Japanese-Americans in the West Coast lived peacefully before President Roosevelt issued the Executive Order 9066 in February 1942 that condemned them to misery in internment camps in the deserts of California. Those who owned property had to sell them. Some had to give up their belongings. The Japanese-Americans could not wage any form of resistance because this would be suppressed by brute military force. Nobody would be foolhardy enough to contemplate that. The 20-year-olds were adversely affected despite the fact that some of them were later allowed to go to college, work in factories, and serve in the United States military. Life in the camps was heart-wrenching.

The young Japanese-Americans conscripted into the military had divided loyalty especially after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. America was their country of birth and Japan was the country of their parents and ancestors. The anti-Japanese sentiments that were aired after the Pearl Harbour...
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