The Northwest times. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1947-1955, 1955-02-09

vier force, and failed again
The 442 recently arrived from /
tally, was called upon 1t did the
job The cost to the 442 was 1900
casualties
The first man to reach the be-
sieged battalion was Matsuji Saku-
moto, called Mutt" by his fellow
riflemen. Asked shortly afterward
for his address. he gave it as Wal
alua, Oahu His platoon leader
was Staff Sergeant PAX Senawaki
Asked for his address Sergeant
Senawaki said that his addre SIS
was the Rohwer Relocation Cent
ci, McGehee. Ark.
"T-PATCH"
Newt morning, the commanding
general of the Seth Division order
ed that the blue-and- olive divi-
sional "T-patch" be issued to the
members of the 442 making them
honorary Texans-the highest ac-
colade Texas can bestow. BY noon.
all surviving members of the regi-
ment had the T-patches neatly
sewn on their right shoulders.
At some time after the taking Of
Strasbourg on November rs, the
Japs, as they were universally call
ed. with respect and affection. re-
turned to Italy. Word came back
to France that they were doing
such things there as taking in
three days mountein they had
been told to capture within six
weeks. Whether that was strictly
so or not. on one doubted that it
could have been.
Sergeant Senawaki. when lac
gave his address as a relocation
center, did not speak bitterly. One
OF the more remarkable virtues of
the Az was its lack OF bitterness.
Nevertheless, the sergeant wanted
you to understand and to under
stand most definitely. that the re-
location center in which the Uni
ted States government held his
family was the only home he had
RELOCATION CENTERS
His family was one of many. All
told, about 10000 people of Japa-
nese thirds of them
American citizens-had been herd
ed into relocation centers. away
from the West Coast, in the
months after Pearl Harbor. These
were not concentration camps in
the usual sense-unless the main
1act about concentration camp Is
that you cannot get out of it. The
inmates In these camps were
treated well. Relocation centers'
was not, perhaps, altogether a eu-
phemism. 1t was just sort of a eu
phemism.
At the beginning of January,
1915, shortly after Sergeant sena-
waki spelled out his address, the
people in the centers, after three
years Of detention. were released
and allowed to go home
Why were they held? Was It ne
cessary for the conntry's safety, as
most people here thought it was in
the emotional shock of Pearl Har-
Dor? Or was it, as one writer SIZE.
gested a couple of years after
Pearl Harbor, a case of "sunkist
hysteria," the result Of a local Ca
hfornia economic-racial feud of
long standing? Did the country as
whole, starting with that. allow
Itself to be drawn into a general
hysteria which it should remember
with Shame as a dark spot in its
history?
HAWAIIAN LOYALTY
Whether the people in the relo-
cation centers would have tried In
help the enemy is, on the basis of
cold evidence. impossible to say
since they did not have a chance
TO Though In some cases the sac
rifioe Of a son might be thought
evidence of kind
But there was Hawaii
At the outbreak OF World War
II, some 81 per cent Of the people
Of Hawaii we're OF Japanese anoes-
try. When the attack came on
Pearl Harbor, a few Of these a IT,
ny handful known to be danger
Gus. were picked up Immediately
The rest Of the Hawaiian japan
ese-Americans went about their bu
siness. For some this was volun-
teer service in the 442 and the
Tooth Battalion. For most, IL was
simply daily life and work.
Near the end of the war. militia
ry intelligence in Hawaii reported