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Show .... ' Xe , PAGE 20 THE ZEPHYR JULY 89 The Moab Comcesitoatioin Gassup by Lloyd Pierson In the old Dalton Wells camp arriving by train at Thompson. The locals were told that between 25 and 50 men would be placed there with Army Military Police for guards 24 hours a day. Later up to 200 plus might be put In the Do you remember reading In your histories of World War II about the concentration camps set up by Hitler and Stalin to Incarcerate some of their citizens without benefit of due process of law because of their political beliefs, racial ancestry and being suspect of some sort of vague danger to the country? Would you believe that In our fair Canyonlands there was a similar camp set up by Americans and dedicated to the Jailing of citizens of Japanese ancestry for the same reasons? Hie only things missing were the Siberian winters and the German gas chambers. World War II was a traumatic experience for most of the worlds population with millions killed and maimed on the battlefields and In the cities and villages of the combatants. Only In the continental New World did the not suffer to any great extent; that Is except for our citizens of Japanese descent Here In the continental United States of America, bastion of liberty and freedom. In particular they were taken from their homes, herded tike cattle, put behind barbed wire, guarded by machine "relocation centers" by a government paranoid guns and rifles In with fear of sabotage and believing In Imminent Invasion by the Japanese Imperial army and goaded by racist opportunists eager to take over their homes, farms and businesses. This was a sad period In American non-combata- i camp but they would not be allowed to visit Moab according to the news release. Ray R. Best was named as the camp director. Future possibilities were that they might work on range projects and that their families might Join them; things never really considered but a nice pap for the locals. The official reason for the camp was reported In the January 14, 1943 as an Impound for Japanese who caused friction In large relocation centers and refused to obey rules of community Ife In those It was further reported that the first contingent containing ring centers. In leaders the riot "between Japanese groups at Manzanar. Sixteen Japanese-Americaarrived guarded by LL Knuckles (Knuckler) and LL A. L Pomeroy and 16 MPs. Harry Ueno, one of the prisoners at the Moab camp, has offered accounts of the Manzanar riot and the Moab camp. He tells of being Jailed at Manzanar without due process, of being promised a hearing, of being summarily hauled off with 15 others to a desolate spot In southeastern Utah where he was under armed guard for a reason he was never officially told. Mr. Ueno, Ike many Tlmea-lndeoond- ns nts so-call- ed fifth-colum- ns, r A History, one little known by most Americans until recently. War hysteria, greed, racism of long standing and ignorance led to 110,000 West Coast Americans of Japanese descent, both citizens and Immigrant aliens to suffer loss of property, civil and human rights, liberty, dignity and face. The 11 relocation camps, including one In Utah near Delta called Topaz, were quickly estabflshed by the War Department and turned over to the War Relocation Authority In mId-19Few, If any, major problems developed In Japanese-Americaout of the Pacific Coastal area to the camps the moving east of the Sierra Nevada. These were times of confusion. Families were broken up, loyalties to family and country were severely tested and rumors, and Intimidation were more prevalent than truth and order. lies, half-trut- hs Pressures on the Internees were constant from within and without as the authorities demanded loyalty oaths, encouraged resettlement further Inland and split up famines for one reason or another. At the same Arne the army was proselytizing the young males to fight the war In Europe In the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442 Regimental Combat Team or to Join the Military Intelligence Service and serve as Interpreters and translators of the Japanese language In the Pacific Theater of Operations. All of the young men that dd so served with distinction and honor in spite of the treatment of their relatives. By the foil of 1942 the numbness of relocation had worn off and reality had set In. No sabotage or Invasion had taken place but they realized, or at least some of them did, that they were to be Interned for the (hi ration and there was to be no recourse to legal Institutions. One of the first camps to Mess hall workers, Incensed by illegal erupt was Manzanar, California. appropriation of scarce sugar and beef by camp authorities, organized to present a unified small group to communicate with the camp directorate. An Informer to the FBI was beaten by camp Inmates. accused Japanese-Americ- an ed "ring leaders of the mess hall workers were Jailed over the which lead to a demonstration on December 6, 1942 to free these men. beating The demonstration . got out of, hand,. apparently. .because. of: green, trigger- happy soldiers, and two Inmates were killed.. The War Relocation . Authorities solution was to place 16 Japanese- American citizens In an old Civilian Conservation Corps camp near Moab, Utah. A terse announcement In the December 31, 1942 local newspaper was that a contingent of Japanese from Manzanar were to be placed ns ( . So-call- : mrt Tlmes-lndeoend- r ent of the Moab prisoners, was a Klbel or one, although bom In the United States who had received part of his education in Japan. As such they had i different, perhaps a more Japanese and worldly view of Ife than the oths Japanese-America- ns. This presented problems for the authorities as they wen more out spoken and the authorities obviously had very Ittle understanding of these "boys as they referred to them or of the culture of the first am second generation, Japanese In America (Issei and Nisei). The Moab cam; Inmates were mostly well educated men, some of whom had fought for America in the first World War, and who were simply questioning the right of. th government to place them In prison without a given reason, In violation o their civil rights and without any sort of hearing. Surprisingly cncugi there were even some among the authorities who also questioned the "gestapo tactics being employed. The Dalton Weds camp had been abandoned for a time and was much In new of repair. Some 54 men were eventually Imprisoned here coming fron relocation camps at Manzanar, California; Glia, Arizona and Tula Lake California. Alleged reasons reported In official documents of the time wen that the men were suspected ring leaders opposing the government The groui from Gila, 13 In number, had with the Glia Camp directors create approval, an organization that continued to. operate after the 13 were transferred ti Moab because they had formed the organization. One Inmate was there for n other reason except a confusion over similar names. Four turned out to b actual alens and were Interned elsewhere by the FBL Seven of the first group from Manzanar were put In the Grand County Jal on April 14, 1943 with a three-mon- th sentence for unlawfol assembly, althougl no trial was held. A new security officer told the Inmates If they dicin' like his new rules about speaking English only and restrictions on visiting to pack their bags and come to his office. Twenty-tw- o showed up and the sevei were arrested as the ring leaders. Wills In the county Jail, Ueno relates that Sheriff Skewes offered them rici which they gladly accepted. It turned out to be rice pudding with raisins hardly Japanese cuisine. The prisoners also asked a local boy to buy then Mng and hanging I hy.1Hn 8 d0,lar w to out the window. Sheriff Skewes told them not to do that any more. On April 26, 1943 the Inmates were moved by vehicles to an old school fo Indians at Leupp on the Navajo reservation near Winslow, Arizona. Five o . 42. 0 ent J , f i ! - . |