Anatolio Litoniua

The enviable war record of Japanese-American soldiers

The Loyal Niseis

INa restaurant in downtown Manila recently two Nisei soldiers-Niseis

are Americans of Japanese descent -were taking Presently, a

Phfiip,pine Army lieutenant seated at a near-by table spotted them, nudged his

companion, another Filipino. "Damn

Japs," said aloud and hurled a stream of abuse on the two Niseis, maligning their racial antecedents and impugning their loyalty to America. Bootblacks idly standing at the doorway were attracted by the incident, went into the restaurant, gawked at the two Japane",,Americans as if they were strange animals in a zoo, and contributed their bit to the

The Niseis struggled hard to control themselves. Not wanting to create .. scene, they abruptly stood up from their half-emptied cups of ice-<:ream, and walked out.

In another incident, three Niseis were walking down the Escolta one evening when they were stopped by a Manila policeman and perfunctorily ordered to show their credentials. Presently, more

Filipino cops arrived in a jeep, sur-

rounded the bewildered Niseis, and gave them a stinging lecture on military deportment-"Rol! down your sleeves, you Japs. Button up your shirts."

The Niseis protested that since they were off-duty they were not expected by the military authorities themselves to be strictly ae rigeur in their appearance.

At this, that particular specimen of

"Manila's Finest" blurted out: "If I had

my way, I'd kill all of you J aps."

by Anatolio Litonjua

Such incidents are regrettable because they tend to create animosity towards a group of people who have proV1ed to be one of our most loyal allies. Such outbreaks are usually the outcome not 80 much of racial intolerance as of igno-

rance.

The influential New York Times in .. recent editorial deplored the occurrences,

giving as reason for Filipino bitterness

the fact that "over three years Japanese occupation had taught them to hate the very sight of a Japanese, in

whatever uniform he might be dressed,"

To the credit of the Niseis subjected to ill-treatment, it may be said that they have shown admirable self-control in the face of frequent provocations. T HE Niseis concerned belonged to the interpreters and translators team which has been rendering invaluable

service in the current war crimes trials

in Manila.

Major General Basilio J. Valdes, former chief of staff of the Philippine Army and a member of the military commission that tried Gen. Masaharu Hom-

rna and other war criminal suspects, has

highly commended the services of Nisei interpreters duriJlg the trials. "In the past," General Valdes said, "these men have contributed much in the campaigns for the liberation of the Philippines. Today they are doing a difficult and valuable service in assisting the trial and prosecution of those war criminals who brought so much terror and violence to the Filipino people. The job of clearing the .urrendered force. of 25

Japan from the Philippines has been immeasurably hastened by the untiring work of Nisei interpreters in the field."

Though the attitude of the Filipinos here toward the J apan€se-Americans i. to be deplored, the situation is less serious than in the United States where the authorities admit that the Nisei problem cannot be solved overnight. In certain instances, the prej udice against the Japanese-American has been as bitter and relentless as that against the Negro. Acts of violence perpetrated by white Americans against Nisei on the Pacific coast in recent months are wellknown. There they have b€en driven from their homes 01' expelled from communities, often under threat of physical injury and death. The hatred of the Nisei is a complex of racial prejudice, economic rivalry, and wartime hysteria.

In the Philippines the Nisei problem is less complicated, the local antagonism

against the Japanese-Americans being

the simple outgrowth of the abhorrence of the Japanese as such ,engendered by ihe war.

The Niseis, it must be borne in mind, are Japanese born in the United States or

its territories, such as Hawaii, and are

therefore American citizens. Brought up in the healthy atmosphere of America, they are much like white GIs who

gripe, swear J get bored and homesick,

like to have fun.

Since liberation I have m€t a goodly number of them. A finer group of soldiers and gentlemen I have not had the pleasu!'e to know. Hearing them talk is just like listening to any other group of GIs who like to grumble at the snafus of the U. S. Army. "Hell, the earlier I get home to dear old U. S. A., the better it will be for my morale," says a 22-year-old Nisei- technical sergeant who has spent three solid

years overseas.

At the time of the fall of Okinawa another Nisei sold;"r wrote to his folks in the U. S. how "damned glad" he was over America's acquisition of additional

"real estate" because it meant the war

would be over that much sooner. At the same time he expressed contempt for

"these J aps" who were surrendering in

such increasing numbers that he could no longer go to his regular Sunday baseball games. This Nisei was an interpreter with a processing team in a Luzon

prisoners-af-war camp.

Some Niseis share the prejudices of some white GIs toward the Filipinos. A Nisei's letter to his girl friend in California talked of "these stinking flips" and of Filipino girls "who don't rate a second look." Maybe this lonely soldier only wanted to reassure his fiancee that he was still faithful and that no other girl could take her place in his heart. T HE point is that the Niseis are loyal Americans despite their Oriental features and their J ancestry. Their in this war is enviable.

Most spectacular Nisei achievement in combat was that of the looth Battalion -composed entirely of Japanese-Americans-which the Army News Service called "the most decorated, worst hit

group in American uniform."

rated later into the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, it slugged through the worst phases of the Allied campaign in Italy, France, and Germany. It is one of the three or four U. S. Army units which are entitled to wear the blue Presidential Citation Badge with oak-leaf clusters which was first awarded to the USAFFE troops in the first Philippine campaign.

In less than a year of action, the combined teams suffered 9,230 casualties, including replacements, out of the original group of 8,000 which left Camp Shelby, Mississippi.

Th" Pl'esidential citation for the 100th Battalion reads: "The fortitude and intrepidity displayed by the officers and men of the 100th Battalion reflect the finest traditions of the Army of the United States."

The first day of the Pacific war, two of the oliginal members of the lOOth Battalion captured the lone crew of a oneman Japanese submarine which groundod on a reef off Oahu. This was, incidentaUy, the first Japanese to be taken by

Am'erican soldiers in this war.

The missions assigned to Nisei soldier!

in the Pacific during the decisive periods of the war and later were vita!. They performed delicate tasks in military intelligence that helped hasten the

Japanese surrender. As translators and

interpreters, they risked th'eir lives in missions to persuade the Japanese to leave their mountain hide-outs and give up the fight.

Today an intelJigent, hardwork;ng group of Niseis numbering at least 60

still "sweat it out" here, serving as

translators and interpreters in the war criminal trials. When the death verdiet on Yamashita was handed down by the

American military commission, I had oc-

casion to ask a Nisei interpreter what he thought of the decision. "If Yamashita i8 guilty," the Nisei said, "I don't see why he shouldn't get the supreme penalty for such horrible atrociti".. Had the war turned the other way, I don't think the Japanese would even hold the semblance of a tria!."

Another Filipino rudely butted into

our conversation, "Tell frankly," he

addressed the Nisei, "do you feel any loyalty for Japan?"

The Nisei reddened, but only for a mo-

ment. "I am an American," he said.

One Puddle Too Many

WE WERE walking along the trail, seven of us in a row. We

carried a radio transmitter and five of us were armed with carbines

and tommyguns. Father Frank, as we called him, was in the lead. He ' was our camp chaplain-a short, curly haired, bespectacled representative of the Lord with ·a resonant bass voice. The moon was beginning to come up. The trail wound through the ghostly coconut trees. Moonlight filtered here and there through the overhanging palms lighting up patches of hard, clayey ground.

After a while, we noticed that Father Frank would skip, walk and jump every now and then. The first time he jumped, we jumped with him-he was the guide. Afterwards, finding nothing to

jump ov-er, we just walked. Just the same, our curiosity was aroused.

We noticed particularly that ever;ttime we came to a patch of moonlight, he'd jump. So, we all knew, he thought the patches of moonlight were water puddles. We just kept quiet.

Father Frank soon noticed, however, that we were not jumping

with him. He looked closer and found out that he had been jumping o;'er imaginary puddles of moonlight. Not wanting to "mbarrass him, we held our laughter. He stopped jumping and just walked with his peculiar rapid gait.

Soon we came to a particularly shiny patch of moonlight. This time Father Frank didn't skip or jump. He just walked on with all the jauntiness and assurance of the unwary. There was a big splash . . W e looked, and there was the benevolent Padre standinli knee-deep in real, honest-to-lioodne •• water.