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David Mitchell
Thinking of my beloved MIle High once-upon-a-time home (Denver), here is a string of stuff that relates in a very very, loose way. And I use that term even more "loosely".
As I mentioned earlier, several classmates continue to post interesting stuff on FB. I can hardly keep up with the volume. And Mary Ann keeps finding stuff that is just too fascinating to resist. She posted a fascinating little article (again) on to the epic heroism of the late Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. You will recall him from that panel of "Watergate" investigators years ago. I am not in full agreement with every single thing he beleived, but his heroic combat service is beyond reproach.
The excerpt she posted is another shocking incident of racial predjudice in our history. Inouye is a young Army Captain home from teh War - in uniform, with decorations - and one arm obviously blown off (from an attack on German soldiers in Europe) and walks into a barber shop back home in the U.S. around 1945. They refuse to cut his hair - saying "We don't cut 'Japs' hair".
He had been a member of the legendary 442nd Infantry regiment - an all Japanese American unit that became the single most decorated U.S. combat unit - ever! And many (if not most) of them were volunteers from Japanese Amercan families who were meanwhile imprisoned in so called "internment camps' spread over several Western states to keep us "safe" from "enemy aliens". The 442nd were thrown into in many suicide missions in France, Italy, and Germany after their families were ordered out of their own homes on the west cost and herded into virtual prison camps thrughout Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington (and others). They were dumps, and the people (all U.S. Citizens) were treated like dirt.
And this reminded me of other linked stories;
First. you may find two books (or more?) about this shameful chapter of history quite interesting - "Farewell To Manzanar", and "Snow Falling On Cedars". They describe the siezure of property, and "Manzanar" goes into detail of the life in the "camps". It is my recollection that we did NOT return their properties to the rightfull owners after the war. Correct me if I am wrong on that.
Coincidentally to this event and within two nights of Mary Ann's post, I just heard a late night interview with George Takei - the actor who played "Sulu" on the original TV Star Trek. As a member of a family in the "camps", he has written a book about about this titled, "They Called Us Enemy". The interview was fascinating, and more alarming than I had ever known. One item about the (then) Attorney General of California (later Governor, and later still, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme court) Justice Earl Warren, was so shocking of a racist legal decison I could hardly believe it! His decisiosn was something like this: (roughly from memory) "They are legal U.S. citizens and have done nothing wrong. But their implacable Orinetal expressions are possibly hiding something that we cannot discern, so let's lock them up just in case". He later felt very remorseful about the decision and well he should have.
Amazing! And you thought the "Wall" was a new issue?
And this all reminds me of a family friend while I was gowing up in Columbus. We were good friends of a family who's husband and father was one of Dad's best friends. I think they became friends through Ohio State medical school. His name was George Shinowara, and he had spent some time with his famliy in an internment camp in (I believe?) Arizona. He had every right to hold a grudge, but he was the least bitter man you could imagine. In fact he was one of the funniest people I ever knew. Every St. Patrick's day he would brag that he was Irish, saying his name was "Shin-O'Hara". I know he shared some of his family's "Camp" history with Dad, but I was too young at the time.
Now back to Colorado. After the War, there was a governor of Colorado who made a declaration that any Japanese Americans were welcome there. Quite a few Japanese Amerians did come to Colorado and many settled in Denver. A couple of elderly Japanese still lived within a few doors of some property I owned in a run-down neighborhood just north of downtwon - which was about to become a popular Historic District known as "Curtis Park". I was gradually able to get to know one little old Japanese lady who explained some of this to me.
And this Japanese population remained so prevalent in Denver that part of a 1970 urban renewal effort covering many blocks in lower downtown (now known as "LoDo") included a single block of newly developed all-Japanese businesses centered around a medium high rise apartment tower for Japanes ciizens known as "Sakura Square". At one time it contained both of the once popular Japanese steak house franchises - Benihana and I forget the other(?) - as well as a fancy Sake bar, Japanese dry cleaner, and a Japnese travel agency.
(A bit like our all-Vietnamese shopping center out on Federal Boulevard - with a little dive of a Vietnamese restaurant that became legenday - drawing restaraunt critcs from Los Angeles - who stood in line for hours!)
Finally, this Japanese population comprised such an audience that one of Denver's public TV stations (Channel 31, if I recall correctly - eh Jim?) ran a regular Japanese movie night, by which I was captivated. I would plan my TV viewing around this weekly movie schedule. Among others, I saw one of my all-time favorite films "The Burmese Harp" (1956) about a WW2 Japanese combat platoon in the Pacific. One of them plays a small harp which they all become accustomed to. Their unit fights such bloody battles that the harp player vows to become a pacifist and Buddhist monk if they survive the War. He comes back to them as a monk while some of them are in an American prison camp after the War. He begins playing his harp near the barbed wire fence and they all recognize his music and are thrilled to see him. The film was so touching I have never forgotten it!
Hope some of that may have been of interest to some of you.
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