Yes, this country was really free in the early 1940’s. We incarcerated an entire people, because of something that happened in Hawaii. People were torn out of their homes. They lost their homes, their businesses, and their chldren lost their schooling. The people in Hawaii, on the other hand did not incarcerate anyone except a few very specific Japanese. Eventually the US government made it possible for Japanese/Americans to serve in the European theater, which they did with great courage. This, if I remember correctly, while their parents were still in concentration camps. And if you feel inclined to flame me, consider I have a son in Special Forces who has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and plans to do his 20.
well, my history books and my personal history reads very differently. I have been an American, from Americans, for several generations. I am proud of America, including the people who died in WWII fighting for her, and will support her COURAGE and INTEGRITY until it is a decision of whether I support my God OR my country. I hope that never comes.
Your memory is pretty good except that they weren’t “concentration camps” a la the Nazi or Russian/Communist style. The were officially “Relocation camps” and they did concentrate a specific group of people in them, but there were no firing squads, torture and gas chambers (where I lost my relatives), landmines, etc.
THe Japanese-Americans were unjustly taken from their homes and put into these camps because some in the govt (FDR, Earl Warren, etc. but NOT J. Edgar Hoover), thought they they were a Fifth Column. Only a handful of Japanese-Americans were arrested for supporting Japanese aggression, which was a tribute to the loyality of this group of people.
The WW2 unit was the 442nd, Italy, etc.
PS: My son was one of the first American soldiers to go into Iraq on 3/20/03. My father-in-law fought at Iwo Jima yet he bears no animose against the Japanese. My sister-in-law and her husband have taught in Japan for almost 20 years.
I hate the WW2 generation for their torture and murder of our POWS and those of our Allies and the Chinese/Philippino/Korean peoples back then. The newer generations are ashamed of what their grandparents did as they learn more and more about it.
It is a strange world we live in.
We incarcerated an entire people, because of something that happened in Hawaii.
- something that happened in Peru convinced FDR about the camps. Peru had serious problems with espionage from Peruvian Japanese.