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April 6, 1942 Life
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early
technology. See articles from Life magazine,
published 1883-1972. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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This 1942 issue of Life
magazine reported on the first 1,000 Japanese volunteers arrived at Manzanar, a
government "reception center" in California's Owens Valley, to prepare for the
forced relocation of 112,000 Japanese residents from the West Coast. Though most
were U.S. citizens, they were treated as potential enemies. The Army promised
humane conditions - self-governance, paid labor ($54-$94/month), and
agricultural development - but Manzanar remained a guarded concentration camp.
Internees, limited to what they could carry, were housed in barracks with
minimal furnishings. Despite scenic surroundings, including views of
Mt. Whitney, the camp was stark, with unfinished sewers and communal meals. Some
expressed loyalty, even proposing wartime factory work, but the Army maintained
strict control, threatening force for non-compliance. The journey to Manzanar,
escorted by soldiers, was orderly, with convoys of cars and boxed lunches
provided. Though framed as voluntary, the article acknowledged the inevitability
of mass evacuation, emphasizing the Army's dual approach of courtesy and
coercion.
I maintain that there were significant security concerns that justified the
internment program during WWII. The U.S. was facing an existential threat, and
with documented cases of Japanese espionage (such as the Niihau Incident and the
exposure of spy networks), the government had no choice but to act decisively.
Unlike today, where advanced surveillance and intelligence could monitor
potential threats, the 1940s lacked such capabilities. Many Japanese-Americans
had strong familial and cultural ties to Japan, making them vulnerable to
coercion by the Imperial government. Given the stakes - especially after Pearl
Harbor - allowing even a small number of embedded saboteurs to operate freely
could have led to catastrophic sabotage on the West Coast. The internment camps,
while harsh, were a necessary measure to neutralize this risk. They were far
more humane than what enemy nations would have done in similar circumstances.
The U.S. ensured internees had self-governance, wages, and even recreational
activities - hardly the actions of a cruel regime, but rather those of a nation
forced to make tough choices in wartime. Critics (aka morons) today judge with
the luxury of hindsight, ignoring the genuine peril America faced. The program
wasn’t about racism - it was about survival. And it worked: no major acts of
sabotage occurred on the West Coast during the war. That outcome alone
vindicates the decision.
Coast Japs Are Interned in Mountain Camp
Morning wind sends dust swirling down Owens Valley as first Jap
internees carry their luggage to dormitories where they will live till end of war.
In a high mountain-walled California valley 240 miles from the sea, the vanguard
of 112,000 Japanese residents of the proscribed Pacific Coast combat zone were settled
comfortably last week, prepared to wait out the war in willing and not unprofitable
internment. Of 1,000-odd Japs who arrived at the Government's Manzanar "reception
center" in Owens Valley, March 22-23, more than four-fifths were citizens of the
U. S. All were volunteers who had offered their services to help prepare the encampment
for those who will necessarily follow. For in the next month, the Army warns, evacuation
of all Japanese and all German and Italian aliens from the West Coast's military
zones must be complete.
The Army hopes this great and unprecedented migration will continue to be as
spontaneous and cheerful as its first chapter. For continue it must, and continue
it will, until every enemy alien and every individual of Japanese descent - whether
friend or foe - is banished from the strategic areas of the coastal States. Last
fortnight the Army extended a velvet glove to its first voluntary internees. The
soldiers who escorted them across the Mojave Desert to Manzanar were friendly and
affable, and the Japs commented afterward on the courteous treatment they had received.
Nevertheless the trappings of war were there. And the commanding general of the
West Coast area promised the Army would not shrink from using force to complete
evacuation, if other methods failed.
Impedimenta is limited by Army orders to what each internee could
carry with him. Required of all were cooking utensils, clothing, tools of trade,
bedding. The rocking chair shown here is pure luxury.
A bit of carburetor trouble commands the diagnostic skill of
two young Japs. Every car in the convoy was ordered equipped with spare tire and
sufficient gasoline for the 240-mile trek.
Ten-minute rest stop permits pilgrims to stretch legs briefly.
Halts were made at two-hour intervals. Some Japs strolled into sagebrush, others
tinkered with motors, smoked, talked.
Journey's end is Manzanar, attained by the desert-dusty convoy
as the long shade of the Sierras reaches across Owens Valley from the west. Arriving
Japs were enchanted by scenic surroundings.
A WPA truck distributes tables and desks. The administration
of Manzanar will be in the hands of the residents themselves. Each block will elect
its own representative, each group of ten blocks its own "ward boss." Five duly
elected bosses will run the camp government.
Getting settled the morning after his arrival, a sturdy old Jap
packs his belongings to the dormitory that will be his home until the war ends.
Note sewer pipes at the left. When rough work is done, it will be up to residents
to add refinements of walks, landscaping, gardens.
Dinner is served-and consumed standing up owing to lack of tables
and chairs. Camp steward is Arthur Hirano, former New York restaurateur. His first
menu consisted of beef stew, steamed rice, string beans, peas, apricots, bread and
jelly. His customers were appreciative.
Nisei girls make themselves at home in clean but Spartan dormitory.
Makeshift screen has been created out of packaging from oil burner with which each
of the barracks is supplied. Note the picture of General MacArthur on wall and graduation
photograph on dressing table.
First arrivals await their turn to register. Completed when Japs
descended were 38 prefabricated structures, including administration, barracks,
mess hall, and a 150-bed hospital. Water pipes had been laid, but sewers were still
under construction, hence privies at left.
The reception center in which the internees found themselves proved a scenic
spot of lonely loveliness. The Japs gasped when they saw Mt. Whitney, highest peak
in the U. S., shrugging its white shoulder above lesser ranges just 15 miles away.
They were gratified to discover no mosquitoes. They tested the soil and found it
hard and arid, but potentially fertile. The Government had promised them seed, machinery,
irrigation. Within a few months, it was hoped, Manzanar should be self-sustaining.
It will have its own democratic government, its own stores, workshops, beauty parlors,
barbershops and canteens. The residents will develop agricultural, fishing and game
facilities. Each internee will be paid from $54 to $94 a month depending on his
skill. From this wage, $15 a month will be deducted for bed and board.
All this looked good last week - to the Japs, to coastal Californians who had
howled long and loud for evacuation of aliens, to the Army, and even to some of
Inyo County's hostile citizenry who had bitterly protested establishment of the
center in their serene valley. Yet Manzanar, for all its hopes and assets, was no
idyllic country club. Manzanar was a concentration camp, designed eventually to
detain at least 10,000 potential enemies of the U. S. Last week a Japanese-American
internee emphasized that he and his comrades had come to Manzanar "without bitterness
or rancor - wanting to show our loyalty in deeds, not words." There was talk of
establishing an airplane parts factory within the center, so that loyal Nisei could
help win the war against their ancestral land. But though this should come to pass,
the Army last week stood careful guard over the nearby bomber base, the nearby Los
Angeles Aqueduct and strategic U. S. Highway No.6. And those who interned themselves
of their own free will pledged never to set foot outside except by special order.
The penalty for leaving is refusal of re-admission - and that may well mean involuntary
internment in another camp less pleasant than remote and mountainous Manzanar.
Jeeps Lead Japs on Journey from the Sea
Half of Manzanar's voluntary internees journeyed to their new mountain home by
train. The other 500 met at sunup near Pasadena's famed Rose Bowl, their 140 cars
piled high with treasured encumbrances. At 6:30 their long convoy headed northward,
inland and away from the embattled sea. Here was no "Okie" hegira. The cars in line
transcended jalopies, though most had known many years and many miles. Their sequence
was punctuated at ten-car intervals by Army jeeps.
All morning long the retinue rolled on, over the coastal range, into the desert
country of sagebrush and Joshua trees, past dry alkali lakes and through red rock
canyons, following the line of the Los Angeles aqueduct. In midafternoon they sighted
the snowy Sierras. And at 6:30 as the sun dipped behind the western mountain wall
they entered Manzanar's gates. Their trip had been leisurely and without incident.
Three spent cars were under Army tow. And one Japanese driver slumbered in his own
back seat, the victim of a last lovely splash of sake.
Box lunches are distributed by soldiers escorting convoy. Each
box contained ham and cheese sandwiches, cup cakes, a carton of milk, an orange.
Each traveler had been ordered to bring his own water.
Across the Mojave Desert the four-mile-long convoy cuts northward,
following the arrow-straight flight of the Sierra Highway to the cool, snow-topped
mountains. Pacing the procession at 30 m. p. h. is a jeep with red headlights. Behind
it rolls a staff sedan carrying the provost marshal in command of the convoy. Behind
that follows a press car. And thereafter, led by baggage trucks, rattle the long
ranks of Japanese internees, interspersed periodically with jeeps. The railroad
tracks on the far side of the road are those of the Southern Pacific's inland route.
Internees Get Settled in Their Wartime Home High in the Spectacular Sierras
Extra bedding is distributed to the arriving internees. The business of registration
went off expeditiously. Each resident, after signing in, received his dormitory
assignment, comforters and mattress ticking. Administrative work was capably handled
by American-born Japanese.
Internees fill mattress tickings with straw as the last daylight fades over the
Sierras. Upon these ticks, covering metal Army cots, Japs slept comfortably if not
luxuriously. Only essential furniture was supplied. Additional comforts will be
fashioned in Manzanar workshops.
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