ON FEBRUARY 19, 1942, 73 DAYS AFTER THE UNITED STATES ENTERED WORLD WAR II, PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT ISSUED EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066 WHICH RESULTED IN THE MASS REMOVAL OF 120,000 JAPANESE AMERICAN MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN FROM THEIR HOMES IN THE WESTERN STATES AND HAWAII.

ALLOWED ONLY WHAT THEY COULD CARRY, FAMILIES WERE FORCED TO ABANDON HOMES, FRIENDS, FARMS AND BUSINESSES TO LIVE IN TEN REMOTE RELOCATION CENTERS GUARDED BY ARMED TROOPS AND SURROUNDED BY BARBED WIRE FENCES FOR THREE YEARS OR MORE. IN ADDITION, 4,500 WERE ARRESTED BY THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AND HELD IN INTERNMENT CAMPS, SUCH AS SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO AND THE FAMILY CAMP IN CRYSTAL CITY, TEXAS, WHERE 2,500 WERE HELD.

ANSWERING THE CALL TO DUTY, YOUNG JAPANESE AMERICANS ENTERED INTO MILITARY SERVICE, JOINING MANY PRE-WAR DRAFTEES. THE 100TH INFANTRY BATTALION AND THE 442ND REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM, FIGHTING IN EUROPE, TOGETHER WERE THE MOST HIGHLY DECORATED ARMY UNIT FOR ITS SIZE AND LENGTH OF SERVICE IN THE HISTORY OF THE U.S. ARMY. THE JAPANESE AMERICANS IN THE MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE, WITH BILINGUAL SKILLS SHORTENED THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC AND THUS SAVED COUNTLESS AMERICAN LIVES. THE 1399TH ENGINEER CONSTRUCTION BATTALION HELPED FORTIFY THE INFRASTRUCTURE ESSENTIAL FOR VICTORY.

IN 1983, ALMOST FORTY YEARS AFTER THE WAR ENDED, THE FEDERAL COMMISSION ON WARTIME RELOCATION AND INTERNMENT OF CIVILIANS FOUND THAT THERE HAD BEEN NO MILITARY NECESSITY FOR THE MASS IMPRISONMENT OF JAPANESE AMERICANS AND THAT A GRAVE INJUSTICE HAD BEEN DONE.

IN 1988, PRESIDENT RONALD W. REAGAN SIGNED THE CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT WHICH APOLOGIZED FOR THE INJUSTICE, PROVIDED MINIMAL COMPENSATION AND REAFFIRMED THE NATION’S COMMITMENT TO EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW FOR ALL AMERICANS.

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