<Begin Segment 9>

CO: So, tell us about the registration.

FM: Yes, the, I'm sorry, I had missed the, I forgot about the whole intent of your question. The registration was brought on then to screen the people before giving them, releasing them from the centers. The evacuation had been carried out because of what was thought to be the uncertainty of, concerning the loyalty of this population. And therefore it was felt that before releasing the population, some kind of, some kind of measure needed to be taken of what in fact would be their loyalty or disloyalty if they were out free in the communities. The WRA directors felt there was no real issue involved here. That the evacuees were a, not really a security risk and that therefore they could freely release them as soon as people put their names on the necessary papers. But the proposal which was made, then, of registering the population so as to carry out this release and clearance of the population turned out to be a very much less suitably planned undertaking than the WRA and the army had anticipated. The other thing that happened was that a proposal to, to... discontinue the Nisei, male Nisei's temporary hold-up on their...

CO: Their draft status?

FM: Yeah, draft status. That something should be done about that.

[Interruption]

FM: In my point of view, the registration question or program began with the WRA's concern to remove the detention aspect of the evacuation. That is, get the evacuees out of the relocation centers. At the same time, however, the JACL and the army, military, were concerned to change the draft status of the Japanese American males who had been put on a status of not suitable for selective service after the evacuation, but it was felt that this was not a desirable status for the Japanese Americans and therefore that a renewal of their status as selective service inductees was desirable. And it was this aim that became, that was also introduced into the registration. As a result therefore, two kinds of questions were raised with all -- it was decided to introduce this registration program in which there were two kinds of questions. One, a question having to do with the loyalty of the Japanese population and their suitability therefore for release into the American communities without any doubts concerning their security risk status as members of the resident populations. And secondly, a question about the willingness of Japanese Americans to participate as inductees into the military. In fact, because the JACL particularly was interested in having a Nisei combat unit formed, totally of all Japanese American soldiers, the question was raised as to whether the Japanese Americans in the centers, the eligible Nisei population, would be willing to volunteer for service in such a combat unit. And this then became part of the two-fold question that was raised of all evacuees eighteen years of age and older in the centers. Unfortunately, the program with, because, partly because it was complicated but also because it was hurriedly put together, the program of registration was carried out in a fashion that raised all kinds of questions in the minds of evacuees. In the first place, there was the issue as to why one should as a, an American citizen declare that he had no, declare that he had no loyalty to the Emperor, Emperor of Japan inasmuch as one didn't, never had such a loyalty before.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 1992, 2003 Densho and Emiko Omori. All Rights Reserved.