UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY
TULE LAKE CENTER
NEWELL, CALIFORNIA
COMMUNITY ANALYSIS SECTION
May 27, 1944
Confidential Report on the Okamoto Case
The Community Analysis staff, composed of residents of the center, was instructed to sift rumors, true accounts, and center discussion of the Okamoto case. As will be seen from the enclosed three accounts of staff members, the center has been well-informed by eye-witnesses and by the quick-moving grapevine of many of the details of the case. The center reactions, commented upon in these three reports, are, I think, accurate appraisals of what the community thinks, believes, hopes, and emotes. The main topic of conversation in the center is, quite naturally, this recent tragic occurrence. The community is waiting calmly, but the underlying tensions are as described. Staff, being part of the community, knows its reactions intimately, notes the facts it is going by accurately, and describes the basic emotionalism and urge for seeking protection in the center judiciously.
MURDER AT TULE LAKE
(prepared by staff member)
Murder: With all its implications, an ugly word, isn't it? Yet, it is the only word that can adequately be applied to the act committed by a soldier in the Army of the Unite [United] States against a Japanese civilian resident of the Tule Lake Center. How else can a deliberate, calculated shooting of an unarmed, defenseless worker be categoried? If there has been any intents or acts on the part of this Japanese worker to do bodily harm to this sentry, then there may have been justification of this shooting under the allegation of self-defense. Yet the evidence shows that the aggressive acts were conducted only by the armed soldier.
What could have been the motive behind such an inhuman act? Was it a genuine hate or a long held grudge against the Japanese and all things Japanese? Could it have been that he was attempting to evade overseas service by committing such an act so that he would be confined or imprisoned in the comparative safety of a barred cell? Undoubtedly, the Board of Investigation of the Army will bring the real motive to light.
There is no need to go into the details of the actual happenings. Signed statements of the witnesses to this act are on file, and should be made available to all interested persons. Let us go into the effect and the reaction of this incident to the Tule Lake community.
As yet, there has been nothing to indicate that there may be any violent protests against this incident. The people are quietly waiting to know the results of the court martial of the soldier which they were given to understand was in progress. That the WRA administration was in no way connected with the incident seems to be well understood by the residents. The general feeling seems to be "What is the Army going to do about the incident, and what is the punishment which will be meted out to the soldier?" Depending upon the decision of the Army court martial, future actions will be decided. In view of the clear out evidence, capital punishment seems to be the only just decision of this court.
There are, however, some definite opinion on the presence of armed military guards within the camp area. They are as follows:
1. The military guards should be removed from the interior of the fence surrounding the camp proper. The patrol cars are nuisances, mentally and physically; mentally, because of the continual reminder of military surveillance over the camp interior, in spite of the announce
2. If the military persists in placing the armed guards at the gates, there is always the fear that some such similar incidents may occur again in the future. No one will be willing to risk his life for the more pittance given by the WRA for work necessitatint [necessitating] the use of the gates. Incidentally, the attitude of these armed guards in the past week or so has been very belligerent. There have been number of cases where the residents going to and from work has been rifle-whipped and pistol-whipped for such small infraction of the regulations as to the proper placing of the pass badges. (The presence of the fences preventing the Hospital and the Administration areas from being readily accessible to the residents has been obnoxious. The establishment of these "out-of-bound" areas does not help in creating better understanding and more cordial relations between the residents and the administration. If it is necessary to still maintain these fences, the Internal Security, a WRA body, could and should be stationed there.)
3. Let the military earn the respect of the residents by acting like soldiers. Smoking while on duty, sleeping at their assigned posts, and the general slipshod manner of dress and conduct certainly do not help to do so.
Up to this incident, the military has been tolerated by the people as a necessary evil, but the voice demanding the removal of the military from the camp interior, and it is a just one, will grow stronger and stronger and louder and louder.
The military realizes, the writer hopes, that this incident is a very grave one, and one which should be handled in a manner which will give full satisfaction to the people of this Center.
THE CASE OF SHOICHI OKAMOTO
The shooting of Shoichi Okamoto, American citizen by a sentry at the old outside gate at Tule Lake Center on Wednesday, May 24, 1944 at approximately 2:20 p.m. was most unfortunate. Mr. Okamoto was provided with all the necessary identification papers and badges to permit him to be employed as a truck driver and to pass into the restricted area. As a truck driver for the heavy construction crew on Wednesday, he was assigned to go outside the perimeter gate to bring in lumber. The army sentry on duty at the said gate had permitted Mr. Okamoto to pass OUT and the shooting took place when he was RETURNING via the same gate. The cause of the shooting has not been officially announced but statements by witnesses are on file at the Internal Security office and the investigation is in the hands of the army officials here.
Information in reference to the shooting incident spread like fire during a wind storm by word of mouth. The factual information in all cases was mostly hearsay, depending on the verbal capacity of the conveying individual, such news created concern in various degrees to all center residents. The effect to some residents registered in the form of hysteria, condemnation, need for immediate protective measures, especially for workers who pass sentry manned gates, some workers immediately thought of work-stoppage, others were for negotiation with the administration before returning to work. Before night-fall, some information had it that Mr. Okamoto was dead, his wife collapsed to the shock. The fact is that Shoichi Okamoto is unmarried and succumbed at 12:10 a.m. Thursday morning.
To the calm conservative individuals in spite of the graveness of the incident, there was the anxious desire to take the sensible, quiet, legitimate steps to convey to the administration the resident's point of view. At the same time, the desire for immediate dissemination of factual news of the shooting such as, details of the victim's condition, personal information, employment capacity, treatment given, expression of the administration and to keep the residents informed of the follow-up measures taken by the WRA and the Army.
It might be a timely public service to announce the status and the duty of the army sentry so that in the future any violations may be reported to the proper authority to avoid individual punishment of disciplinary measures by use of FORCE. Another timely specific announcement would be to inform the workers specifically where the badges are to be worn, aside from being uncovered, may badges be worn on headwear, shirt pockets, belts, jackets, sweaters, etc?
The result of the administration's prompt action, the center residents are now uniformally [uniformly] informed and have created somewhat a cooperative attitude. The administration's statement that "the WRA was in no way responsible for the shooting" in some cases was misin
By the second day after the incident, observations show that normal work has been resumed. Here again, the public should be informed as to what was precisely done to provide additional protection for the workers. The most needed factors to gain confidence is understanding through cooperation and not punishment and disciplinary measures.
THE SHOOTING INCIDENT OF OKAMOTO
Military Policeman Goo was already peeved and showed his attitude as he changed shifts. "What the hell you Japs doing, waiting to climb the Hill." This was directed at a construction crew waiting to go through the gate. An unwarranted insult to begin with to the evacuees close by. The twelve heavy equipment crew boys were resting on the running boards, fenders, and around the heavy equipment truck which was parked a few feet from where the incident occurred. This was just in the inside of the old entrance gate by the old post office. They were discussing the new sentry's aggressive and displeasing characteristics and comparing him with the others, many of whom were courteous or tried to be. It was the opinion of the group that Goo "had it in for the Japs!"
It was about this time (2:15 pm) that the truck Okamoto was driving approached the gate.
The sentry in the guardhouse half waved at him. Not knowing what the wave meant, Okamoto stopped his truck.
Goo came out an angrily strode around to the driver's side, cursing at Okamoto to get out of the truck. Okamoto did so rather reluctantly. Goo immediately ordered him to walk outside of the gate. Okamoto started to but hesitated for an instant. Infuriated, Goo struck Okamoto on the shoulder with the rifle butt. Okamoto instinctly put up his arms to ward off any successive blows. Goo immediately took one step back and from a distance of about 5 feet, shot instantly and without warning. Okamoto mortally wounded, fell writhing to the ground, clasping his stomach.
Horrified by this quick acting drama before their very eyes, the heavy equipment crew stood rooted to the spot. Goo swore up and down for a few moments. Quieting down, he injected a new cartridge in the chamber of the rifle, calmly lit a cigarette and looked dispassionately at the groaning man on the ground whose life was slowing ebbing away. Some of the crew made a motion towards the moaning man. Seeing this, Goo swung his rifle menacingly towards the group. "Get the hell out of here, or I'll shoot you guys too!" he barked. On fear-laden feet, the group fled from the scene.
Unable to get the hospital on the phone, they ran to the hospital to get the ambulance. After some minor delays, an ambulance was dispatched to the scene. A few minutes after the shooting, 5 project workers on a lumber hauling semi-truck stumbled on the scene. The M.P. with gun in hand, was marching back and forth by the moaning man.
Seeing the person on the ground to be a Japanese, one of the men on the truck made a motion to get off. The M.P. snapped, "Get back. Get the hell out of here!"
Five frightened men did as ordered.
In due time, the ambulance came clanging upon the scene. Okamoto was then lifted into the ambulance and brought to project hospital (Despite the orders of the military which wanted Okamoto brought to the Army hospital.)
This scene was also witnessed by Mr. Roy Campbell, construction head. He was waiting to enter the gates when this occurred. After the shooting, he was told by the MPs' to notify the Army authorities that there was a "dead Jap here." Cambell's [Campbell's] views were similar to these expressed by the evacuees witnesses.
That this incident was wholly spontaneous cannot be believed. There have been a series of incidents at the gates which led to this fatal shooting.
Only a few days before, an elderly issei was cracked on the back of the head with a pistol butt for failing to have his badge in the proper place. In this case, the issei, who was going to work across the fence, had his badge in a place other than the designated position required by the army. He was accosted at the gate by the MPs who told him to put his badge up in the upper left part of his clothing. The issei did not understand but smiled o.k. and kept on walking. Immediately, he was bashed on the head.
Another similar incident occurred concerning a young nisei hospital worker. He was also berated for failing to have his badge in the designated place. After being "raked over the coals," he was left to resume his way.
As one of the coal truck drivers was pulling out of the entrance gate, he was suddenly stopped by the sentry, bluntly told him off. "What the hell's the matter with you! Why the hell didn't you stop sooner!" Usually, the sentry does not bother whether or not the drivers make a complete stop or not. As long as the driver shows his pass, the sentry is satisfied. Accustomed to this procedure, the driver was slowly going through. When told to come to a complete stop, the driver was unable to bring his heavily loaded truck to an instant stop. In spite of using his hand brake, the momentum carried him a few feet past the gate. This caused the sentry to completely lose his temper, bringing forth an outburst of abuse and ill-language.
Many persons were not notified of the proper placing of the badge on their persons when they received their pass badges.
The actions of the soldiers stationed at the post office cannot exactly be called cordial.
That this shooting might have been premeditated may be deducted from the statement "Okamoto was ordered to walk to the outside of the fence."
If Okamoto had done so and was shot outside of the fence, the soldier's case would indeed be very strong.
This act of barbarism by a Caucasian soldier was no surprise to the strong Japanese national. Wanton acts of savageness and brutality are believed a common part of the American soldier. Even if Tule Lake camp itself be bombed by American flyers, these people would not be surprised.
This incident sets in the peoples' minds more than ever that they took the right course in coming to Tule Lake.