March 1944: Nisei in Italy, ‘Go For Broke’ and the draft in the camps

Vol. 18, No. 12, March 25, 1944. 8 pages. View this issue

News from the Italian front led this eight-page issue. The War Department announced one Japanese American killed, six wounded and four missing, and the paper reported that ‘Go For Broke’ had been adopted as the motto of the 442nd Combat Team. Purple Heart medals went to Honolulu families of sixty soldiers killed in Italy. Twenty-eight soldiers at Fort McClellan faced court-martial for refusing orders, and twelve Heart Mountain residents faced draft charges. Larry Tajiri weighed in on both the Army’s unit policy and the twenty-eight.

Elsewhere, WRA director Dillon Myer spoke in Salt Lake City and Pasadena, and Interior Secretary Ickes said more than 21,000 people had left the camps. Bill Hosokawa answered Commander Melvin McCoy’s remarks about Nisei soldiers. Mary Oyama, Saburo Kido and Elmer R. Smith wrote on resettlement, and the sports pages followed Wat Misaka and Nisei basketball teams.

What’s in this issue

Military & Veterans

• War Department Announces One Nisei Killed, Six Wounded in Recent Action in Italy, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The War Department reported one Japanese American killed, six wounded, and four missing in Italy, with next of kin listed mainly in Hawaii. The casualty lists identify each soldier and his family contact.
• Nisei Merchant Seaman Killed in Action Against German Air Raiders, Letter Discloses, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A letter published in the Philadelphia Record describes a Nisei merchant sailor from Hawaii who took over a 20mm gun and downed a Messerschmitt before dying. The letter also protests discriminatory treatment of evacuee farm workers in New Jersey and Delaware.
• Three Nisei Wounded Casualties Sent to California Hospital, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Three members of the 100th Infantry Battalion, all from Honolulu, were wounded at Cassino and sent to Dibble Army General Hospital in Menlo Park. Their names are given as Sgt. Kiyoshi Ikeda, Cpl. Kenichi Tha, and Pfc. Takeo Daido.
• Soldiers Face Court-Martial for Defying Orders, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Twenty-eight members of a Japanese American battalion at Fort McClellan, Alabama, refused military training and await court-martial. Officials stressed that the men were pre-Pearl Harbor inductees, not recent arrivals from relocation centers.
• Story of ‘Go For Broke’ Adopted as Motto of 442nd, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The phrase ‘Go For Broke,’ a Japanese American slang term meaning to give your all, has been adopted as the official motto of the 442nd Combat Team. The War Department also announced the unit’s shoulder patch, a torch design.
• Japanese American Qualifies for Army Paratroop Unit, by P.C. Staff, page 2. T/5 Yasuo Umezu completed his fifth jump and qualified to wear the wings of the U.S. Army Volunteer Paratroopers. The night tactical jump simulated combat conditions in Sicily.
• Purple Heart Medals Given Honolulu Families of 60 Nisei Soldiers Killed on Italy Front, by Elmont Waite, page 3. Army officers presented Purple Heart medals to Japanese American families in Honolulu for sixty soldiers killed in Italy. Colonel Fielder stated that the soldiers died as Americans fighting for freedom.
• 37 Rohwer Residents Will Be Inducted In Army Next Week, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Thirty-seven Rohwer nisei who passed pre-induction physicals will be inducted at Little Rock, Arkansas, on March 28. The Outpost published their names.
• Japanese American Teachers Commended by Navy Officials, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Two Navy officers praised Japanese American instructors at the Navy language school at the University of Colorado for their devotion to the American cause. The praise was given at the seventh graduation ceremony.
• Marine Salutes Courage Shown by Japanese American Troops, by Betty Sullivan, page 7. Marine Private Terrell Tennant, a Guadalcanal veteran, praised the courage of Japanese American soldiers, especially Sgt. Ben Kuroki. He argued that Americans should not let wartime hatred of Japan turn into prejudice against Japanese Americans at home.
• Correspondent Has High Praise for ‘Puka Puka’ Battalion, by Gordon Gammack, page 8. Des Moines Register correspondent Gordon Gammack praised the nisei battalion serving with Iowa Regiment B of the 34th Division in Italy. He described their hard fighting in the mountains and at Cassino.

National

• Clean Bill of Health Given to Hawaii’s Japanese Americans, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The New York Sun reported that intelligence officials in Hawaii gave Japanese Americans a clean bill of health, with only a handful of disloyal individuals arrested. The editorial was cited as evidence against mainland suspicion of Nisei.
• Navy Official Says McCoy’s Attack on Nisei Does Not Reflect Department’s Policies, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A Navy Department official told the Pacific Citizen that Commander Melvin McCoy’s remarks against Japanese American soldiers were personal and not official policy. The JACL had already filed a protest with the War Department.
• Tule Radios Had Only Short Range, Report, by P.C. Staff, page 2. U.S. Attorney Emmett Seawell said two radio sets allegedly operated inside the Tule Lake camp could send messages only a short distance. No evidence showed the sets were used to communicate with the enemy.
• Dies Committee Investigates New York Group, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Los Angeles Times reported that the Dies Committee was investigating the Japanese American Committee for Democracy in New York. The group had campaigned for fair treatment of persons of Japanese ancestry.
• Businessmen’s Group in Box Elder Would Limit Land Sales, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Members of the Tremonton Junior Chamber of Commerce planned a protective association to discourage Japanese Americans from buying farmland in Box Elder county. The group’s stated aim was to hold off such purchases until after the war.

Incarceration & Redress

• Secretary Ickes Says 21,000 Have Resettled, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Interior Secretary Ickes reported that more than 21,000 of the 112,000 evacuees have left the relocation centers and are supporting themselves. Chicago has received the largest number of resettled evacuees among U.S. cities.
• Pacific Coast Problem Continues to Trouble Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Defense attorney Carruthers’ charges against evacuees were discussed in court, and the judge’s comments on fair treatment were reported. The article covers the ongoing legal dispute involving Japanese Americans in the Pacific Coast area.
• Dillon Myer Speaks on Relocation Problems at Salt Lake Meeting, by P.C. Staff, page 2. WRA director Dillon Myer told a Salt Lake City audience that loyal Japanese Americans should be returned to their pre-war status. He also discussed the closing of relocation camps and the number of residents resettled in Utah.
• Myer Charges Race-Baiters Hamper WRA, by P.C. Staff, page 2. WRA Director Dillon Myer defended the agency’s handling of Japanese American evacuees before an audience in Pasadena. He charged that racial fanaticism had hampered the authority’s work and warned that foreign nations were watching the U.S. treatment of its Japanese American minority.
• Eight Minidokans To Be Inducted, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Eight men from the Minidoka relocation center were scheduled for induction at Fort Douglas on March 23. The Irrigator reported their names.
• Report Twelve Evacuees Face Draft Charges, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Warrants were issued against twelve Heart Mountain residents for failing to report for draft examinations. The Heart Mountain Sentinel also reported that a group called the Fair Play Committee was urging resistance to induction.
• Federal Judge Signs Order Restraining Layton Officials from Closing Nisei’s Business, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A federal judge signed a stipulation temporarily restraining Layton, Utah officials from closing Clarence Okuda’s general merchandise business. The complaint alleged the officials denied him a license because of his Japanese ancestry.
• Poston Nisei Joins WAC, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Mary Ryuko Uyesaki, a former counseling aide at Poston, is training with the Women’s Army Corps at Fort Des Moines. Her enlistment was reported by the Poston Chronicle.
• Report from the Coast, by P.C. Staff, page 4. This two-year retrospective describes how the West Coast has changed since the evacuation, including Little Tokyo’s transformation into a Negro residential area. It also notes that racial tensions have risen while some newspapers have remained objective.

Community

• Three Rivers Brothers Win Honolulu Ring Bout, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Three brothers from Rivers, Manitoba, won bouts at the Civic Auditorium in Honolulu. The brief report covers their victories in the ring.
• Federation ‘A’s’ Basketball Team Wins New York Church Loop Title, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Japanese American Christian Federation ‘A’s’ won the championship of the Church of All Nations basketball league in New York. The team was built around several evacuees who had resettled in the city.
• Non-Christians Aid Japanese Methodist Church in Spokane, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Non-Christian Japanese in Spokane contributed generously to repainting and repairing the Japanese Methodist church. Their pastor, Rev. John B. Cobb, said the gifts expressed appreciation for the church’s community service.

Commentary

• Chinese American Soldiers Back Rights of Loyal Nisei, by Nancy Kanow, page 3. Chinese American soldiers David Wan and Norman stationed in Logan, Utah, said Americans should be judged by character rather than appearance. They praised the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd combat team.
• Lerner in PM, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Max Lerner, in a March 9 editorial in PM, protested the conviction of Minneapolis Trotskyites and the segregation of loyal Japanese Americans in camps. The quoted editorial is reproduced in this column.
• Editorials: The Army’s Position, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. The editorial defends the assignment of Japanese American inductees to specific units and reprints a letter from Lt. Col. Harrison Gerhardt explaining the Army’s reasons. It argues that the policy is based on military considerations rather than discrimination.
• Justice in the Courts, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. The editorial praises recent court decisions in which judges and attorneys refused to let racial prejudice affect cases involving Japanese Americans. It cites a Pasadena case in which Judge Collier ruled for the Goto brothers.
• The Twenty-Eight, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. The editorial condemns the twenty-eight soldiers who refused military orders at Camp McClellan as acting disgracefully against loyal Japanese Americans. It argues that rights of citizenship bring corresponding duties.
• Fatalistic or Courageous?, by Elmer R. Smith, page 4. Anthropology professor Elmer Smith argues that some Nisei have adopted a fatalistic attitude, avoiding responsibility by living in the past. He urges young Nisei to prove their trustworthiness through military and civic service.
• From the Frying Pan: A Hero of Bataan Joins the Coast’s Bigots, by Bill Hosokawa, page 4. Bill Hosokawa criticizes Commander Melvin McCoy for judging Nisei soldiers by the conduct of Japanese troops. He argues McCoy’s remarks about Nisei fighting a race war are unfair and demands a retraction.
• New Horizons for Nisei: Discovering New America, by Mary Oyama, page 5. Mary Oyama describes the resettlement of Nisei as discovering a broader America beyond the old self-segregating Little Tokyos. She notes that some Nisei communities such as Denver and Chicago are reverting to racial cliques.
• Timely Topics: Church of All Peoples, by Saburo Kido, page 5. Saburo Kido discusses how Nisei churches in Chicago and Denver can break down racial cliquing and promote assimilation. He suggests that joint services with other American congregations are preferable to all-Nisei services.
• Misleading Article in Rocky Shimpo, by Saburo Kido, page 5. The writer criticizes a Rocky Shimpo article on the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee for implying federal authorities were stumped by draft resisters. The writer notes that arrests are handled by the FBI and U.S. Attorney, and that the Fair Play Committee’s tactics are reprehensible.
• Ann Nisei Says: Spring Cleaning Hints Will Save Time and Energy, by Ann Nisei, page 6. Ann Nisei offers practical spring cleaning tips, including storing heavy drapes and carpets with moth flakes and doing minor repairs. She recommends spacing out the work to avoid exhaustion.

Sports

• Nisei Basketball Team Wins New York Church Loop Title, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Federation ‘A’s’ won the championship of the Church of All Nations basketball league with 11 wins and 3 losses. The team will join Chinese American players for a benefit game.
• Cleveland Nisei Cagers Win City League Contest, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Cleveland’s first all-nisei basketball team, the Cal-Jays, upset the Cleveland Buckeyes 35-33 in the municipal A league. It was their first victory after four losses.
• Wat Misaka Performs in N.Y. Tournament, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Utah nisei guard Wat Misaka scored four points as the Utes lost 46-39 to Kentucky in the national invitational tournament semifinals. Misaka then traveled with the team to the NCAA championships in Kansas City.

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