JAPANESE-AMERICAN HEROISM

Eugene, OR, has dedicated a beautifully designed pocket park in downtown to the memory of the Japanese-Americans who taught this nation so much about dignity and endurance during WWII and in the years since. These were the American citizens and their families who were mistreated during the fear and panic which swept the nation in the months and years following the attack on Pearl Harbor by the nation of Japan.

In February 1942, most American citizens of Japanese descent were ordered to report to collection centers to be deported from the west coast states and to be relocated into isolated, primitive, internment camps in remote and often inhospitable desert regions throughout the western USA. 120,000 or more were thus separated from society, losing in the process their personal properties, family heirlooms, businesses, and individual rights.


Three monoliths tell the story under the titles "Perseverance", "Honor", and "Justice". The texts are terse, but even so condensed, one can sense the drama of a people struggling to regain losses and dignity which never should have been taken from them. The text of "Perseverance," (pictured above) is shown below.

Even while incarcerated in the deplorable camps, opportunity came (after first being denied) for young men of military age to enroll in a special unit to be made entirely of Japanese. This chance, although spurned by some, was seized by many individuals and families as an opportunity to display loyalty and regain some measure of supporting the war effort. This was a way to demonstrate "Honor", the topic of the second stone. The unbelievable accomplishments of the 100th and 442nd Combat Teams are the most inspirational in all of our military annals.

The text does not tell how these remarkable heroes fought some of the dirtiest, bloodiest hand-to-hand battles of WWII, in the process rescuing an isolated regiment of Texans and incurring overall more casualties and deaths and earning more honors in combat than any other military unit in American combat history. Characteristically, most of them never spoke about their achievements after returning to America where, because they did look Japanese, they were often treated as though they were the enemy.

After many years and some years of fighting in the courts for reparations against the losses suffered and the rights denied, and because of focused and dedicated Japanese civil rights leaders, the Federal Government - Congress and the President - Redress was obtained, apologies were expressesd, a token repayment was tendered to camp survivors, and the nation began to understand the injustice which has been visited upon this group of Americans.

Here, a brief text recounts the efforts expended to obtain the corrections and reparations due, but it tells nothing of the legal difficulties and personal persecution some dedicated individuals endured in the process of seeking justice after the fact. These individuals are heroes too, having fought on a different battle front, but having incurred wounds of a different sort.

In the park is a small granite bench. The statement along its front summed up what such a memorial should help us remember. Pointing out that those in the camps, those fighting and dying in battle, and those who took on the government and a shameful national prejudice gave their all for one basic reason: that the next generation would never have to endure such indignity and pain and "loss of face".

The words on the bench say, "Dedicated to the spirit of the Issei (1st generation Japanese) who toiled for the sake of the children. "Kodomo no tame ni"."

.

**PS If you click on the pictures they will expand to full-screen magnification for easy reading. Thanks for the tip, PK.