onyxsamurai

I find it amazing how loyal and resilient Japanese Americans are after having experienced such terrible hardships at the hand of the government they trusted.

My grandfather and his parents were also interred at Heart Mountain in Wyoming. They lost their business, home and possessions.

They were from California and got moved to Wyoming and had no idea how cold it could get and were not prepared.

It is a major black mark on America's good reputation. Despite the horrible treatment and years of imprisonment the Japanese citizens still remained loyal and also developed the most decorated fighting unit in American military history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd

Although my great grandparents lost their business they did bounce back and started several small businesses. It was never the same as it was before bu they did manage some level of normalcy. However, their children all went on to be successful. They went to school, started businesses, and some of their children have gone on to extremely successful careers. Now in the 4th and 5th generation everyone is well adjusted, have strong families and are happy. Just a testament to the resilient spirit of the Japanese people.

Questions-

Have you had to overcome resentment or hard feelings towards the American country or people for their acts of ignorance?

What lessons did you learn from the experience?

Was your family able to recover financially from the experience?

Have you been to the Japanese American museum in LA?

I learned that before the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt fearing that Japan would join Germany, had made an official survey to determine the loyalty of the Japanese Americans.

The determination was that they were no threat and were quote "Embarrassingly enthusiastic to be American".

However, President Roosevelt didn't want to make a poor political decision so he left it up to the military to decide so he could defer guilt. Most of the decision came from the local citizens who were either afraid of the Japanese Americans or who had financial gains by eliminating the many successful businesses, farms and land they had created / owned.

However, the Japanese in Hawaii, who made up the largest population in Hawaii "400,000" were not interred because it would have ruined their economy. Yet Hawaii was the site of the of the attack and the Japanese were not feared or put in camps.

My family lost their successful business and home. They rebounded and several were successful afterwards but my great grandparents bounced around from small business to small business afterwards.

Yes they found the camps legal so they could avoid being "legally accountable" for mistakes. However, everyone received a check for their troubles which is as good of an apology as you are going to get from the government.

Where was this interview done? Link?

That is terrible to hear. My grandfather and his parents were interned at Heart Mountain in Wyoming. They lost their business, home and possessions.

They were from California and got moved to Wyoming and had no idea how cold it could get and were not prepared.

It is a major black mark on America's good reputation. Despite the horrible treatment and years of imprisonment the Japanese citizens still remained loyal and also developed the most decorated fighting unit in American military history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd