Willcousa and Others, RE: “Japanese interrment was a horrible mistake.”
Yes, I agree it was a horrible mistake because it turned out we over-reacted. They turned out to be innocent people —- not Spies. Some of them were enlisted to fight in Europe and they did a commendable job.
… But during the war, that was a necessary thing to do. Nobody knows how to distinguish a Spy from an innocent one. In the Philippines which we ruled at that time all the Japanese inhabitants proved to be Spies. That influenced the decision to intern the Japanese in the U.S. When the Japanese occupied the Philippine Islands, all of rhe Japanese already there assumed high ranking positions in the occupying army. In my hometown, a certain person named “Waki” proved to be a Colonel who then afterwards tortured and killed lots of people. One way they used to interrogate people. was to tie a persons feet, lower and submerge the head of the person in a septic tank for a minute or so (all the worms crawling). Another is to pull finger and toe nails an/or deform one's sex organs. There were so many atrocities committed that it could fill up a volume of books —- such as letting somebody witness the raping of his wife and daughter.
War is not good. Innocent people suffers. But at least Americans are Angels compared to others.
Actually I have no animosity towards the Japanese. My friends include lots of Japanese. I was born surrounded by sacks of rice used to shield my mother and me from bullets while there was skirmishes going on between the Filipino guerillas and the Japanese who were headquartered in front of our house. Later, when I was more than a year old my sister used to bring me to the friendly Japanese soldiers who carried me in their loving arms, kissed me, petted me and reminded them of their sons and brothers left in Japan. The Japanese in turn gave candies and improvised toys telling my sister to bring me back tomorrow…
The Japanese interned got the sincere apology of the American people. They or their survivors even got something like$20,000 as a small indemnifying fee. … Now contrast this small American act with what happened to many Americans, Filipinos, Chinese, Koreans, Europeans and others who were held as slave laborers in Japan working for different Japanese Companies some of them companies still in operation. The slave laborers were not treated well, one account is that one American had his foot slowly being eaten by worms because the Japanese didn't even care to give the laborers medicine. Now the living former slave laborers were suing the Japanese companies. The companies were Apologizing while saying that they can't indemnify the victims because their companies were owned not by them but different Japanese people before… |
