Hawaii - James Michener [516]
WHEN in the early days of the war Japanese boys in Hawaii were removed from combat units and expelled from R.O.T.C., the islands supposed that this was the end of the matter. "No Jap can be trusted, so we kicked them all out," a general explained.
But to everyone's surprise, the Japanese boys stubbornly refused to accept this verdict. Humbly, quietly, but with an almost terrifying moral force, these boys began to press for their full rights as American citizens. "We demand the inalienable privilege of dying for the nation we love," they argued, and if anyone had asked the Sakagawa boys why they said this, they would have replied, "We were treated decently at McKinley and at Punahou. We were taught what democracy means, and we insist upon our right to defend it."
Committees of Japanese boys began hammering officials with petitions. One drawn up by Goro Sakagawa read: "We are loyal American citizens and humbly request the right to serve our nation in its time of crisis. If you think you cannot trust us to fight against Japan, at least send us to Europe where this problem does not arise." The committees went to see generals and admirals, governors and judges: "We will do any national work you assign us. We will ask for no wages. We must be allowed to prove that we are Americans."
For eleven painful weeks the Japanese boys got nowhere, and then, because the three younger Sakagawas were Punahou boys, they were able to meet one of the most extraordinary men Hawaii was to produce in the twentieth century. His name was Mark Whipple, born in 1900, the son of the medical doctor who had ordered Chinatown burned, great-great-grandson of John Whipple who had .helped Christianize Hawaii. This Mark Whipple was a West Point man and a colonel in the United States Army. Most of his duty had been spent outside Hawaii, but recently he had been assigned to help the high command deal with the Japanese question; and in Washington it had been assumed that when he got to Hawaii he would quickly order the evacuation of all Japanese--none of whom could be trusted--to some concentration camp either in Nevada or on the island of Molokai: "This will include, of course, all the little yellow bastards who have infiltrated themselves into such units as the 298th Infantry and the local R.O.T.C. outfits."
Colonel Mark Whipple disappointed just about everybody, for when he reached Hawaii bearing very powerful directives specifically handed him by President Roosevelt, who knew his family, he gave no quick orders, paraded no insolence, but went swiftly to work. The first man he called in for a conference was the Honolulu head of the F.B.I., who reported, as Whipple had anticipated: "So far as we have presently ascertained, there was not a single case of espionage by any Japanese other than the registered and duly appointed agents of the Japanese consulate, all of whom were citizens of Japan."
"Then the Secretary of Navy's hasty report that Pearl Harbor was betrayed by local Japanese was all hogwash?" Whipple asked.
"Yes. But he can be forgiven. Excited admirals fed him the line. Now they know better."
"Any disloyalty now?" Whipple asked.
"Quite the contrary. The young Japanese seem to be burning to get into uniform. Had two of them in here the other day. Fine boys. Got kicked out of R.O.T.C. and now want us to use them as labor battalions, anything. They offer to serve with no pay."
"You got their names?"
"Right here."
Colonel Whipple hesitated before taking the paper. "I promise you that I will not