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Japanese Internment Camps of World War II: a personal story (part II) In-Person
This is part 2 of a two-part presentation on the Japanese internment camps during World War II.
World War II produced a cataclysmic upheaval in the lives of people of Japanese ancestry living in America. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized the mass incarceration of 120,000 Japanese living on the west coast -- they were quickly removed from their homes and imprisoned in “internment camps” surrounded by armed guards, guard towers and barbed wire fences. Two-thirds of the Japanese were American citizens who were denied their Constitutional rights and due process in the name of military necessity.
James McIlwain will discuss the role of Japanese-Americans who served in uniform during World War II, despite the fact that many who served, were themselves, as were their family and friends, confined in the camps as prisoners by their own government. These young men and women served in the Pacific and in major campaigns in Italy, France and Germany.The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segrated Japanese unit, for its size and time in service, is the most highly decorated unit ever to serve in the United States military.
Free and open to the public. Registration requested.
James McIlwain is Fox Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Emeritus at Brown University. He is a student of Japanese American history with a special interest in the service of Japanese Americans in the U.S. Army during World War II. Many Japanese Americans served in uniform during WW II despite having been interned and he has undertaken a special project over the last several years to document their service in a database now available on the web: www.soldiersandthecamps.com. He is a life member of the Japanese American Veterans Association and an honorary member of Fox Company chapter of the 442nd Veterans Club.