REMEMBER THE HOSTAGES WE HELD? The American people were relieved and gratified at the release of 52 hostages held in Iran for 444 days. The events leading up to the captive actions and the eventual release, have been printed many times, and shown equally as many times on television. But let’s take a trip back into 1942 and briefly review the roll the American government took in holding hostage several thousand innocent Japanese, 333 of them being residents of Vacaville, which included old men in wheel chairs, women, children and babes in arms.
Perhaps the word “hostage” is not in the proper context when we speak of this unfortunate period in our history. “Protective custody” may be a better description.
When the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor on December 7th in 1941, the “day of infamy” forced the United States into all-out war with Japan. A frenzied America had every right to immediately pursue a belligerent attitude, not only against the responsible Japanese government, but also toward thousands of Pacific Coast residents of Japanese ancestry. Overnight, friendships between the Japanese and other nationalities, came to a screeching halt. There was no latitude for understanding.
Within two weeks after the December 7 attack, Vacaville area Japanese residents had banded together and in a full page advertisement in The Reporter, made known their positions on what had happened and what to expect from those residents who had made this area their permanent homes. Here is one paragraph from that ad: “We pledge our full support to the United States government, and will encourage our sons and daughters to do their share in the protection of this great democracy.”
On May 2 and 3, 1942, two trains, pulling 12 passengers and four baggage cars, parked on a railroad siding here, loaded aboard a total of 923 Japanese men, women and children, and took them to concentration centers at Turlock.
These Solano County residents, along with other thousands of Japanese from Pacific Coast areas, were to be confined in various locations for the duration of the war.
Hysteria breeds belligerence, and while no bodily harm was ever reported, it can be said that the character assassinations which took place left deep-rooted scars which have lasted throughout the years.
A count taken by Principal Eugene Padan of the Vaca Valley Elementary School revealed there were 76 Japanese students in the grade schools, and another 40 at Vaca High. These children represented 48 families with a total head count of 255. Later the Western Defense Command issued the following figures: alien Japanese in Solano County 388; born here 518, for a total of 906 in the county. Out of this total 135 aliens and 198 local born, resided in Vacaville. There were 16 in Elmira.
Action against Japanese residents was swift. In early January 1942, these residents were ordered to surrender all guns, radios, and cameras.
In early February, gun-slinging deputies out of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, rounded up several “prominent” Japanese residents here, confined them to the county jail at Fairfield, fingerprinted, and later shipped them to concentration centers.
In March, the Solano County Board of Supervisors; riding the hysterical bandwagon, voted unanimously to evacuate “all” Japanese from the county and place them into concentration camps.
The Vacaville Chamber of Commerce provided a similar resolution.
Later in March, the Japanese were warned of impending evacuation. On March 24 Lt. Gen. DeWitt, commander of the Western Defense Command, issued the order that no person of Japanese ancestry could have in their possession or use or operate firearms, explosives, radios, cameras, etc.
On April 30, a small group of Japanese residents was ordered taken from Vacaville to Turlock preparatory to the mass evacuation which was to come a few weeks later.
It was Saturday, May 2, when a Southern Pacific train, with 12 passenger cars, and four baggage cars, stopped in Vacaville to pick up a portion of the local area Japanese. There were 515 men, women and children on that train, taking with them only the bare necessities. These evacuees were to undergo a new lifestyle, eating their meals cafeteria style and sleeping in barracks. Their homes, furniture, vehicles, and above all, their friends, were to be abandoned in Vacaville.
It was a clear day, May 3, when the second and final train, made its appearance in Vacaville, here to be loaded with 408 Japanese, culminating a “clean sweep” which included ranchers, businessmen, laborers, school students, and dozens of pre-kindergarten tots.
The concentration of the large number of Japanese in the Vacaville area can be credited to the need here for ranch laborers, and these orientals were in heavy demand by ranch owners because of their willingness to work and above all, to take orders. Vacaville was one of the few small towns in Northern California which had its separate Japtown, several blocks on Dobbins Street, where Japanese-owned business houses had available the selections of merchandise demanded by their customers.
As the war continued, and following the evacuation of the local Japanese, demand for war-time public housing was apparent, and it did not take long for the federal government to condemn the Japtown area, bulldoze the buildings into rubble, and erect on the site several hundred housing units.
Historians will continue to write about the Pacific conflict. They will cast indirect accusations as to just why had so many warships of the U. S. Navy been left unprotected at Pearl Harbor.
Those same historians will continually attempt to assess the merits of the relocation of the Japanese from Pacific Coast areas. The pros and cons will go on and on.
Without attempting to make judgment; most of us should say to ourselves: “Had it been me, and my family; ordered away from our homes because we could not be trusted by our own government, just what would our reactions be?”
Most of those 333 hostages, who were confined in relocation centers, in later years forgot Vacaville ever existed.
Link: http://articles.solanohistory.net/7095/ | Solano History Database Record
Printed From: http://articles.solanohistory.net/7095/ | http://www.solanohistory.org/record/7095
Vacaville Heritage Council