Hawaii - James Michener [517]
"I will state categorically that there has not been a single case of sabotage," the F.B.I, man said.
Whipple drummed his fingers. "I'd like to see those names. Can you get the boys in here?"
As a result of that meeting the Varsity Victory Volunteers were formed with Tadao and Minoru Sakagawa as first members. The V.V.V. were all Japanese, all boys of the highest intelligence and patriotism. They foresaw that the entire future of their people in America depended upon what they did in this war against Japan, and they decided that if they were prevented by hysteria from bearing arms, they would bear shovels. They would dig out latrines, and pick up after white soldiers, and build bridges. There would be no work too menial for them, and they would do it all for $90 a month while their haole and Chinese schoolmates earned ten times that much working for the government in civilian jobs at Pearl Harbor. As Tadao told Colonel Whipple, "We will do anything to prove that we are Americans."
Colonel Whipple, when he recommended that the V.V.V. be established, drew a good deal of criticism from his fellow officers, but he pointed out that he carried a special command from Roosevelt to see exactly what could be done with the Japanese, and he was going to explore all possibilities; but when he next proposed that no Japanese be evacuated to prison camps, neither on Molokai nor anywhere else, the roof fell in.
"Do you mean to say ..." a South Carolina admiral bellowed.
"I mean to say, sir, that these people are loyal Americans and no purpose would be served by placing them in prison camps."
"Why, goddamn it, California has shown us the way to handle these traitors."
"What California has done is its own affair. Here in Hawaii we won't do it that way."
"By God, Whipple! You're subversive!"
But Mark Whipple was not deviated one degree from the true course he had set himself. When a convocation of his own family warned him, "There's a good deal of apprehension about you, Mark. Military people say you're imperiling your whole career," he replied, "In this matter, I have a special burden to bear which only I can bear, and I would prefer to hear no more gossip of any kind. Because what I am about to propose next is going to tear this entire military community apart. Maybe you'd better fortify your tired nerves."
What he proposed was this: "I think we had better form, right now--this week--a special unit of the United States Army composed solely of Japanese boys from Hawaii. Use them in Europe. Throw them against the Germans, and when they perform as I know they will, they'll not only re-establish their credentials here but in America. They will give all free men a propaganda victory over Naziism that will reverberate around the world. With their courage, they will prove Hitler wrong on every single count of his philosophy."
A gasp went up, which was duly reported by cable to Washington, where it was augmented: "Japanese troops in the American Army? And a special unit at that? Ridiculous."
But one man did not think it ridiculous, the President of the United States, and when he had studied Colonel Whipple's report he issued a statement which read: "Patriotism is not a matter of the skin's color. It is a matter of the heart."
In Hawaii there was still vigorous opposition to the formation of such a unit, but when the President's order reached Honolulu in mid-May of 1942 grudging compliance was obligatory, and one gruff general asked, "Who'd want to march into battle with a regiment of Japs behind him?"
"I would," Colonel Whipple replied.
"You mean . . . you're volunteering for the job?"
"I am, sir."
"You've got it, and I hope you don't get shot in the back." Colonel Whipple saluted and took prompt steps to assemble into one unit all the Japanese boys already in the army--men like Goro Sakagawa of the 298th Infantry--and to pave the way for later acceptance of others like