Licensing

Guest curator: The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye

Senator Daniel Inouye

Photographs of service men and women taken by Walter Muramoto, the "unofficial" photographer at Rohwer concentration camp, Arkansas, 1944-45.
Gift of the Walter Muramoto Family (97.292.3C, 3E, 3K, 3P, 3X)

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When the Hawaii contingent of the 442nd arrived in Mississippi for military training we were not aware of Executive Order 9066 because of wartime censorship of news. When the mainland contingent of the 442nd arrived none of them to my best of my knowledge told us about their families’ incarceration.

About a month and a half later the regiment received invitations to visit two places in Arkansas, Jerome and Rohwer. We assumed these were Japanese communities. I was invited to Rohwer. When my convey got within sight of Rohwer, we saw barbed wire fences, machine gun towers and long rows of barracks. When we got to the gate, it was a shock that I will never forget. The faces inside were “our faces”, the faces of Japanese Americans. When we learned the details we could not believe that men, whose families were in these camps, had volunteered to stand in harm’s way and to die if necessary for their country. Ever since that moment I have asked myself, would I have volunteered under those circumstances? I am not able to give a forthright and honest answer.

The men of Rohwer and the other camps served with great distinction, receiving hundreds of medals. Many were wounded and many died. Although these men never heard the apology or received compensation, I am convinced that it was their sacrifices that made it possible for the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.