The Niihau Incident (World War II)

[Slater]

An interesting but little-known aspect of the Pear Harbor attack. I can see why it didn't help attitudes towards Japanese-American citizens:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_Incident

[montanadave]

The Japanese relocation camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming (located between Cody and Powell) opened a museum just last summer. At one point, more than 10,000 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated at Heart Mountain, making it the third most populous "city" in Wyoming.

http://www.heartmountain.org/index.html

[SteyrAUG]

One of my Kenpo instructors grew up in Hawaii and his mother told him how a few Japanese neighbors came outside, some in makeshift uniforms and sword in hand, and began to round people up in anticipation of the Japanese invasion.

Some were later taken by authorities, but many were not.

[chadbag]

When I was growing up, we had a guy in our church congregation who had been in the army in WW2. At the time of Pearl Harbor, he was stationed in Hawaii. He told a lot of stories, but one that I remember happened before Pearl Harbor IIRC. They were out one evening going down a road by some cane fields. He caught a glimpse of a slight flash of light. He and his buddies investigated, since out in the middle of the cane fields, there should have been no light. They found a hidden room under a pile of cane and the light had come from a lapse in attentiveness when the door to the hidden room had either been opened or gone ajar for a moment. Inside was at least one Japanese "spy" with radio etc. I don't remember if they were Japanese put ashore by sub or locally recruited Japanese-Americans or what. But he helped capture these "spies" before Pearl Harbor. (I think it was before Pearl Harbor).

(This same guy later was in Europe and he told stories of crossing France into Germany. He said that they would find abandoned Panzerfaust anti tank weapons and have contests on who could knock old walls down with the fewest number. He brought home a wife from Germany. He rode a Harley or similar motorcycle and looked like a big tough biker dude and carried a 1911...)

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