Nisei In The Army |
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NISEI IN THE ARMY B. BEFORE Pearl Harbor, Americans of Japanese descent, commonly called Nisei, (pronounced "nee- say") were eligible to volunteer and were subject to induction into the Army through the Selective Service System. Consequently, many young Japanese Americans were already in the Army when the United States went to war with the Axis nations. After war was declared, however, many Selective Service boards were reluctant to accept the Nisei, while some others continued to induct them. This condition prevailed throughout the spring of 1942 while all persons whose forebears came from Japan were being evacuated from the Pacific Coast and transferred to relocation centers under jurisdiction of the War Relocation Authority. On June 17, 1942—with the evacuation virtually completed— the War Department advised the Selective Service System to discontinue Nisei inductions until further notice. Soon afterward, all Nisei were ordered reclassified to IV-C, not acceptable for service because of ancestry. The first modification of this policy came in the late fall of 1942, when about 160 Nisei volunteers were recruited from relocation centers. The response to the call for volunteers revealed that many young men at WRA centers were eager to prove their loyalty to the United States. Meanwhile, in June 1942, a unit composed almost entirely of Nisei from Hawaii, including many men who had served in the Hawaiian National Guard, had been transferred to the mainland for training. This unit—the 100th Infantry Battalion, at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin—was attracting much favorable attention. The evidence was mounting that many Nisei had the spirit and ability to make good soldiers. On January 28, 1943, the Secretary of War announced that the Army had decided to form a special Nisei combat team, and that volunteers would be accepted both from the continental United States and from the Hawaiian Islands. In February and March, a recruitment program was conducted under Army supervision at all relocation centers. The result of this Nisei recruitment at the WRA centers and elsewhere was the formation of the 442nd Combat Team which began training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, in April, 1943. Representatives of the War Department, who were assigned to the relocation centers to conduct the recruitment program, explained the reasons for the formation of a distinctively Japanese American unit in the Army. "If your strength were diffused through the Army of the United States—as has al ready been done with many other Americans of your blood," they told the young men in the relocation centers, "relatively little account would be taken of your action. You would be important only as manpower—nothing more. But united, and working together, you would become a symbol of something greater than your individual selves, and the effect would be felt both in the United States and abroad. All other Americans would long remember what you had done for the country, and you would be a living reproach to those who have been prejudiced against you because of your Japanese blood." On December 18, 1943, the War Department, impressed by the "excellent showing" made by the 442nd Combat Team in training and by the "outstanding record" of the 100th Battalion which had been transferred to the Italian battle front, revised its policies so as to provide for the induction of Nisei through regular Selective Service procedures. This action, which was publicly announced by the Secretary of War on January 20, 1944, had the effect of calling upon the Nisei to assume one of the highest obligations of American citizenship. Since that time, Japanese Americans at relocation centers and elsewhere, like other young Americans, have been subject to involuntary induction for Army Service. By the end of 1943 many families had left the relocation centers, and many more were preparing to leave. Dispersing across the country from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Atlantic seaboard, they found new homes and productive employment outside the West Coast exclusion area. These were people who had been carefully screened by the War Relocation Authority. Many of them had husbands, sons, and brothers in the Service. Mainly, they were American citizens by birth, but the aliens who were granted leave, no less than the citizens, had been respectable and law-abiding residents of the communities where they lived before the evacuation. They looked upon the United States as home, and they wanted to continue to live here. Many had remained aliens only because, as Orientals, they could not be naturalized under our laws. It has been a common comment of Nisei in the Army that they are fighting two battles: one to smash the Axis dictators; the other to prove that Japanese Americans are basically no different in attitude or loyalty from the majority of our citizens whose forebears came from other lands.
Object Description
Title | Nisei In Uniform |
Creator | Department Of The Interior |
Date Created | Unknown |
Description | A collection of images and articles about Japenese Americans in World War II. |
Subjects | Japanese Americans -- World War II |
Type | image |
Genre | Booklet |
Language | eng |
Source Description | 27 items |
Collection | Hirasuna Family Papers |
Project Name | California State University Japanese American Digitization Project |
Rights | Rights not yet transferred |
Description
Local ID | csufr_hfp_0306 |
Project ID | csufr_hfp_0306 |
Title | Nisei In The Army |
Creator | Department Of The Interior |
Date Created | Unknown |
Subjects | Japanese Americans -- World War II |
Type | image |
Genre | Booklet |
Language | eng |
Source Description | 8.50 x 10.98in |
Collection | Hirasuna Family Papers |
Rights | Rights not yet transferred |
Transcript | NISEI IN THE ARMY B. BEFORE Pearl Harbor, Americans of Japanese descent, commonly called Nisei, (pronounced "nee- say") were eligible to volunteer and were subject to induction into the Army through the Selective Service System. Consequently, many young Japanese Americans were already in the Army when the United States went to war with the Axis nations. After war was declared, however, many Selective Service boards were reluctant to accept the Nisei, while some others continued to induct them. This condition prevailed throughout the spring of 1942 while all persons whose forebears came from Japan were being evacuated from the Pacific Coast and transferred to relocation centers under jurisdiction of the War Relocation Authority. On June 17, 1942—with the evacuation virtually completed— the War Department advised the Selective Service System to discontinue Nisei inductions until further notice. Soon afterward, all Nisei were ordered reclassified to IV-C, not acceptable for service because of ancestry. The first modification of this policy came in the late fall of 1942, when about 160 Nisei volunteers were recruited from relocation centers. The response to the call for volunteers revealed that many young men at WRA centers were eager to prove their loyalty to the United States. Meanwhile, in June 1942, a unit composed almost entirely of Nisei from Hawaii, including many men who had served in the Hawaiian National Guard, had been transferred to the mainland for training. This unit—the 100th Infantry Battalion, at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin—was attracting much favorable attention. The evidence was mounting that many Nisei had the spirit and ability to make good soldiers. On January 28, 1943, the Secretary of War announced that the Army had decided to form a special Nisei combat team, and that volunteers would be accepted both from the continental United States and from the Hawaiian Islands. In February and March, a recruitment program was conducted under Army supervision at all relocation centers. The result of this Nisei recruitment at the WRA centers and elsewhere was the formation of the 442nd Combat Team which began training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, in April, 1943. Representatives of the War Department, who were assigned to the relocation centers to conduct the recruitment program, explained the reasons for the formation of a distinctively Japanese American unit in the Army. "If your strength were diffused through the Army of the United States—as has al ready been done with many other Americans of your blood," they told the young men in the relocation centers, "relatively little account would be taken of your action. You would be important only as manpower—nothing more. But united, and working together, you would become a symbol of something greater than your individual selves, and the effect would be felt both in the United States and abroad. All other Americans would long remember what you had done for the country, and you would be a living reproach to those who have been prejudiced against you because of your Japanese blood." On December 18, 1943, the War Department, impressed by the "excellent showing" made by the 442nd Combat Team in training and by the "outstanding record" of the 100th Battalion which had been transferred to the Italian battle front, revised its policies so as to provide for the induction of Nisei through regular Selective Service procedures. This action, which was publicly announced by the Secretary of War on January 20, 1944, had the effect of calling upon the Nisei to assume one of the highest obligations of American citizenship. Since that time, Japanese Americans at relocation centers and elsewhere, like other young Americans, have been subject to involuntary induction for Army Service. By the end of 1943 many families had left the relocation centers, and many more were preparing to leave. Dispersing across the country from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Atlantic seaboard, they found new homes and productive employment outside the West Coast exclusion area. These were people who had been carefully screened by the War Relocation Authority. Many of them had husbands, sons, and brothers in the Service. Mainly, they were American citizens by birth, but the aliens who were granted leave, no less than the citizens, had been respectable and law-abiding residents of the communities where they lived before the evacuation. They looked upon the United States as home, and they wanted to continue to live here. Many had remained aliens only because, as Orientals, they could not be naturalized under our laws. It has been a common comment of Nisei in the Army that they are fighting two battles: one to smash the Axis dictators; the other to prove that Japanese Americans are basically no different in attitude or loyalty from the majority of our citizens whose forebears came from other lands. |