Tuesday, February 19, 2008
This Day in the History of Regrettable Actions Made Necessary by War
On this day in 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, giving the U.S. military the power to relocate and intern "any and all persons." The order was mainly used to detain around 120,000 Japanese-Americans, most of them U.S.-born citizens. This action is often criticized as unnecessary, wrong or racist, but it was absolutely necessary and right, as the cracked Japanese codes revealed an effort by the Japanese to recruit would-be saboteurs and spies from the community. Any time the Japanese complain about racism, I have to laugh, in my gaijin way, which laugh sounds, no doubt, like monkey calls to most Japanese ears.
Labels: Japanese Internment, WWII history; Pacific theater
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 12:22 AM 
Comments:
<< Home
My dad's first duty station, after navy boot camp, was at Barber's Point, in Hawaii......overseeing one of the internmment camps, at the end of the war. He was 15 at the time.....his mom lied about his age to get him out of juvenille....or back then they called it " reform school ".
He had some interesting stories to tell about that...and some of the pictures are absolute Smithsonian material. IMHO
He had some interesting stories to tell about that...and some of the pictures are absolute Smithsonian material. IMHO
Thanks for the info. Wikipedia, I think, says there were no internment camps in Hawaii. So much for their reliability.
As far an actual camp is concerned....I dunno....But my dad did guard Japanese Foreign nationals on their work details and what not....so they were interred somewhere on hawaii for sure.
I distinctly remember my dad telling me that, part of the interned jap's work detail, was cleaning the beaches, and he spoke of how they would grab the cigarette butts out of the sand and smoke them.
Yup, there were jap americans interned in Hawaii.
Yup, there were jap americans interned in Hawaii.
Choose one:
1) Be a Japanese-American in a internment camp during WW2.
2) Be a US soldier on the Bataan death march (or anywhere as a South Pacific POW).
In comparison, #1 is an unfortunate inconvenience. #2 is a despicable example of complete absence of humanity.
1) Be a Japanese-American in a internment camp during WW2.
2) Be a US soldier on the Bataan death march (or anywhere as a South Pacific POW).
In comparison, #1 is an unfortunate inconvenience. #2 is a despicable example of complete absence of humanity.
I think you are wrong here Roger. Internment of a U.S. Citizen without a trial because of his ethnicity?
Country of Origin? How come no internment of German or Italian Americans then???
Is it your contention that U.S. Citizens are entitled to disparte treatment because of where they or their parents were born?
Is it your contention that U.S. Citizens are entitled to disparte treatment because of where they or their parents were born?
Funny that you mention it. There indeed was internment of Germans during WWII on the East Coast but it was a much smaller deal. I don't know about Italians. I'll post on it. Thanks for the comments. You too, Chemgeek. Well stated.
Post a Comment
<< Home
