To the editor:
I had hoped after 50 years we Americans would stop blaming ourselves for some war actions incident to Pearl Harbor in 1941. A spate of recent TV talk shows, newspaper editorials, etc., belies that hope. These presentations disregard the state of affairs in 1941. I was personally involved and have a different perspective.On Dec. 8, the day after Pearl Harbor, I was flown from Washington, D.C., by the federal government to help establish civilian war agency outposts.
When we landed in San Francisco, pandemonium reigned. People were milling about on the streets and hearing a noise overhead, would shout: "The Japs are bombing us." That was an all-too-likely prospect then.
These Americans would break plate glass windows in department stores to extinguish lights so that the "enemy" would not have a target. Anyone appearing Japanese would be accosted, for he/she was assumed to be a spy.
In those days, no one knew who was the enemy. There were many students from Japan and an unknown number of others who still retained Japanese citizenship. Because of this inability to distinguish loyalties, the Army requested that all Japanese be evacuated from the "war zone."
There were two compelling reasons: to protect the United States from sabotage and invasion, and to protect the Japanese from angry Americans.
The president of the United States appointed Milton Eisenhower, a respected university president, to head up the "War Relocation Authority." This civilian agency planned the relocation inland of all Japanese on the West Coast. I was there and remember vividly that the keynote was kindness and consideration for these displaced people. In any other country, the military would have had jurisdiction and the terms much harsher.
Later, as a military person I witnessed firsthand the brutality of the Japanese army on civilian populations. That was true of the Germans and all other military regimes. Our action at the time seemed a military necessity.
Of course, many innocent people were hurt. That hurting was infinitesimal to what happened in other countries. Let there be an end to apologies and payments over our World War II involvement.
Reed L. Clegg
Salt Lake City