Japanese-American Internment

& Their Role In the War. Aaron K, Anna R, Megan B

Many Americans worried that citizens of Japanese ancestry would act as spies or saboteurs for the Japanese government. Fear — not evidence — drove the U.S. to place over 127,000 Japanese-Americans in concentration camps for the duration WWII.

Roosevelt's executive order was fueled by anti-Japanese sentiment among farmers who competed against Japanese labor, politicians who sided with anti-Japanese constituencies, and the general public, whose frenzy was heightened by the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor. More than two-thirds of the Japanese who were interned in the spring of 1942 were citizens of the United States.

Evacuation orders were posted in towns, and many of the families sold their houses and stores. Two-thirds of the evacuees were born in America and most of them and never been to Japan in their lives. Anyone of Japanese decent was sent to these camps, including WWI veterans.

Internees had only been allowed to bring with them a few possessions. In many cases they had been given just 48 hours to evacuate their homes. Consequently

they were easy prey for fortune hunters who offered them far less than the market prices for the goods they could not take with them.

More maps of Internment Camps:

Entire history of the United States. Tens of

thousands of innocent men, women,

and even children were suppressed into

camps ruthlessly and without legitimist

reason. They lost their houses and almost

all their possessions along with them. These events during World War II changed many people's view

towards Japanese people, and it changed people's

view towards America.

"It was really cruel and harsh. To pack and evacuate in forty-eight hours was an impossibility. Seeing mothers completely bewildered with children crying from want and peddlers taking advantage and offering prices next to robbery made me feel like

murdering those responsible without the slightest compunction in my heart." Joseph Yoshisuke Kurihara speaking of the Terminal Island evacuation.  

During World War II, over 7,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese from Latin America were held in internment camps run by the Immigration and Naturalization

Service, part of the Department of Justice. In this period, Latin Americans of Japanese ancestry were rounded up and transported to American internment camps run by the U.S. Justice Department. These Latin American internees were eventually, through the efforts of civil rights attorney Wayne M. Collins, offered "parole" relocation to the labor-starved farming community in Seabrook, New Jersey Many became naturalized American citizens or Japanese Americans after the war.

Despite many being in internment during the war, many Japanese-Americans had a role in World War II.

Many Japanese Americans fought alongside other US forces in World War II in their own regimental group.

A Nisei is a person born in the US with Japanese background. While many of them were sent off to internment camps, some were able to be in the military. Nisei in the military were always very carefully watched.

The "442nd regimental combat team of the united states army" was made up of almost all Japanese Americans.    Their moto was "go for broke".

One example of these men was George Sakatao displayed honor for his homeland American in a battle at Biffontaine. Where he killed and captured many enemy soldiers on his own.

The "US army 100th infantry battalion" was also many Japanese Americans and became the most decorated unit in American military history. They also freed people in the Dachau concentration camp

Many solders off fighting had family in the internment camps back in America.

So while many were trapped in the camps, segregated and misjudged as a threat, others were able to assist and contribute to World War II. Many of those men helped, and are the reason that it was a victory for America.

Works Cited:

http://www.ushistory.org/us/51e.asp

442nd REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM. National Education Center, 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

"1937-1945: World War II." 1937-1945: World War II. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Asian Pacific Soilders." Http://www.army.mil. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

"At War for Democracy." Pbs.org. N.p., 2007. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

"Japanese-American Internment." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 09

Feb. 2014.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "World War II Timeline of Important Dates." Shmoop.com. Shmoop

University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 09 Feb. 2014.

"World War II Photos." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and

Records Administration. Web. 09 Feb. 2014.

"World War Two - Japanese Internment Camps in the USA." World War Two. Web. 08 Feb.

2014.

Image links:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Posted_Japanese_American_Exclusion_Order.jpg

http://www.fasttrackteaching.com/burns/Unit_10_WW2/WW2_map_Japanese_internment_camps_300g120.gif

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Map_of_World_War_II_Japanese_American_internment_camps.jpg

http://lanternreview.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/internment-image.jpg

http://ww2today.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/japanese-internment.jpg

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/ww2_10/s_w21_0201614M.jpg

http://multimedialearningllc.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/japanese_intern_lg.jpg

http://robledo.fromthefog.com/upstanders/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/related6.jpg

http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/japan/sign.jpg

http://questgarden.com/68/47/0/080717102215/images/execordersign.jpg

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/japanese_internment/evacuation-sale.jpg

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/01/11/japanese-american-soldiers_slide-d7084f7034ac6fb54a6fa783bcaf47ea3e1a61a3-s6-c30.jpg

http://i.usatoday.net/travel/_photos/2007/12/14/intern-topper.jpg

http://encyclopedia.densho.org/psms/media/cache/96/a6/96a68dc092bbe322b65b50bbe0166a2a.jpg

http://www-tc.pbs.org/thewar/images/inline_pics/at_war_ffd_03.jpg

http://mrshillwikiah3.wikispaces.com/file/view/442_2nd.jpg/217011652/442_2nd.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/George_T_Sakato.jpg

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/japanese-relocation/images/children-pledge.gif