Preface: This episode contains testimony from an internment denier. Lillian Baker, a far-right activist, read Dillon S. Myer’s statement before the Commission. Myer was the wartime head of the War Relocation Authority, the civilian agency that ran the camps. His testimony minimizes the injustice of incarceration and may upset some listeners. Still, this is part of the historical record of the hearings.

• Who Was Dillon S. Myer? Appointed by FDR in 1942 to lead the War Relocation Authority, which oversaw the camps. He insisted on calling them “relocation centers,” not concentration camps.

• Framing the Camps: Claimed the WRA’s mission was constructive — providing housing, education, food, medical care, and opportunities to “relocate into normal communities.”

• Denial of Harm: Rejected the term “concentration camp,” citing the Supreme Court’s Korematsu decision. Called the phrase offensive, saying it tarnished his staff’s work.

• Tributes & Praise: Pointed to testimonial banquets by the Japanese American Citizens League in 1946 and later, as proof he and the WRA were once respected.

• Attacking Redress: Criticized Japanese American activists for “forsaking” him and pursuing reparations. Claimed stories of shootings, barbed wire, and guard towers were exaggerated or invented.

• Revisionist Narrative: Insisted the WRA kept families together, that evacuees were not internees, and that guards were mostly protective. Endorsed Lillian Baker’s denialist book Watergate West: The Concentration Camp Conspiracy.

• Emotional Appeal: Baker closed by saying Myer was on his deathbed and wanted to die believing history would not remember him as “director of concentration camps.”

Joe Yamamoto, a 62-year-old from Gardena, testified before the Commission about the collapse of his business, the humiliation of camp life, and the sting of America’s betrayal. Speaking as a former gas station owner and JACL member, his testimony carried both bitterness and hope for redress.

• Before the War: At 23, bought and ran a gas station in 1941 — only to lose it by December after Pearl Harbor. Family’s boarding house savings also wiped out.

• Media Hostility: Local papers and politicians stirred hysteria, painting Japanese Americans as a menace. Attempts to meet with General DeWitt were ignored.

• Forced Sale: Remembered putting a fake address in the paper when selling his 1941 car with new tires, to keep “vultures” from taking it for nothing.

• Arrival at Manzanar: Families given straw to stuff mattresses, packed into drafty shacks behind searchlights and fences. Politicians toured the camp to ensure internees “weren’t spoiled.”

• Camp Life: Tired of grape jam and beef heart rations. Later left camp under work furloughs to pick beets, potatoes, and turkeys across Idaho, Utah, and Colorado.

• Loyalty Questionnaire: Angrily recalled being asked if he’d fight for a country that had stripped him of everything. “I wish I had said hell no,” he confessed, but admitted he answered yes just to get out of camp.

• After Camp: Relocated to Chicago for four years, drafted into the Army, then forced to leave service to care for his parents still at Manzanar. Restarted from nothing when the West Coast reopened.

• Inadequate Compensation: Received a “take it or leave it” offer of $600 for losses that far exceeded that. Warned the Commission that 40 years of waiting was long enough.

• Final Plea: Asked for redress that would not just be money but also a permanent monument — a reminder to prevent future injustices.

Henry Sakai, national treasurer of the Japanese American Citizens League, testified before the Commission about his incarceration as a teenager and the indignities suffered by his family and community. His words mixed personal memory, family loss, and sharp critique of media distortions that continued decades later.

• Life as a Teen in Camp: Was a junior in high school when removed. Recalled humiliating lack of privacy — latrine stalls side by side, couples divided only by blankets.

• Impact on Parents: His father, once a successful businessman, lost everything and after camp had to work as a dishwasher and janitor — “degrading, demeaning” for a man of his age. Many older Japanese had no choice but to go on “relief,” something culturally shameful.

• No True Compensation Possible: Stressed that nothing could make up for lost rights, property, potential income, or dignity. Still supported $25,000 per person as the bare minimum.

• Comparison to Hostages: Pointed out that American hostages in Iran were being considered for $440,000 each for 440 days — while Japanese Americans spent more than 1,200 days in camp.

• Against Tokenism: Rejected scholarship or community funds in place of individual reparations — warned it would be “tokenism” amounting to $1,000 each.

• On Critics of Redress: Challenged those who said money could not compensate injustice: if they were uprooted and imprisoned without trial, would they really refuse compensation?

• Media Distortions: Condemned editorials in papers like the Wall Street Journal and Indianapolis News for misrepresenting history — implying Japanese Americans were disloyal or could have become citizens but chose not to. Called on the Commission to educate the public against such falsehoods.

• Closing Plea: Urged that bigotry and distortions from figures like Senator Kyl and Lillian Baker not be allowed to define the record.

Mary Kurihara appeared before the Commission on behalf of her husband, Albert Kurihara, a 78-year-old Hawaiian-born Nisei who had just suffered a stroke. Determined to have his voice heard, Mary read his written testimony describing the pain of incarceration and the scars it left on his family.

• Hawaiian-Born, American Citizen: Albert emphasized he knew no other country but the U.S. and had no ties to Japan. Despite this, he lost everything when sent to camp.

• Memories of Camp: Recalled riding the bus to Poston, Arizona, imagining he might die in the desert. Before that, he stayed in the filthy horse stables at Santa Anita, which “stunk like hell.” Later forced into grueling farm labor harvesting sugar beets.

• After Camp: Faced hostility and rejection as a suspected “enemy.” Found it nearly impossible to secure steady work. Bitterly compared his treatment as a citizen to his younger brother’s sacrifice in the U.S. Army, where a severe combat injury left him blind in one eye.

• Family Stories: Remembered his cousin Joe, a World War I veteran, once joyful and patriotic, who returned from camp broken and embittered. Despite being an American citizen, Joe was eventually deported to Japan, a country he never knew.

• Anger and Betrayal: “A Jap is a Jap,” Albert recalled hearing — a phrase that fueled his lifelong anger. He struggled with wanting to serve his country even while feeling deeply betrayed by it.

• Call to Memory & Justice: Acknowledged no government repayment could undo the suffering, but insisted this must not excuse failing to apologize. Urged America to ensure future generations never forget.

Katsumi Yagura testified before the Commission to highlight a group often overlooked in discussions of wartime incarceration: Japanese American veterans who were already serving in the U.S. military before Pearl Harbor. He described the bitter irony of men in uniform fighting for their country while their parents and siblings were forced into camps.

• Forgotten Veterans: Many Nisei soldiers had parents, brothers, and sisters incarcerated despite their service. One man even broke furlough just to see his family behind barbed wire.

• Politics of Fear: Quoted Roosevelt’s remark that “nothing happens by accident in politics,” and described how demagogues and vigilantes stirred hysteria using Hitler’s playbook: the bigger the lie, the more people believe it.

• Racist Rhetoric: Read inflammatory statements from senators and representatives portraying Japanese as inherently immoral, godless, and unworthy of citizenship.

• Double Standards: Noted the hypocrisy that Hawaii, geographically closer to Japan, had no mass removal, while West Coast families were uprooted.

• Military Exclusion: Nisei soldiers barred from certain assignments — “they all look alike” — and in some cases denied citizenship even after years of combat service, citing the Oriental Exclusion Act.

• American Double Standard: Recalled an image of a Navy veteran, in uniform with service ribbons, being escorted to camp by MPs — a symbol of betrayal and humiliation.

• Beyond Money: Emphasized that reparations must account for missed opportunities, psychological harm, and damage to children. How can a veteran explain to his child: “Daddy fought for this country, but Grandpa and Grandma were in camp”?

Ken Hayashi, chairperson of the Orange County Japanese American Citizens League, testified before the Commission with what he called “mixed emotions” — frustration at having to prove the injustice of incarceration, and gratitude for the rare chance to speak before a federal body. His testimony combined personal memory, financial loss, and a call for democracy to face its failures.

• Prejudice Before the War: As a child and young man, endured racial slurs (“dirty Jap,” “go back where you came from”), and saw his parents barred from citizenship under the 1924 Exclusion Act.

• Pearl Harbor & Executive Order 9066: At 23, head of a family of seven in Tacoma, Washington, he was forced to abandon college and his gas station business when the order came.

• Financial Loss: The family received only a few hundred dollars for their possessions and equipment. He estimated their total loss at more than $35,000 in income and property.

• Camp Conditions: Described grim train transport, tar-paper barracks with cracks, dust storms, insects, smelly outhouses, and meager pay for internees — $12 to $19 a month for camp jobs like reporting for the newsletter.

• Faith in America: Despite hardship, all the men in his family served in the U.S. Army; one brother was wounded with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

• Call for Redress: Declared that “a great democracy can admit its mistakes,” and urged Congress to provide meaningful restitution for wrongs committed against loyal citizens.

Irma (Sarah Baker) Roth, wife of George Knox Roth, testified before the Commission about how her husband’s defense of Japanese Americans during WWII led to his professional ruin and lifelong stigma. She illuminated the collateral damage faced by allies who stood against mass incarceration.

• Defending Loyalty: George Roth used his radio program to defend Japanese Americans’ loyalty. When pressured by the California Committee on Un-American Activities to name Nisei supporters, he refused and was convicted of contempt.

• Professional Blacklist: No attorney, not even the ACLU, would defend him. Found guilty in Los Angeles court, he was fined $200 and branded as disloyal — later even mislabeled a “Communist.”

• Lasting Punishment: The Retail Merchants Association called him a traitor; school boards refused to employ him. Despite his dedication as a teacher, he was shut out of California classrooms. Irma often became the family’s sole breadwinner, raising four children under strain.

• Expunged, but Too Late: After 28 years, his record was cleared, but by then his potential as a teacher and public servant had been lost. Irma described the continuing atmosphere of shame and suspicion that shadowed their lives.

• Parallel to Japanese Americans: While careful to note their suffering was not equal to those incarcerated, she spoke of the stigma, shame, and silence imposed by prejudice — a pain she understood firsthand.

• Call for Justice: She urged cash compensation for Japanese Americans who endured far worse, and called for permanent legal safeguards to prevent such abuses of power in the future.

In this exchange, a commissioner pressed witnesses on whether the legacy of the WWII incarceration camps left a lasting “camp spirit” that continues to shape discrimination against Japanese Americans.

• Commissioner’s Question: Did the incarceration experience itself reinforce racism in U.S. society—denying Japanese Americans equal opportunities in jobs, housing, and education? Are present-day difficulties traceable to camp, or to broader institutional and personal discrimination?

• Witness’s Answer:

  
  

  • Camp experiences deeply influenced education and career paths.

  • Many Nisei avoided creative fields (writing, fine arts, liberal arts) where standards were subjective and vulnerable to bias. Instead, they pushed into sciences, engineering, and mathematics—fields with concrete, measurable benchmarks of achievement.

  • This was both recognition of discrimination and a carryover lesson from camp and resettlement: don’t stand out, don’t be “too Japanese,” and assimilate to survive.

  • Nisei parents passed these lessons on to Sansei children, channeling them into fields seen as safer and more defensible against prejudice.

  
  

Key Theme: The incarceration not only stripped Japanese Americans of homes and livelihoods—it also narrowed their children’s choices for the future, reinforcing assimilation pressures and steering generations away from creative fields.