Returning home: violence, honor rolls and the 442nd in 1945

Vol. 20, No. 10, March 10, 1945. 8 pages. View this issue

Japanese Americans’ return to the West Coast ran through much of this eight-page issue. Richard W. Johnston, a United Press war correspondent, reported that Oregon servicemen in the Pacific resented the Hood River American Legion post’s removal of Nisei names from its honor roll. The post later voted to restore 15 of them. Elsewhere, a fire and gunshots hit the Takeda family’s ranch near San Jose, and the army’s Brig. Gen. William H. Wilbur testified that 95,000 people had been cleared to return. Editorials took up the Hood River memorial, and Larry Tajiri and Bill Hosokawa wrote columns.

Also inside are accounts of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Italy and France, including promoted chaplains Hiro Higuchi and Masao Yamada and a Distinguished Service Cross presented to Mrs. Matsu Madokoro at Poston. The sports and community pages cover an Idaho Falls JACL bowling title, a $500 gift from the Sacramento chapter, and a New York dance for Nisei servicemen.

What’s in this issue

Community

• Oregon Men Resent Slurs Against Nisei, War Correspondent Says, page 1. Richard W. Johnston, a United Press war correspondent, reported on his return from the Pacific that Oregon servicemen resent home-front slurs against Japanese American patriotism. He said Nisei soldiers do a good job and are very popular with their comrades.
• Fire Destroys Japanese Hall in California Town, page 1. A fire, possibly of incendiary origin, destroyed the Japanese Hall on Ellingson Street in Delano, California, causing an estimated $4,000 loss. The hall had served the Japanese ancestry community as a meeting place, theatre and school until the 1942 evacuation.
• Evacuee Farmer Takes Produce to Portland Market, page 1. Tsubota of Maryhill became the first Japanese grower and marketer of produce to sell at Portland’s East Side Wholesale Market since the evacuation. The sale proceeded without demonstrations, though some buyers stood apart from the truck.
• First Nisei Student Registers at Placer High School, page 2. Tom Uratsu became the first Japanese American youth to return to high school in Auburn, California, where some store windows still displayed anti-Japanese placards. He enrolled as a freshman after returning with his parents from the Granada relocation center.
• Farmers’ Union Official Opposes Oregon Proposal, page 3. Wendell Barnett, legislative representative of the Farmers’ Union, testified in Salem that his organization opposed a proposed memorial to Congress calling for deportation of persons of Japanese ancestry. He challenged claims of sabotage and of an abnormally high birth rate among West Coast Japanese.
• Hawaii VFW Post Raps Racist Actions, page 3. Members of the Andrew King Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Maui unanimously condemned American groups responsible for the Hood River situation. The resolution renounced discrimination against Americans on the basis of race, color or creed.
• Idaho Falls Team Wins JACL Tournament, page 7. The Idaho Falls JACL team won the bowling tournament, with individual titles going to Eke Tanaka and Miyi Honda in mixed doubles and to Tucker Morishita and S. Nukaya in men’s doubles. Six teams and numerous individual entrants competed.
• Sacramento Chapter Donates $500 to Aid Coast Relocation, page 7. The Sacramento JACL chapter donated $500 to the national JACL to aid the reestablishment of persons of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. The gift was announced in a letter from chapter president Dr. George G. Muramoto to national president Saburo Kido.
• Shinozaki Aids Carroll Victory, page 7. Sam Shinozaki, a freshman forward from Discovery Bay, Washington, scored a field goal and free throw in the final minute to lift Carroll College over Waukesha. He is the son of a Minidoka evacuee family.
• Nisei Coaches Deshler Teams to Cage, Football Titles, page 7. Peter Ida, a Japanese American coach and athletic director at Deshler high school in Nebraska, led the football team to the Southern Nebraska Eight Conference title. His basketball team also won the conference championship and the Little Blue Tournament.
• Kawai Family Returns to San Pablo Nursery, page 8. The Kawai family returned to San Pablo, California, to reopen their rose nursery, which had been operated by others during the evacuation. The family includes five daughters and a son, and the mother and three children are cultivating the nursery.
• IDC Meeting Will Be Held in Caldwell, page 8. The Intermountain District Council of the JACL will hold a meeting in Caldwell, Idaho, on March 18, with National JACL president Saburo Kido expected to attend. The meeting was rescheduled from March 11.
• Toshio Ando Will Open Law Practice in Denver, page 8. Toshio Ando, recently licensed to practice law in Colorado, will open an office in Denver on March 16. He is a graduate of the University of California law school and attended Hastings before evacuation.
• 125 Nisei Girls Attend Dance for GIs in New York, page 8. A USO dance at Nyack, New York, brought together 125 Japanese American girls from the New York area and 300 servicemen of Japanese ancestry on March 3. The girls were recruited with help from the New York JACL office.
• Chicago Soldier Brings Nisei Home to Spend Furlough, page 8. Pvt. Charles Carroll of Chicago brought home Pvt. Danny Hokama of Lanai City, Hawaii, a fellow soldier from the 442nd who helped rescue the Lost Battalion. Both had suffered trench foot in the Vosges fighting.

Military & Veterans

• Hawaiians Receive Awards for Ideas Aiding War Effort, page 1. Hawaiian civilian employees of Japanese ancestry received cash awards from the Central Pacific command for practical suggestions that saved government money and time. Two employees were honored for their ideas.
• Issei Mother Gets Son’s DSC, page 1. Mrs. Matsu Madokoro received the Distinguished Service Cross awarded to her son, Pfc. Harry Madokoro, killed on the Italian front, at a ceremony at Poston. The citation described his heroism in single-handedly routing German machine-gun nests and snipers.
• Five Japanese Americans Hurt in Action on Western Front, page 1. The War Department listed five Nisei soldiers wounded in recent European theater action and one Nisei held as a prisoner of war in Germany, with next of kin identified for each. The list was published with a caveat that the War Department telegram to next of kin is the final authority on a soldier’s status.
• Report Three Nisei Wounded in France, page 1. Three Nisei soldiers with next of kin in war relocation centers were slightly wounded in action on the Western Front in January and February 1945. One of them, Sgt. Hiroharu Ouchida, was a member of the 442nd squad that rescued the Lost Battalion.
• Nisei World War I Veteran Reported Fighting on Iwo Jima, page 3. The Chicago Herald-American reported that Sgt. James Yoshinobu, a 47-year-old World War I veteran and father of five, was fighting on Iwo Jima with the U.S. Marines. He had volunteered for service in 1943 from the Arkansas relocation center where his family was held.
• Tacoman in Pacific Protests Attacks on Nisei, page 3. Navy Machinist’s Mate Kelly Croft wrote to his family protesting reports of hostile receptions for Japanese Americans returning to the West Coast. He praised the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Combat Team and urged that the Nisei be allowed to come home.
• Role of Japanese Americans in Pacific War Disclosed, page 3. A War Relocation Authority summary revealed that Nisei are fighting against Japan in the Pacific and receiving citations for valor, countering the notion that they served only in Europe. The article relates several individual decorations and battlefield accounts of Nisei soldiers.
• Sgt. Frank T. Hachiya Volunteered for Dangerous Scouting Mission, page 3. Sgt. Frank T. Hachiya of the 7th Division, a former Hood River resident, volunteered to scout enemy positions on Leyte and was fatally wounded by a sniper. Before his death he had fought at Kwajalein and Eniwetok while his parents were held at Hunt, Idaho.
• Japanese American Anti-Tank Unit Landed from Gliders on D-Day in Southern France, page 5. The anti-tank company of the 442nd Regiment landed by glider on D-Day in southern France and held its position until relieved. Its members also served as litter bearers and infantrymen in the mountains of France.
• Nisei Soldier Silences Nazi Guns in Biffontaine Battle, page 5. Pfc. Koichi K. Sekimura of the 100th Battalion silenced an enemy-held building in Biffontaine by throwing grenades through its window. His action helped his platoon occupy the town and repulse a German counterattack.
• Chaplain Higuchi Promoted to Rank of Captain in 442nd, page 5. Chaplain Hiro Higuchi was promoted from first lieutenant to captain in the 442nd Combat Team after serving as a front-line chaplain through Italy and France. He was the first Nisei to receive a chaplain’s commission in the United States Army.
• Japanese American GI Band Plays for Overseas Wounded, page 5. The 442nd’s Army band, drawn from combat units, entertained war-weary troops and hospital patients in Italy and France with its Hawaiian show, Aloha Time. The band also served as litter bearers during the rescue of the Lost Battalion.
• Nisei Soldier Writes About Psychoneurosis After Combat, page 6. A convalescing anonymous serviceman writes that a psychoneurotic diagnosis after combat should not be misread as lasting mental imbalance. He asks civilians to treat returning soldiers with understanding and to let them readjust at their own pace.
• Masao Yamada First Japanese American to Be Appointed Chaplain, page 8. Chaplain Masao Yamada, the first American citizen of Japanese ancestry appointed a chaplain in the United States Army, was promoted to captain with the 442nd Combat Team. He earned the promotion for ministering under fire and in forward aid stations.
• Los Angeles War Correspondent Meets Nisei GI in Philippines, page 8. Los Angeles Times correspondent Gene Sherman reported that 26 Nisei soldiers were serving as interpreters on Luzon and profiled Sgt. Ernie Hirai of Los Angeles. Hirai described interrogating Japanese prisoners and said he considered himself American in every way.

Incarceration & Redress

• Poston Relocates Persons, page 1. Poston relocation center reported that 129 persons had returned to the Coastal area since January 1, 1945. The report noted the outflow of evacuees from the center.
• Evacuee Family Farm Attacked With Fire, Gunshots on San Jose Ranch, page 1. Nine members of the Takeda family were asleep when gasoline was splashed on their ranch home near San Jose and set afire, and shots were fired as they rushed out to fight the flames. It was the first reported case of violence against returning Japanese Americans in Santa Clara county.
• Hood River Post Will Restore Names on Honor Roll, page 1. The Hood River, Oregon, American Legion post voted to restore the names of 15 Japanese American servicemen to the county war memorial after facing censure and possible expulsion from the national Legion. One name was excluded because the man had been dishonorably discharged.
• Hood River Post Still Objects to Evacuee’s Return, page 1. The Hood River American Legion post, while restoring Japanese American names to its honor roll, said it still objected to evacuees returning to their homes and farms in the valley. Several Nisei had nonetheless returned despite Legion advertisements urging them to stay away.
• 95,000 Evacuees Approved By Army for Return to Coast Homes, Gen. Wilbur Testifies, page 2. Brig. Gen. William H. Wilbur testified in Los Angeles that 95,000 persons of Japanese ancestry had been cleared for return to the West Coast, while individual exclusion orders remained pending against about 9,000. He asserted that an enemy espionage system was operating on the Pacific Coast, though he did not specify whether persons of Japanese ancestry were involved.
• Court Action Tests Legality of Army Order, page 2. Federal Judge Peirson M. Hall weighed the constitutionality of military exclusion orders issued against over nine thousand American citizens of Japanese descent in a case brought by Elmer Yamamoto, Kiyoshi Shigekawa and Dr. George Ochikubo. The ACLU-sponsored suit argued that the exclusion procedure denied due process because petitioners could not confront the evidence against them.
• Gun Attack on Evacuee Home Near Orosi, page 2. Tulare County authorities investigated shots fired into the Sam Uyeno farm home near Orosi, where eleven returned evacuees were present. A nearby unoccupied farmhouse owned by a Poston evacuee was also destroyed by fire, and investigators sought to determine whether it was set deliberately.
• Minidoka Slowdown Ended by Plea from Parents, Teachers, page 2. Meals resumed on schedule at the Minidoka relocation center mess halls after a slowdown by the stewards department over a staff reduction ended. Parent Teachers Association members had appealed to the chefs to end the slowdown so children could reach class on time.
• Night-Riders Attack San Jose Family, page 2. Joe Takeda described how a dark sedan returned after the initial attack and fired additional shots at the family while they fought the fire. Deputies found gasoline jugs, liquor bottles, and cut telephone wires at the scene.
• Work of Japanese American Joint Board in Washington Disclosed, page 3. The War Department cited Major Joseph D. Hughes, chairman of the Japanese American Joint Board, for the Legion of Merit for his work on policies affecting Japanese Americans. The citation credited the board with recruiting for the 442nd, reinstating Selective Service, and segregating loyal persons from those loyal to Japan.
• Court Rules Tenants Must Leave Farm, page 3. In the first case of its kind, Dale and Mrs. Bergh were found guilty of encroachment on an evacuee-owned farm near Boring, Oregon, and ordered to surrender the leased property. Their attorney said he would appeal the decision.
• California Supreme Court May Be Asked to Rule on State’s Anti-Alien Land Legislation, page 8. Superior Court Judge Charles G. Haines in San Diego said the constitutionality of California’s Alien Land Law must be decided by higher courts rather than his court. Attorneys A. L. Wirin and Hugh E. MacBeth had argued that the law violated equal protection.
• Legislature Asks Kenny to Recommend Land Law Changes, page 8. California Attorney General Kenny reported to the Legislature that investigations of violations of the anti-alien land law could amount to $100,000 annually. The legislature had requested information on enforcement.

Commentary

• California CIO Backs Return of Evacuees, page 3. The California CIO Council endorsed the War Department’s rescission of evacuation orders and condemned those attempting to split Americans by racial prejudice. It also called the Hood River Legion’s erasure of Japanese American names regrettable and unjustifiable.
• True Democracy, by Willis Richardson, page 4. A Lemon Grove, California, reader writes to remind Japanese Californians that many neighbors remain their friends despite hostile newspaper rantings. He urges them to return and rebuild their lives, promising help from good people across the state.
• Hood River Memorial, page 4. The editorial argues that the Hood River American Legion’s erasure of sixteen Japanese American names was an antidemocratic act driven by economic self-interest in evacuee lands. It credits the public opinion and national Legion pressure that led the post to restore the names.
• Action in New York, page 4. The editorial praises the Ives-Quinn bill, which bans employment discrimination based on race, color or religion in New York with fines and imprisonment as penalties. It argues that economic discrimination is the root of racial discrimination and that the law’s educational features are vital.
• Sierra Madre Incident, page 4. The editorial highlights a Sierra Madre, California, group that pledged to welcome returning Japanese Americans and house them with local families. It presents this as the true Christian spirit of the majority of Californians in contrast to the violence of a few.
• Nisei Labor in Hawaii, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Larry Tajiri reviews Alexander MacDonald’s book Revolt in Paradise, highlighting the role of Hawaii’s Japanese Americans in the war and the rise of organized labor. He traces early plantation strikes and the CIO’s growing influence, including the Nisei labor leader Harry Kawano’s production plan.
• From the Frying Pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Bill Hosokawa recounts a train journey through the South and observes Jim Crow segregation in stations, outhouses and buses. He also describes the poor housing and wartime energy he witnessed in Kansas City.

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