A Question of Loyalty: From Incarceration to Service
By Brandon Thierry
Joseph S. Katayama
July 14, 1926 – April 25, 2009
Bags belonging to members of the Japanese and Japanese American population at an assembly center in Salinas, California. https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3c27917/
Joseph Katayama was born in 1926, in Salinas, Monterey County California to his father Moichi and his mother Sayo.[1] He grew up alongside his older sister, Hatsuko; his younger sister, Yoshiko; and two younger brothers, Tateuo and Meraru.[2] Salinas, Monterey, California was a magnet for many Japanese immigrants. This was due to the farming opportunities at the Claus Spreckels’s sugar beet operation. The influx of Japanese immigrants, around 200 families, created a need for cultural touchstones. The Japanese immigrant community began establishing venues that would serve cultural and recreational needs.[3] Schools were established by Issei, first generation immigrants, and these schools would teach Japanese language and various cultural practices.[4] This helped first-generation and second-generation Japanese Americans in the cultivation of traditions and language. This would also strengthen communal ties in a new home. It is not confirmed if Joseph attended classes at these schools or participated in activities organized by the Japanese American community. However, the impact of these schools would have been felt by the whole community, Joseph included.
The beacons of this community would suddenly grow dark after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Soon after, these schools were closed and even the reverend of the Buddhist Temple was arrested by the FBI.[5] This was only a prelude of what was to come. Japanese internment started with Executive Order 9066; on February 19th, 1942, this order authorized the forced relocation of any Japanese American living on the west coast of the U.S.A. Racist, and anti-Asian sentiment has been a long-standing occurrence. Examples of this are the “Yellow peril” with one manifestation of this racism in the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers.[6] As a result of the Pearl Harbor attack, anyone known or thought to be Japanese now had the full and charged focus of this racism. This swirling mass of unfounded suspicion and racial resentment caused the permanent loss of homes and livelihoods. The executive order resulted in the displacement of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans, between 1942 and 1945. Their destination would be one of 10 large incarceration camps.
Aerial photograph of the Salinas Assembly Center.
https://calisphere.org/item/0a914b81110291b4ff32bb3c43912dcb/
Joseph, about 16 at the time, and his family were swept up in the forced relocation operation. Joseph and his family were held at the Salinas Assembly Center, a detention center.[7] The detention center was established in April 1942, and served as a staging ground for the transfer of imprisoned people to larger incarceration camps. This center was located at the Salinas Racetrack and Fair Grounds at the north end of Salinas. This would have been an area Joseph was familiar with. After all, this was his hometown where he grew up. The town that he once walked freely could only be felt and seen behind a wall.
The facilities in the detention centers were in poor condition, from poorly designed latrines that constantly overflowed, showers being inaccessible, to the poor quality of food.[8] It is hard to say what the exact impact this experience might have had on Joseph. Based on the conditions it can be assumed that life was not easy, especially the living day to day in a detention center, being ripped away from your home, with normal daily routines shattered.
Yet, from these conditions people forged communal bonds to restore a sense of normalcy. The Japanese community formed softball teams, organized musical performances, and even a newspaper publication was established.[9] Again, it is hard to determine if Joseph was a direct participant or even an onlooker at these events and programs. The outsized presence and popularity of these events would have made it imposable for Joseph to not be aware of these activities. Perhaps these events provided a temporary distraction, or a chance to build relationships with others? In any case, Joseph would have known and felt the heavy pressures of his imprisonment as well as the impact of community development that was happening around him.
Joseph was later transferred, with his family, to the Poston Incarceration Camp, located in Yuma County, Arizona.[10] His new address was Block 211-11-B. This indicated that he lived in block 2, there were 3 blocks in total at Poston. Here Joseph, now going by Joe, was an active member of the community. Four months before his 18th birthday at Poston II High School he worked on a play production called “Ever Since Eve.” It was a huge success that played to a full audience![11] Joe’s contribution was the make-up for the actors. This was just one way people incarcerated tried to bring a sense of normalcy.
In addition, schools, administrative offices for the civilian governance of the camp, auditoriums, and other various construction projects were built. Gardens were created amongst the desert surroundings by the incarcerated people.[12] These projects served the purpose of establishing a “normal” community environment. Baseball, community functions at the auditorium, gardens for recreational enjoyment, and schools for children provided some level of normal function that one would find in any city or town. Certainly, Joe would have been aware of this and possibly participated in one of these activities.
Despite this effort, the fact remained that people at Poston were prisoners. This would inevitably lead to tensions, protests, and work strikes at the incarceration camp. The U.S government was the official arbitrator of decision within the camp. They decided who could officially serve in the community council (only Nisei men). The administrators (US) also practiced in wage setting, classification of jobs, and other such concerns. This amounted to a constructed and regulated microcosmic economy, roles, wages, and positions within the Camp. Delays in pay, clothing, insulation, heating, and the traumatic experience of being ripped from their chosen home led to strikes and discontent.[13] This mistrust and anxiety towards the camp administrators would lead to its own paranoia within the community. People suspected of being administrator informants would be singled out and attacked.[14] This atmosphere would have some effect on Joe. Based on his resistance to the draft, these circumstances might have instilled a sense of resentment and adversity to the U.S government’s proof of loyalty demand and requirement to be drafted.
Soon after Joe turned 18, he was required to register for the World War Two draft and so he did.[15] On February 14, 1945, Joe was called up to have his first physical examination. This examination took place in Phoenix, Arizona.[16] Two months later Joe was ordered to report back to Phoenix for his induction into the Enlisted Reserve Corps on April 27, 1945.[17] Joe, along with other men under the same order, were never reported as attending this induction ceremony.[18] Evidence suggests that they avoided the induction ceremony by answering No-No on a “loyalty test” questionnaire. At this time, the U.S government was implementing a loyalty test to Japanese Americans imprisoned at the camp to separate the disloyal from the even more disloyal. There were two questions that caused objections to the “test.” Question 27: “Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United State on combat duty wherever ordered?” and question 28: “Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States... and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government, power or organization?” This test was also part of the selective service process. Questions arose regarding why there was segregation in the army, questions about their rights as citizens and talk about not filling out the loyalty test until their concerns were addressed.[19] There was also flat-out refusal to answer in the affirmative.[20]
This action could have been done for many reasons. Japanese Americans could have been worried about their families if the left, they may have not wanted to join the 442nd as it was destined for combat, or they may have done this as a statement of refusal to fight for a government that continued to imprison them. At Poston Incarceration camp, there was open dialogue about draft resistance. One way that this argument made its way to the mainstream was through leaflets that gave moral and legal arguments against incarceration, conscription, and the racial segregation of Nisei soldiers in the army.[21] Clearly this open conversation worked on Joe as evident in how he answered the “loyalty question.”
Joe thus answered the two “loyalty” questions with No-No and was subsequently thrown in the camp jail for the remainder of the incarceration camp’s operation.[22] With one act Joe became a No-No boy, which likely explains why he was never at his scheduled induction ceremony. A “No-No Boy” is a term that gathered wide usage after World War Two, to describe Japanese Americans who answered No-No to the loyalty questions. Typically, the experience of No No Boys was that of being ostracized by a Japanese American community that emphasized military service and loyalty after the war.[23] Joe, being in this group, may have had this experience with the Japanese community at large. Indeed, his decision did cause great strain within his family. To get Joe out of the jail, after everyone was released from the camp, his family had to pay $20.00, which is about $296.73 today. His family had to borrow the money to get him out and harbored feelings that his was a selfish decision.[24] Perhaps this informed his decision to voluntarily enlist in the Korean War. It was not until the 1970s that activists for the redress movement would challenge the stigma of disloyalty of the No-No boys.[25] Joe’s reasons for answering No-No may never have a satisfactory answer. Perhaps he did this to protest to the treatment that he and his family endured and to avoid fighting in a war for a country that saw him as the enemy. Whatever his reasons, the consequences were the same, to be in a prison within a prison.
At the conclusion of World War Two, Japanese Americans at the incarceration camps were scheduled to be sent back to their communities of origin. It is not clear where Joe went after this. It is known that he did serve in the Korean war.[26] However, not much is known other than his rank of private first class in the Army. What does seem to be clear from the lack of a draft card was his willingness to volunteer to serve in the Korean war. Not more than five years prior was he in an incarceration camp and jailed for his protest as a No-no Boy. Joe went from refusal to participate and rejection of participation in an unjust system that saw him as a threat to willingly serving in the following war. We may never know the full extent to Joe’s thinking or reasoning. However, his experiences and actions should make us all think twice about what loyalty is and what makes a person American.
After the Korean War Joe resided within Colorado. Joseph passed away on April 25, 2009 in his home. He was 82 years old. He is remembered by his family as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle.[27]
Footnotes ↓
[1] Joseph S Katayam, Year: 1930, Census Place: Salinas, Monterey, California, Page: 13A, Enumeration District: 0001, FHL microfilm: 2339914.
[2] Joseph Katayama, Year: 1940, Census Place: Alisal, Monterey, California, Roll: m-t0627-00267, Page: 28B, Enumeration District: 27-12.
[3] Kent Seavey, “A Short History of Salinas, California,” accessed April 8, 2021, http://mchsmuseum.com/salinasbrief.html.
[4] Sandy Lydon, “The Castroville Japanese School Project,” Monterey County Historical Society, Local History Pages--The Castroville Japanese School, accessed April 8, 2021, http://mchsmuseum.com/Japanese.html.
[5] Ibid.
[6] “U.S. Department of State,” U.S. Department of State (U.S. Department of State), accessed May 29, 2021, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/chinese-immigration.
[7] “National Archives and Records Administration,” National Archives and Records Administration, accessed April 8, 2021, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=3099&mtch=1&cat=WR26&tf=F&sc=30043%2C30012%2C30013%2C30014%2C30042%2C30038%2C30028%2C30040&bc=%2Csl%2Cfd&txt_30043=Katayama&op_30043=0&nfo_30043=V%2C10%2C1900&txt_30012=Joseph&op_30012=0&nfo_30012=V%2C8%2C1900&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=29945.
[8] Brain Niiya, “Salinas (Detention Facility),” Salinas (detention facility), Densho Encyclopedia, accessed April 8, 2021, https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Salinas_(detention_facility)/.
[9] Ibid.
[10] National Archives and Records Administration, accessed April 8, 2021, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=3099&mtch=1&cat=WR26&tf=F&sc=30043%2C30012%2C30013%2C30014%2C30042%2C30038%2C30028%2C30040&bc=%2Csl%2Cfd&txt_30043=Katayama&op_30043=0&nfo_30043=V%2C10%2C1900&txt_30012=Joseph&op_30012=0&nfo_30012=V%2C8%2C1900&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=29945.
[11] Image 2 of Poston Chronicle (Poston, Ariz.), April 8, 1944, The Library of Congress, accessed April 9, 2021, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83025333/1944-04-08/ed-1/?sp=2&q=Joe%2BKatayama%2B&r=-0.018%2C-0.012%2C1.234%2C0.468%2C0.
[12] “POSTON,” October 6, 1992, http://www.javadc.org/poston.htm.
[13] “Poston (Colorado River),” Densho Encyclopedia, accessed April 23, 2021, https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Poston_(Colorado_River)/.
[14] Ibid.
[15] The National Archives in St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri, WWII Draft Registration Cards for Arizona, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947, Records of the Selective Service System, 147, Box: 65.
[16] Image 1 of Poston Chronicle (Poston, Ariz.), February 14, 1945, The Library of Congress, accessed April 9, 2021, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83025333/1945-02-14/ed-1/?sp=1&q=Joe%2BKatayama%2B&r=-0.401%2C0.295%2C1.742%2C0.661%2C0.
[17] Image 1 of Poston Chronicle (Poston, Ariz.), April 21, 1945, The Library of Congress, accessed April 12, 2021, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83025333/1945-04-21/ed-1/?sp=1&r=-0.173%2C0.234%2C1.285%2C0.487%2C0.
[18] “Reds, Yanks Meet, Split Reich: Services Induct 27 Arizona Men,” Arizona Republic, April 28th, 1945, 4.
[19] Cherstim M Lyon, “Loyalty Questionnaire,” Densho Encyclopedia, accessed April 10, 2021, https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Loyalty_questionnaire/.
[20] Ibid.
[21] “Draft Resistance,” Densho Encyclopedia, accessed April 23, 2021, https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Draft_resistance/.
[22] Carole Lee, niece of Joseph Katayama, text message, 04/06/2021. She remembers this story about her uncle and his answers.
[23] “No-No Boys,” Densho Encyclopedia, accessed April 23, 2021, https://encyclopedia.densho.org/No-no_boys/.
[24] Carole Lee, niece of Joseph Katayama, text message, 04/06/2021.
[25] “No-No Boys,” Densho Encyclopedia, accessed April 23, 2021, https://encyclopedia.densho.org/No-no_boys/.
[26] Fort Logan National Cemetery burial spreadsheet of names r.
[27] “Obituary of Joseph Katayama: All Veterans Funeral & Cremation - Wheat Ridge,” Funeral Homes & Cremation Services, accessed April 12, 2021, https://allveterans.com/tribute/details/158477/Joseph-Katayama/obituary.html#content-start.
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