MANZANAR
Historic Resource Study/Special History Study
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CHAPTER
THIRTEEN:
THE ROLE OF
THE MILITARY POLICE IN PROVIDING EXTERNAL SECURITY FOR THE MANZANAR WAR
RELOCATION CENTER (continued)
MILITARY POLICE UNIT OPERATIONS AT MANZANAR WAR RELOCATION CENTER:
1942-45 (continued)
Investigation of Military Police, August 31 September 1,
1942
After June 1, 1942, when the WRA took over administration of
Manzanar, there were an increasing number of complaints about "laxity"
in enforcement of camp security regulations under Project Director Roy
Nash. Throughout the summer, the military units at Manzanar complained
that the WRA was permitting the evacuees to violate orders of the Army.
According to a memorandum from DeWitt to Bendetsen on June 19, there
seemed to be a distinct attitude of camaraderie and brothership between
the camp management and the Japanese. In other words, there seems to be
an overly friendly attitude in the opinion of the officers on
duty with the Military Police Company. [17]
Among the accusations of the military police officers were that Nash
had issued picnic passes for large groups to leave the center, sent
groups out of the center without passes and Caucasian guards, and
allowed movement across the center's boundaries after curfew Captain
Hall, the commanding officer, attended the camp director's daily
conference two or three times a week "as observer, not as a
participant." Although guard trucks passed "through camp every four
hours posting guard," three "guard towers" were "needed in [the] back"
or west side of the center. The guards "in [the] rear" walked "through
brush" and were "unable to see much of their area." One "man alone" had
"no protection against attack." They were not "able to get replacement
bulbs for searchlights" in the observation towers when bulbs burned out.
The military police did "not inspect vehicles for contraband." The
vehicles were "stopped by [a] gate guard and directed on into camp to
[the] Interior Police Station for information as to how to obtain pass."
All roads "entering [the] camp have now been closed except [the] main
gate." Local residents had informed military police that "when location
of [the] camp was announced all local sporting goods houses experienced
a sell out of guns and ammunition." Thus, the entire "neighborhood" was
a self appointed police force to see that evacuees stay within limits."
[18]
As a result of the complaints of laxity by the Army which were
submitted to the War Relocation Administration on August 27, the WRA
assigned P. J. Webster, Chief, Lands Division, in its San Francisco
regional office, to investigate the matter. Webster conducted his
investigation during August 31 to September 2 "in order that a report
could be furnished the Wartime Civil Control Administration, which would
serve as the basis for a communication to the Commanding General."
During his investigation, Webster interviewed 36 individuals, 12 of whom
were connected with Manzanar. He "drove approximately 100 miles in and
around the Relocation Center and as far south as Keeler and as far north
as Independence," including "a trip through the agricultural area and
west of the Relocation Area where it is claimed that Japanese have been
fishing and swimming." He inspected "the military police guard system in
operation during daylight hours and at night" and "personally inspected
the knives and hatchets."
In his report, submitted to E. R. Fryer, Regional Director, on
September 7, Webster listed eight specific claims of WRA laxity" at
Manzanar that the Army had sent to the WRA. These included:
That 'there is potential danger to the security of property and
materials adjacent to subject alien camp because of laxity in the
adequate policing and guarding under the new administration by civilian
authority.'
Particular stress is laid on 'vital material supplies and
processing equipment' in connection with mining operations near Manzanar
and 'potential danger to life and property because of inadequate
policing and guarding at subject alien concentration camp. . .
.
That 15 to 20 Japanese aliens on many occasions have been seen by
12 persons 'riding in Army trucks driven by a Japanese driver, seldom
with a white civilian escort, driving all over the district surrounding
the alien camp, in many instances over 30 miles from subject
camp.'
That Japanese have been seen fishing and swimming in streams 'at
distances of from 3 to 9 miles from the concentration camp with no
escort or guards.'
That Mr. Horton, Civilian Chief of Police at the War Relocation
Area, had 'collected several large boxes of short handled axes and
hatchets, and also large quantities of long bladed knives from male
Japanese internees, all of which the new civilian administration had
ordered him to return to their owners as their personal property' and
that Mr. Horton had refused to do this.
That on Saturday, May 10, 1942, a Japanese, Isami Noguchi,
driving a Ford V-S - 1940 Station Wagon with no license plates, parked
his car alongside of Military Prohibited Zone sign, which he read, and
then walked into the Sierra Talc Ore mill at Keeler and asked why talc
ore was considered vital to the war effort. [Noguchi was a
world-renowned Japanese American sculptor who was a voluntary relocatee
at Poston for a time.]
That Dr. James Goto, 'now located at the Manzanar
Evacuation Center, leaves this Center almost weekly in order to come to
Los Angeles to work in the Los Angeles County General
Hospital.'
That on August 8, 'six Japs were up here in Bishop wandering
about our streets and buying fruits and vegetables in the Safeway Store.
As far as they know' (referring to two white women residents of
Bishop who saw these Japanese 'there seemed to be no guard with
them.'
Webster's investigation resulted in a number of conclusions.
Regarding the above mentioned Claims Nos. 1, 2, and 3, he observed:
While the impression is widespread in Owens Valley, that Japanese
evacuees have been riding around in motor vehicles and have been in Lone
Pine and Independence unescorted by Caucasian guards, no one could be
found who would state positively that he had seen a Japanese under these
circumstances. There are a number of instances where Japanese have been,
and are being, allowed to leave the Center under guard and permit which
could be easily construed by a casual observer as a case of Japanese
being out of the Center unescorted.
Webster elaborated that of the 24 persons he interviewed who had no
connection to the center, a "number.., started out by saying that it was
common knowledge that Japanese were traveling around in trucks and
shopping in Lone Pine and Independence without escort." However, "in no
case" could he find "anyone who would state positively that they
themselves had seen a Japanese under these circumstances."
Webster also related the substance of an interview with Captain
Archer and Lieutenant Buckner" who had been transferred to the 322nd
Military Police Escort Guard Company at Manzanar in late June. He noted
that their joint statement
indicates that actual cases of Japanese either driving cars or
visiting Lone Pine or Independence unattended by a white are few or
non-existent. These two officers stated that there is no way that a
motor vehicle can leave the Center and get to the highway without either
passing through the main entrance of the Center or through the Military
Police encampment, and that no motor vehicle is allowed to leave or
return to the Center without a written pass. Military Police guards are
requested to carefully check every pass without fail, and it was my
experience that this procedure was rigidly adhered to even to the extent
of requiring Mr. Nash himself to present his pass.
These officers further stated that they had received numerous
complaints that Japanese were riding around outside of the Center or
were visiting Lone Pine or Independence without guard. On such occasions
these officers told the person making the complaint that all they had to
do under these circumstances was to call them on the 'phone and that
they would come immediately and take such Japanese into custody However,
there has not been one single instance in which anyone has made such a
report.
These two officers stated that before they were assigned to Manzanar,
at the end of June, they believed that the Japanese had more freedom to
go to and from the Center. They stated that they were rigidly enforcing
their instructions regarding permits for anyone to leave and return to
the Center. Without exception the number of Japanese who have been
checked out of the Center checks out exactly with the number that have
returned to the Center. In other words, there are no Japanese
unaccounted for.
Concerning Claim No. 4, Webster noted:
There is little doubt that Japanese have done considerable fishing
and some swimming outside of the Relocation Area and, in all
probability, some fishing is being done at the present time.
Webster observed that each "of the twenty-four persons interviewed,
who are not connected with Manzanar, were asked if they had any
first-hand knowledge of fishing or swimming by Japanese evacuees." Most
of the interviewees said "that they believed that fishing and swimming
were being done by the Japanese; but there were only two cases where
anyone said they had first-hand knowledge of fishing; and no one had
personally seen any Japanese swimming."
In one case, E. B. Austin, an employee of the Los Angeles Department
of Water and Power, reported that on August 22 he caught an evacuee
fishing along Shepherd Creek, two miles west of the relocation center.
This evacuee had told Austin that he often fished in the creek and that
"many of the Japanese" fished in the stream. The evacuee told him a
friend of his was fishing one-half mile west because the fish were
larger there. The evacuee had a "bag" that Austin "estimated held from
35 to 50 fish." Austin had reported the incident to the military police
and the local game warden, but both men had done little, the guard
stating that "he frequently heard that the Japanese got out of the
Center with a permit on detail and then sneaked away and went
fishing."
Chief of Internal Police Horton told Webster that "he had no doubt
that Japanese working on the garbage crew had been fishing in the Owens
River in connection with their trips east of camp to dump garbage." This
"practice of fishing on return trips was so well known that working on
the garbage crew was a very popular job and there were many applicants."
Although fishing in the Owens River had been halted for about a month,
Horton related that "a party of 9 or 10 Japanese were found by the
Military Police and Mr. Baxter, County Health Officer, sometime ago
fishing 3 or 4 miles west from the Center on Georges Creek." The party
had a truck and was supposed to be getting native plants for gardening
purposes. They had a permit which allowed them to get past the military
police guard and "this was simply a case of their taking advantage of
the situation."
Although none of the people interviewed by Webster had seen any
Japanese swimming outside the center perimeter, he investigated "places
where Japanese could have gone swimming."
Small Dam at Southwest Corner of Center In late June a
small dam about two feet high had been built across Bairs Creek at the
picnic ground located at the southwest corner of the center. The pool
behind the dam had been used by children "for wading and paddling
around." When it was realized that the water from Bairs Creek flowed
directly into the Los Angeles Aqueduct, Project Director Nash had issued
Project Director's Bulletin No. 7 on July 3, stopping all swimming in
any streams that were tributary to the aqueduct. [19] Webster inspected the site "and found that
the little two-foot rock dam had been torn down in the middle so that it
impounded no water."
Settling Basin Manzanar Water System
Completed in July, the concrete settling basin, located about one-half
mile to the north and west of the center, made "an ideal swimming pool."
In Nash's absence, Assistant Project Director Ned Campbell announced in
the July 7 issue of the Manzanar Free Press that the entire area
west of the center would be open to the evacuees. The news article
stated:
Extension of the boundaries to embrace the fields and creeks
surrounding the former center confines was announced by Ned Cambell. .
.today. The new limits run in parallel lines straight west from the
watch towers located on the southeast and the northeast corners of the
center, and extend four miles into the foothills. Picnics and outings
can now be held at any time although the residents are cautioned to use
their own discretion in keeping the grounds clean and observing
reasonable hours. Swimming in the creeks, however, is strictly
prohibited since they are the source of the Center's water supply
Neither will fishing be allowed until permits are received. Strict
adherence of the rules must be observed . . . . or the extended
boundaries may be revoked. [20]
After this announcement, a group of Japanese went swimming in the
settling basin on July 8. The following day the Manzanar Free
Press reported that "Permission for camp residents to go beyond the
west boundary line up toward the hills was cancelled . . . after
complaints were received that people were swimming in the community
water reservoir and also in the aqueduct streams." [21]
Shepherd and Bairs Creeks Webster noted that reports
"have been circulating in the Manzanar area that Japanese have built
several crude stone and brush dams "in Shepherd and Bairs Creeks "to dam
up enough water for swimming." A survey of the creeks on September 2
revealed "a dam approximately 1-1/2 miles west of the settling basin but
it does not appear that this was built by the Japanese." On Bairs Creek
there were "three small dams which might be used for swimming but which
apparently were built before the Japanese came to Manzanar." Six dams,
"two of them quite large, which may have been made by the Japanese" were
also found on the latter creek. The two larger dams impounded "enough
water to permit swimming of a very modest type while the other dams are
too small to permit anything but wading."
Los Angeles Aqueduct Although there was no definite
evidence that the Japanese had done any swimming in the Los Angeles
Aqueduct, Webster observed that it "would be much more difficult for
them to swim here than west of the Center, because of the difficulty of
getting to the aqueduct and because the chances of being apprehended are
considerable." The aqueduct was "well patrolled by the City of Los
Angeles."
Webster reported that he had conferred with Nash regarding fishing
and swimming outside the relocation center boundaries. Although not
having any first-hand knowledge, Nash "had no doubt that this had been
taking place." He thought such activities would "continue unless more
guards were assigned by the Military Police to patrol the west boundary
of the Center."
Webster also noted that he had discussed the issue with the military
police. Captain Archer and Lieutenant Buckner
thought it was possible for the Japanese to leave the Relocation
Center and fish or swim. They said they had heard that the Japanese were
doing some fishing and swimming west of the Center, but if this were
true they were doing it at a very great risk to their personal safety.
They said that there were about 120 soldiers in their unit, and this
made it difficult to post an adequate guard on the west side,
twenty-four hours a day. At the present time. there are 11 guard posts
being maintained on a 24 hour basis. Besides this guarding service this
unit is expected to carry on a heavy training program.
After speaking with the military police, Webster had personally
reconnoitered the west boundary of the center. He reported:
I inspected the guarding service along the west line, which is
approximately 7/10 of a mile in length. This area is patrolled, but so
lightly that a person could go over the line without being noticed. This
is particularly true because there is a trash-burning dump a little
distance from the west boundary of the Center. In connection with this
dump, a long trench has been excavated and the dirt therefrom forms a
long barrier about five feet high. If a person gets over this barrier he
can proceed a considerable distance to the west, out of sight of anyone
patrolling the west boundary. Furthermore, at night there are no search
lights along the west boundary.
Webster elaborated further on his investigation of security measures
on the west side of the center. He stated:
On the other hand, the guards have been instructed to shoot anyone
who attempts to leave the Center without a permit, and who refuses to
halt when ordered to do so. The guards are armed with guns that are
effective at a range of up to 500 yards. I asked Lt. Buckner if a guard
ordered a Japanese who was out of bounds to halt and the Japanese did
not do so would the guard actually shoot him. Lt. Buckner's reply was
that he only hoped the guard would bother to ask him to halt. He
explained that the guards were finding guard service very monotonous,
and that nothing would suit them better than to have a little
excitement, such as shooting a Jap.
Another statement which Lt. Buckner made emphasizes the attitude of
the Military Police and also that they take the patrol service with the
utmost seriousness. He said that he, personally, would not be willing to
attempt to cross through the beam of light thrown by one of the four
search lights now installed for a thousand dollars, even though he had
on his soldier's uniform.
Sometime ago [in May] a Japanese was shot for being outside of the
Center. The evidence as to just what happened is conflicting. The guard
said that he ordered the Japanese to halt that the Japanese
started to run away from him, so he shot him. The Japanese was seriously
injured, but recovered. He said that he was collecting scrap lumber to
make shelves in his house, and that he did not hear the guard say halt.
The guard's story does not appear to be accurate, inasmuch as the
Japanese was wounded in the front and not in the back. This
incident is recorded as an indication that, if the Japanese are leaving
the Center on the west side to fish and swim, they are doing so at great
peril to themselves; and that, if they continue this practice, in all
probability one of them will get shot.
Realizing that the patrolling of the west side was not satisfactory,
Captain Archer, over a considerable period of time, has been trying to
get additional watch towers and search lights. His request has just been
approved and plans are now under way for the installation of four more
towers, which will make a total of eight. When this installation is
completed (the additional four towers would be completed by early
November) there will be a tower at each corner, and at the middle point
of each of the four sides of the Center. Twelve powerful search lights
will be installed which will throw a broad beam of bright light around
the entire Center. When this is completed it appears very unlikely than
any Japanese will leave the Center without permits during hours of
darkness.
As to Claim No. 5, Webster felt that it was "relatively unimportant."
"About 50 of the knives and 11 of the hatchets referred to have already
been returned to [the] Japanese." The policy has been "to return these
articles when it could be shown that they were needed by the Japanese in
connections with their regular employment."
In support of this conclusion, Webster summarized the substance of an
interview with Chief of Internal Police Horton. According to Webster,
the chief related:
When the Japanese began arriving at Manzanar at the end of March, all
baggage was carefully searched for contraband. This was in accordance
with Army instructions and was carried out jointly by the Army and WCCA.
During May and up until [the] WRA took over the project about June 1,
the Internal Police were under the direction of Major Ashworth, Internal
Securities Section of WCCA. Major Ashworth not only continued this
practice of searching the baggage of the Japanese, but he added several
items to the list of contraband, including all sharp instruments and
flashlights. Prior to Major Ashworth's taking charge no receipts were
given to Japanese for any articles collected. This was deemed
unnecessary because the Army had no intention of returning these
articles. Capt. McCushion gave these instructions. Mr. Horton estimates
that the number of articles taken, with no record of the owner, is
somewhere between 100 and 150. From May on, receipts have been given by
the Internal Securities Section for articles taken and the practice of
confiscating such articles is continuing at the present time.
Throughout the entire period a Japanese was allowed to keep any
article, such as knives and hatchets, provided that he could show a
'work slip' or 'order' from some properly constituted authority that
these articles were needed in the work which he was to perform on the
project. For example, a cook with knives necessary for cooking could
keep these knives if he could show that he was definitely going to be
employed as a cook at the project. Such knives would have to be kept at
the place of his job and not at his home. If a Japanese cook was not
given a job as a cook when he first came to the project and therefore
had to give up his knives but later became a cook, he could reclaim his
knives and use them on the job. Mr. Horton estimates that at least 50
knives have been returned on this basis.
Also, about six hatchets have been returned to Japanese working as
farmhands and recently about five hatchets have been given out to be
used in connection with stone masonry. Mr. Horton explained that his
understanding of the policy back of this procedure was that it was an
unnecessary risk to have dangerous weapons, which were not necessary to
the performance of actual jobs, lying around the homes of Japanese
which, in case of a disturbance, might be used to commit personnel
injury or damage to property.
Regarding Claim No. 6, Webster could find no record "that a person
named Isami Noguchi ever has been registered at the Manzanar Relocation
Area." Webster expanded on this conclusion by summarizing the results of
a conversation with Nash. The Project Director observed that personnel
records at Manzanar indicated that no one by that name had ever been "an
inmate" at the camp. However, he stated:
. . . . I recall distinctly Mr. Triggs, who was the Camp Manager
under [the] WCCA telling me that before my arrival there had appeared
at Manzanar an artist named Mr. Noguchi. I do not recall his first name.
He said that this gentleman came voluntarily with introduction from
someone on the White House staff, and wanted to teach art in Manzanar
and other Assembly and Relocation Centers. Mr. Triggs, for reasons best
known to himself, refused admission to Mr. Noguchi, who is at present
located in Poston. Whether or not this is the same man, I cannot
say.
Concerning Claim No. 7, Webster found no evidence "that Dr. James
Goto has left the Relocation Center except on two occasions when he went
to Lone Pine attended by a Caucasian." Webster observed that he
conferred with both Nash and Goto about these allegations. Nash
informed, and Goto confirmed to, him that Goto had left Manzanar "on
only two occasions since he entered as an internee." The
first occasion was on Sunday, June 7th, when he and Mrs. Goto were my
guests at dinner in Lone Pine in company with Colonel Cress, Assistant
Director of the War Relocation Authority. The second occasion was on
Monday, July 20th at 2:00 A.M. when the police wakened me to say that
the Dow Hotel at Lone Pine made an urgent request that Dr. Goto be
permitted to come in to attend a man who was one of their guests who was
in extreme pain, no doctors being available in Lone Pine at the moment.
I consulted the Commanding Officer of the Military Police and personally
drove Dr. Goto to attend the patient. We returned together to Manzanar
at 4:00 A.M. Dr. Goto has not stepped outside the Manzanar Center on any
other occasion.
In regard to Claim No. 8, Webster noted that in "all probability
Japanese were seen in the Safeway store in Bishop on August 8,
unattended by a Caucasian, inasmuch as there were 26 Japanese who
stopped in Bishop on that date enroute from the Fort Lincoln, North
Dakota, Internment Camp to the Manzanar Relocation Area." In response to
questioning, Nash had informed Webster:
We have constantly received Japanese both from Fort Lincoln, North
Dakota, and from Fort Missoula, Montana (which are Concentration Camps).
These people have been coming in from one or the other of these points
about every week since I have been here. Our records show that under
date of August 8th, 26 Japanese were inducted at Manzanar who arrived
here at 3:43 P.M. by Inland Stage, having come from Fort Lincoln, North
Dakota, by Union Pacific to Ogden, Southern Pacific to Reno, and thence
by stage from Reno to Manzanar. The stage from Reno necessarily comes
through Bishop and stops there for nearly an hour. The Japanese who are
transported on the stage are under no obligation to stay in the stage
during this stop. They are perfectly free to enter any shops they like
and I have no doubt that under this date Japanese were seen in the
Safeway Store and other stores in Bishop.
The Webster report was submitted by the WRA to the War Department. On
October 2, John J. McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War, wrote to Myer,
commenting that the "complaints received by Wartime Civil Control
Administration are typical examples of how rumors spread." McCloy had
sent the report to Bendetsen who had written in response: "The report is
comprehensive and indicates that all alleged incidents were thoroughly
investigated; it tends to disprove the verity and accurateness of the
complaints." [22]
Despite the efforts of the military police and WRA authorities,
evacuees would continue to leave Manzanar without required passes
throughout the history of the center. In the "Internal Security Section"
of the Final Report, Manzanar, John W. Gilkey, Chief Internal
Security Officer of the camp from September 13, 1942, until March 1,
1946, observed:
The Project regulation, hardest to prevent, was that of 'going out of
bounds,' or, in other words, the act of leaving the Center without a
proper pass. The attraction of the mountains for hiking and climbing,
the nearby creeks for fishing not to mention the satisfaction
gained from going outside of the Center for a while were all
great temptations to many of the residents. This was true even when the
Military Police were stationed in towers guarding the Center with guns
and searchlights. The punishment prescribed by the Project court was
generally to be put on probation. Much attention was given to publicity
against this form of conduct but in spite of all that could be done to
prevent it, the 'out of bounds' violation never completely stopped. It
is doubtful if even a long jail sentence would have eliminated it
entirely. [23]
manz/hrs/hrs13c.htm
Last Updated: 01-Jan-2002
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