers and senators called for the clause to be struck out.
• Suppression of Nisei Weekly Sought by Vancouver Mayor, page 2. Vancouver Mayor J. W. Cornett asked the Canadian justice minister to suppress the New Canadian or intern its publisher after it accused him of Nazi sympathies. The Vancouver City Council had also declined to vote on his resolution urging repatriation of persons of Japanese ancestry.
• Sentry Innocent in Shooting of Tule Segregee, page 3. An army court-martial found Pvt. Bernard Goe, a military sentry at Tule Lake, innocent of manslaughter in the May 24 shooting of James S. Okamoto. Okamoto had been fatally wounded after an argument at the camp’s main gate.
• California Race-Baiters Fail to Get Measure on Ballot, page 3. The Japanese Exclusion Association failed to gather the 179,000 signatures needed to place an anti-Japanese land ownership initiative on the November California ballot. The campaign had circulated 60,000 petition forms.
• Hawaii Nisei Have Good Record, Says GOP Delegate, page 3. Honolulu lawyer Marguerite K. Ashford, a Republican National Convention delegate, praised Hawaii’s Japanese Americans as having the best record of any racial group. She said Hawaii applies the race equality that is preached elsewhere.
• Gen. Bonesteel Remains Mum on Evacuees, page 3. Maj. Gen. Charles H. Bonesteel declined to say whether Japanese American evacuees would be allowed to return to the West Coast at his first press conference. He said he needed a month or two to study the situation.

Community

• Wife of Nisei Sergeant Wins Salt Lake War Bond Contest, page 2. Wuta Tsuya, Japanese American wife of a sergeant serving in Italy, won a $25 war bond in a Deseret News letter contest. Her letter expressed hope that war bonds would help bring families together and restore a quiet American life.
• Resolutions on ‘Racial Differences’ Stressed in Resolution at Annual Meeting, page 7. The California County Supervisors Association passed a resolution encouraging persons of Japanese ancestry to return to Japan. The resolution was adopted unanimously at their annual meeting.
• Nisei Passed by Congregational Conference, page 7. The Congregational Christian Churches assembly passed resolutions supporting restoration of constitutional liberties for evacuees and condemning racial discrimination. The assembly also opposed deporting law-abiding persons.
• Wounded Veterans to Appear at Nisei Victory Ball, page 7. Twelve Japanese American veterans of the Italian campaign recuperating at Bushnell General Hospital will be guests at a Nisei Victory Ball in Salt Lake City. Arthur Gaeth will serve as master of ceremonies.
• San Jose Supervisor Raises Issue Regarding Youth at Hospital, page 7. Santa Clara County supervisor Joseph McKinnon charged that a Japanese American patient at the county hospital lived off county funds. Reporters found that Tettero Hidaka lived in a small room and worked unpaid in the hospital laboratory.
• Tolerance Replaces Ill-Feeling in Brooklyn, Reports A.P., page 8. The Associated Press reports that the controversy over a Brooklyn Heights hostel for Japanese American evacuees has ended. The hostel, run by the Church of the Brethren and the American Baptist Home Missions Society, now operates quietly.
• WRA Expects Many May Use Trial Indefinite Leaves, page 8. The WRA announced revised leave regulations, noting that trial period indefinite leave may be issued only at the center. Additional provisions cover separate agreements and travel reimbursement for evacuees.
• WRA Opens Newark Office for Relocation of Evacuees, page 8. Edward V. Berman was appointed relocation officer in charge of the new WRA office in Newark, N.J. He previously aided evacuee resettlement in several Western states and at Minidoka.

Commentary

• Regrets Intolerance, Cites Crosses with Japanese Names in U.S. Army Cemeteries, by Lieut. Thomas Riggs, Jr., page 3. Lieut. Thomas Riggs, Jr. wrote to Time magazine protesting anti-evacuee activity in Great Meadows, N.J. He argued that Japanese Americans who died fighting are worthy to grow tomatoes.
• Japanese Anti-Fascists, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Larry Tajiri discusses anti-fascists of Japanese ancestry, including those in China fighting Japanese militarism and an underground People’s Liberation League. He cites examples such as Seisaku Shiomi and the 1941 strikes in Japan as evidence of an anti-militarist movement.
• Editorials: The Right to Return, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. The editorial welcomes the injunction suit seeking to restore the right of Japanese Americans to return to California and argues that military necessity no longer exists. It notes the Korematsu and Endo cases before the Supreme Court and the cooperation of evacuees with military orders.
• Setback for Racists, page 4. The editorial argues that the failure of the anti-Japanese initiative and the defeats of race-baiting politicians show a setback for racists. It notes that the Japanese Exclusion Association failed to qualify its measure despite widespread petitioning.
• Nisei USA: Japanese Anti-Fascists, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Tajiri discusses Japanese anti-fascists in China and the Japanese People’s Liberation League. He profiles Taro Yashima and Ikuo Oyama as examples of anti-fascist artists and activists.
• Nisei Officer Objects to Use of ‘JapYanks’ to Describe Japanese American Soldiers, by Shigeru Tsubota, page 5. 1st Lt. Shigeru Tsubota objects to the term JapYanks used for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He argues the term revives associations with Japan and undermines the Nisei’s status as loyal Americans.
• Nisei Officer Objects to Use of ‘JapYanks’, by Shigeru Tsubota, page 5. 1st Lt. Shigeru Tsubota, writing from Moore General Hospital, objects to the term JapYanks as demeaning. He urges Nisei unity and a commitment to winning the war to secure full constitutional rights.
• Calling All Chapters!, by Hito Okada, page 5. JACL official Hito Okada reports on new bulletins, including Cpl. Mike Masaoka’s report on soldiers’ hopes. The column also acknowledges contributions and announces JACL participation in the Endo and Korematsu Supreme Court cases.
• From the Frying Pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Bill Hosokawa examines both major parties’ bids for the Negro vote in the 1944 election. He argues that Japanese Americans must demonstrate their worth since they lack votes and spokesmen.
• Editorial Digest: On Draft Evaders, page 5. The digest summarizes editorial comment from the Heart Mountain Sentinel and the Cheyenne Eagle on the conviction of 63 Heart Mountain youths. The Sentinel criticized the Fair Play Committee while the Eagle called the decision a service to the public.
• Ann Nisei’s Column: A Nisei Veteran Says—Write to Servicemen, page 6. Pfc. Thomas Higa urged families to write to servicemen overseas and send airmail letters with stationery. He also warned against believing wartime rumors of casualties.
• Issei Residents Show Pride in Financial Integrity, by Grant Mocachels, page 6. A column describes how Issei residents in small Western towns earned a reputation for paying bills and buying war bonds. Local business people and a Nisei leader in Idaho are cited as examples.
• Week Brings Two New Developments, by Saburo Kido, page 6. Saburo Kido examines the new law allowing renunciation of citizenship and the injunction suit testing exclusion orders. He notes Tule Lake’s segregation problem and urges Nisei to financially support civil liberties cases.

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